Tuesday, January 13, 2004

The Edge: World Question Center 2004. "What's Your Law?"

The Edge: World Question Center 2004: The question: "There is some bit of wisdom, some rule of nature, some law-like pattern, either grand or small, that you've noticed in the universe that might as well be named after you. Gordon Moore has one; Johannes Kepler and Michael Faraday, too. So does Murphy.

Since you are so bright, you probably have at least two you can articulate. Send me two laws based on your empirical work and observations you would not mind having tagged with your name. Stick to science and to those scientific areas where you have expertise. Avoid flippancy. Remember, your name will be attached to your law. ..."


This is wonderful. I am clicking around reading the various people's "laws". There are 164 contributors to this from all sorts of disciplines. I haven't read them all, and it was hard to pick one as an example, but here is one:

Bharucha's Law (Jamshed Bharucha)

"To understand what people are thinking and feeling, look beyond what they say. Language does not capture the full range and grain of thought and experience, and its unique power enables us as easily to mask our thoughts and feelings as it does to express them."

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