| Home | Recent Comments | Categories |
Robotic Insect Takes Off
[Quote:]
A life-size, robotic fly has taken flight at Harvard University. Weighing only 60 milligrams, with a wingspan of three centimeters, the tiny robot’s movements are modeled on those of a real fly. While much work remains to be done on the mechanical insect, the researchers say that such small flying machines could one day be used as spies, or for detecting harmful chemicals.
Knowledge is Power for the People, Ignorance is Power for the Rulers
[Quote:]
If knowledge is power then ignorance should be weakness; in reality, though, it’s much more than that. Ignorance is not so much mere weakness as it is a shifting of the locus of power away from those who are ignorant and to those who have more knowledge — or at least who know how to benefit from the ignorance of others, even if they are ignorant as well. This is why there are always powerful interests arrayed against any effort to educate the people and empower them with more knowledge. Increased knowledge and power among the people means deceased power for the currently privileged classes.
If you don’t know the nature or origin of the ingredients in the food you buy, it’s easier to sway your purchasing decisions through advertising. If you don’t know that your priest keeps being moved around due to accusations of child molestation, it’s easier to get you to entrust your children to his tender, loving care. If you don’t know what the government is doing as part of its global war on terrorism, it’s easier to get you to believe it’s all for your own good. If you don’t know that there are others out there whose sexual preferences aren’t quite what religious and social leaders say God demands, it’s easier to repress your own feelings and pretend to be like “everyone else.”
Go read the whole thing.