>The best things in #life we don’t choose — they choose us. A great love, a great calling, a great illumination — they happen unto us, like light falling upon that which is lit. We have given a name to these unbidden greatnesses — #genius, from the Latin for “spirit,” denoting the spirit of a universe we can only submit to but cannot govern.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/21/emerson-genius-shakespeare
>For subjectivists #life is meaningful, they say, but its value is made by us in our minds, and subject to change over time. Landau argues that #meaning is essentially a sense of worth which we may all derive in a different way - from relationships, creativity, accomplishment in a given field, or generosity, among other possibilities
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-secret-to-a-meaningful-life-is-simpler-than-you-think
Historical introduction to #LAWS, #LANGUAGE and #LIFE
#HH_Pattee's classic papers on the #physics of #symbols, #epistemology, #quantum_measurement, #complementarity, #hierarchy_theory, and #artificial_life, with contemporary commentaries by Howard Pattee and Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi.
https://www.academia.edu/2767702/Historical_introduction_to_LAWS_LANGUAGE_AND_LIFE
Retired #systemsengineering professional and #organizationalchange coach with decades of experience in the #military and #aerospace domains.
WRT #STEM, I'm primarily interested in the #Science and #Engineering of #Systems. My stance towards #Technology is opportunistic (will use whatever works best for the occasion) and I consider #Mathematics a necessary evil to get things done properly.
My experience with #computing technology starts in the late '70s on a room-sized IBM machine running FORTRAN programs from buckets full of punch cards, turned hard towards HPL BASIC on a much smaller HP 9825A "fully algebraic desktop calculator" with a miniature magnetic tape cassette where to store programs, and abruptly ended a few years later after a couple of months of "peeking" and "poking" in ASM on an even smaller ZX81 connected to a BW portable TV.
Even if I was reasonably good at programming the moment I got my first DOS/Windows PC to play with at work and surf on something called the #Internet, I fell in love with things like #writing, #drawing, and #exploring new ideas, that could now be done much better and faster with this new gadget, so I soon decided that being a #user, doing the #design and #testing while dealing with other #people to define #product and #process #requirements is much more fun than the actual #development of the #software product itself.
I'm very glad I found this Mastodon #community where we can "Question Others to Teach Ourselves". Please feel free to ask questions and argue with anything I say. Be sure I'll be doing the same. Nothing is sacred. There are no stupid questions, just BS answers.
Stay safe and be nice to others.
PJ