diff --git a/_index.db b/_index.db index 69a6d34c5..15545d180 100644 Binary files a/_index.db and b/_index.db differ diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_entdeckte_Geheimnis_der_Natur_im_Bau_und_in_der_Befruchtung_der_Blumen-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_entdeckte_Geheimnis_der_Natur_im_Bau_und_in_der_Befruchtung_der_Blumen-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..0199e5671 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_entdeckte_Geheimnis_der_Natur_im_Bau_und_in_der_Befruchtung_der_Blumen-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,23 @@ +--- +title: "Das entdeckte Geheimnis der Natur im Bau und in der Befruchtung der Blumen" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_entdeckte_Geheimnis_der_Natur_im_Bau_und_in_der_Befruchtung_der_Blumen" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:04:11.061881+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Das entdeckte Geheimnis der Natur im Bau und in der Befruchtung der Blumen (The Secret of Nature in the Form and Fertilisation of Flowers Discovered) by Christian Konrad Sprengel was published in 1793, but received little acclaim during the author's lifetime. Sprengel's ideas were rejected by other naturalists when it was published, but the importance of this work was duly appreciated by Charles Darwin some sixty years later. Darwin's use of Sprengel's ideas and reference to this book in the seminal work on the Fertilisation of Orchids established Sprengel's book as one of the most important works in the fields of floral biology and pollination ecology and its author as a founding father of these fields. +The fact that flowers have a sexual role had been recognised earlier by Linnaeus who did not investigate any functional significance of the visits of insects, but by Sprengel's time it was known that they were sometimes involved in fertilisation. These were thought to be chance visits and nectar was not thought to be intended for insects. Sprengel's book introduced a functional view, which would today be called ecology, and provided evidence that pollination was an organised process in which insects acted as "living brushes" in a symbiotic relationship for the teleological purpose of fertilising the flowers. His discovery enabled him to understand the construction and arrangement of the parts of flowers, but he was puzzled by some features such as the lack of nectar in orchids. He also investigated seed dispersal. His ideas went against prevailing dogma that flowers were generally self-fertilising and that insect visits were rare, so his proposals were thought unnecessary. His ideas were also in conflict with belief in the created harmony of nature: in disagreeing with him, Goethe described nature as behaving like an artist, not a workman. Sprengel's discoveries were ignored and largely forgotten. + +Darwin's new evolutionary ideas rejected the idea that species characters were invariable. He was aware from animal husbandry that inbreeding could lead to changes, but as wild species usually remained homogenous, he thought that species were kept the same by natural cross-fertilisation. It would also give the evolutionary advantage that favourable changes were spread through a reproductive community, but this was contradicted by the common supposition that plants were usually self-fertilising. Sprengel's work suggested answers to this problem, and Darwin adopted Sprengel's methods in investigating various plants, particularly orchids. He mentioned Sprengel in an 1841 letter to The Gardeners' Chronicle. and made reference to Sprengel's research in his unpublished 1844 Essay on the origin of species. A year later, Darwin wrote to his friend the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker about the need for insects to pollinate flowering plants; "have you ever seen C. Sprengels curious book on this subject; I have verified many of his observations: doubtless he rides his theory very hard." + + +== Notes == + + +== References == +Vogel, Stefan (1996), Barrett, Spencer C. H.; Lloyd, David W. (eds.), Floral biology: studies on floral evolution in animal-pollinated plants, London: Chapman & Hall, pp. 44–60, ISBN 0-412-04341-6 +Darwin, Charles (1909). The Foundations of the Origin of Species. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 233. +Darwin, Charles (1958). The Autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809-1882. Edited with Appendix and Notes by his grand-daughter Nora Barlow. London: Collins. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Little_Piggies-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Little_Piggies-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..9ead470ef --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Little_Piggies-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +--- +title: "Eight Little Piggies" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Little_Piggies" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:04:03.882652+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Eight Little Piggies (1993) is the sixth volume of collected essays by the Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. The essays were selected from his monthly column "The View of Life" in Natural History magazine, to which Gould contributed for 27 years. The book covers topics that are common to Gould's writing in a discursive manner, including evolution and its teaching, science biography, probabilities, and common sense. +The title essay, "Eight Little Piggies", is a thought piece on the prevalence of five digits on hands and feet throughout the animal kingdom. It also explores concepts such as archetypes and polydactyly via the anatomy of early tetrapods. +Other essays discuss themes such as the scale of extinction, vertebrate anatomy, grand patterns of evolution, and human nature. + + +== References == + + +== External links == +The Snail Wars - by Derek Bickerton, The New York Times +Book review - by Howard A. Doughty, College Quarterly +Book review - John Farrell, National Review +Book review - Edward Kay, Eye Weekly +W. W. Norton promotional page +Google Books - contains book excerpts and jacket description \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein's_Unfinished_Symphony-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein's_Unfinished_Symphony-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..0476fa603 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein's_Unfinished_Symphony-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +--- +title: "Einstein's Unfinished Symphony" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein's_Unfinished_Symphony" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:04:05.114680+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Einstein's Unfinished Symphony: Listening to the Sounds of Space-Time is a 2000 non-fiction book by Marcia Bartusiak about the preliminary work preceding operational efforts to detect the gravitational waves predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. She tells the story of LIGO's two gravitational-wave observatories in Louisiana and Washington State, with some mention of other such observatories in Italy, Germany, Japan, and Australia, and the scientists and scientific considerations involved. Initial LIGO operations between 2002 and 2010 did not detect any gravitational waves. After technical enhancements, gravitational waves were first detected in 2016. After the detection, Bartusiak wrote an updated version entitled Einstein's Unfinished Symphony: The Story of a Gamble, Two Black Holes, and a New Age of Astronomy published in 2017 by Yale University Press. + + +== Reception == +For her 2000 book, Bartusiak won the 2001 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award to a Journalist. + +The route to LIGO was long and checkered; it is beautifully recounted by Marcia Bartusiak in her latest book, Einstein’s Unfinished Symphony. ... She has clearly made a great effort to interview all major players in the field, scan the literature, and capture the relevant science. What results is an easy-to-read and clear exposition of a field of physics that has, with minor brief and turbulent exceptions, remained far from the popular and professional limelight during much of its development. Readers of this book will come away with a clear idea of the challenges involved in detecting a signal that will move test masses located several kilometers apart by less than the width of a single atomic nucleus. In addition, they will meet the individuals who have at times single-handedly championed the field during the past three decades. +Bartusiak (Thursday's Universe) has been writing about gravity waves for more than a decade, and her familiarity with the search and the scientists involved results in a thorough, engrossing and valuable chronicle. + + +== References == + + +== External links == +"Einstein's Unfinished Symphony". YouTube. WGBHForum. April 28, 2014. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_and_Power-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_and_Power-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..038e02c6d --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_and_Power-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,15 @@ +--- +title: "Energy and Power" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_and_Power" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:04:07.509850+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Energy and Power is a 1962 science book for children by L. Sprague de Camp, illustrated by Weimer Pursell and Fred Eng, published by Golden Press as part of The Golden Library of Knowledge Series. It has been translated into Portuguese and Spanish. +The title blurb summarizes the content as "How man uses animals, wind, water, heat, electricity, chemistry, and atoms to perform work." + + +== Notes == \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_and_the_Mind's_Eye-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_and_the_Mind's_Eye-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..9708917d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_and_the_Mind's_Eye-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +--- +title: "Engineering and the Mind's Eye" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_and_the_Mind's_Eye" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:04:08.787864+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Engineering and the Mind's Eye (1992) is a book by Eugene S. Ferguson, an engineer and historian of science and technology. It was published by MIT Press. In it, Ferguson discusses the importance of the mind's eye for the practicing engineer, including spatial visualization and visual thinking. + + +== Preface == +A major argument of the book is summarized as follows in the preface: + +Since World War II, the dominant trend in engineering has been away from knowledge that cannot be expressed as mathematical relationships. The art of engineering has been pushed aside in favor of the "engineering sciences," which are higher in status and easier to teach. The underlying argument of this book is that an engineering education that ignores its rich heritage of nonverbal learning will produce graduates who are dangerously ignorant of the myriad subtle ways in which the real world differs from the mathematical world their professors teach them. + + +== Chapters == +The book comprises 7 chapters and two additional sections on notes about the text and its figures. The chapters are: + +The Nature of Engineering Design +The Mind's Eye +Origins of Modern Engineering +The Tools of Visualization +The Development and Dissemination of Engineering Knowledge +The Making of an Engineer +The Gap between Promise and Performance. + + +== References == + + +== External links == +Eugene Shallcross Ferguson papers at Hagley Museum and Library \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engines_(book)-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engines_(book)-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..755507bf3 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engines_(book)-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,22 @@ +--- +title: "Engines (book)" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engines_(book)" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:04:09.916889+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Engines: Man's Use of Power, from the Water Wheel to the Atomic Pile is a science book for children by L. Sprague de Camp, illustrated by Jack Coggins, published by Golden Press as part of its Golden Library of Knowledge Series in 1959. A revised edition was issued in 1961, and a paperback edition in 1969. The book has been translated into Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Portuguese, and German. + + +== Summary == +As stated on the cover, the work is a survey of "Man's use of power, from the water wheel to the atomic pile." The topic is covered in short segments, titled "The Age of Engines," "Putting Energy to Work," "The First Engines," "Water and Wind Engines," "Early Steam Engines," "How a Steam Engine Works", "Steam Turbines," "Internal-combustion engines," "Otto Cycle Engines," "Two-stroke Cycle Engines," "Diesel Engines," "Gas Turbines," "Rockets," "Electric Motors," "How an Electric Motor Works," "Electric Generators and Power Systems," "Atomic Engines," and "How a Reactor Works." There is a brief one-page topical index. + + +== Reception == +The Science News-Letter, in its July 18, 1959 issue, listed the book among its "Books of the Week," describing the work as a "[f]actual book for young readers." + + +== Notes == \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escaping_the_Rabbit_Hole-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escaping_the_Rabbit_Hole-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..d024570b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escaping_the_Rabbit_Hole-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ +--- +title: "Escaping the Rabbit Hole" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escaping_the_Rabbit_Hole" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:04:12.219460+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect is a non-fiction book by Mick West that describes a method for helping people disengage from conspiratorial beliefs through patient dialogue, clear evidence, and an emphasis on trust building. Skyhorse Publishing released the first edition in 2018. A revised and updated edition appeared in 2023 with new case material on the COVID-19 pandemic, election fraud narratives, QAnon, and contemporary UFO claims. The work combines practical communication tactics with case studies drawn from West's investigations on the Metabunk forum. + + +== Background == +West is a science writer and investigator who founded Metabunk, an online forum focused on analyzing extraordinary claims. The book emerged from a decade of moderating and documenting conversations with believers and former believers, which shaped the focus on respectful engagement, calibration of claims to evidence, and attention to the social dynamics around conspiracist communities. +An excerpt from the book appeared in Salon before publication, outlining steps for approaching a friend who believes a conspiracy theory, including establishing common ground, isolating specific points of disagreement, and agreeing on shared standards of evidence. + + +== Contents == +The first edition sets out a communication framework that prioritizes rapport, mutual respect, and precise use of verifiable facts. It profiles four frequently discussed theories, chemtrails, 9/11 controlled demolition, false flag shootings, and flat Earth, then maps typical claims to traceable sources, observational data, and domain literature. West includes first person recovery narratives from former adherents to illustrate patterns of entry, maintenance, and exit from conspiratorial worldviews. The book closes with sections on the breadth of conspiracy thinking, avoiding the shill label during discussion, and psychological complications that stall progress. +The revised 2023 edition adds chapters and case material addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 United States election fraud narratives, the rise of QAnon, and renewed interest in UFOs. It expands the practical guidance with additional interview material and updates to references and examples. + + +== Reception == +In Skeptical Inquirer, Celestia Ward characterized the book as a "practical guide" to difficult conversations, praising its "personable tone" and focus on being a "consummate gentleman debunker" rather than point scoring. Ward observed that readers seeking "charts and graphs" might find the presentation oriented more toward communication tactics and selective empirical illustrations. +The Center for Inquiry praised the book as a "conversational book about how to have effective conversations," highlighting its approach of "maintaining an effective dialogue" while helping readers guide friends and relatives away from conspiracy beliefs. +The Times of Israel reviewer Ben Rothke praised the book's approach to addressing conspiracy theories, particularly highlighting its relevance to contemporary issues like anti-vaccination movements in religious communities. While noting that the book does not specifically address vaccines, Rothke emphasized that West's debunking techniques and strategies could be effectively applied to combat vaccine misinformation. +Steve Donoghue at Open Letters Review praised the book's "insistent and surprising note of inclusive humanism" and emphasis on "factual and logical information communicated with politeness and respect" rather than confrontational debate. + + +== References == \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_Genes-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_Genes-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..c531cf05c --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_Genes-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +--- +title: "Evil Genes" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_Genes" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:04:13.367096+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +Evil Genes is a book by Barbara Oakley, a systems engineer, about the neurological and social factors contributing to chronic antisocial behavior. The text was published on October 31, 2008, by Prometheus Books. +The book has earned both praise and criticism for its treatment of what Oakley considers gaps in psychological research surrounding "successfully sinister" individuals—those who show subclinical symptoms of personality disorders, and who are often found in positions of authority in politics, religion, business, and academia. + + +== See also == +Psychopathy +The Mask of Sanity +Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work +The Psychopath Test + + +== References == + + +== Further reading == +Erich Fromm: The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness + + +== External links == +Official website \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution new file mode 100644 index 000000000..e69de29bb diff --git a/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor's_New_Mind-0.md b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor's_New_Mind-0.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..06f861c99 --- /dev/null +++ b/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor's_New_Mind-0.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +title: "The Emperor's New Mind" +chunk: 1/1 +source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor's_New_Mind" +category: "reference" +tags: "science, encyclopedia" +date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:04:06.350774+00:00" +instance: "kb-cron" +--- + +The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physics is a 1989 book by the mathematical physicist Roger Penrose that posits a quantum mind theory. +Penrose argues that human consciousness is non-algorithmic, and thus is not capable of being modeled by a conventional Turing machine, which includes a digital computer. Penrose hypothesizes that quantum mechanics plays an essential role in the understanding of human consciousness. The collapse of the quantum wavefunction is seen as playing an important role in brain function. +Most of the book is spent reviewing, for the scientifically-minded lay-reader, a plethora of interrelated subjects such as Newtonian physics, special and general relativity, the philosophy and limitations of mathematics, quantum physics, cosmology, and the nature of time. Penrose intermittently describes how each of these bears on his developing theme: that consciousness is not "algorithmic". Only the later portions of the book address the thesis directly. + + +== Overview == +Penrose states that his ideas on the nature of consciousness are speculative, and his thesis is considered erroneous by some experts in the fields of philosophy, computer science, and robotics. +The Emperor's New Mind attacks the claims of artificial intelligence using the physics of computing: Penrose notes that the present home of computing lies more in the tangible world of classical mechanics than in the imponderable realm of quantum mechanics. The modern computer is a deterministic system that for the most part simply executes algorithms. Penrose shows that, by reconfiguring the boundaries of a billiard table, one might make a computer in which the billiard balls act as message carriers and their interactions act as logical decisions. The billiard-ball computer was first designed some years ago by Edward Fredkin and Tommaso Toffoli of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. + + +== Reception == +Following the publication of the book, Penrose began to collaborate with Stuart Hameroff on a biological analog to quantum computation involving microtubules, which became the foundation for his subsequent book, Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness. +Penrose won the Science Book Prize in 1990 for The Emperor's New Mind. +According to an article in the American Journal of Physics, Penrose incorrectly claims a barrier far away from a localized particle can affect the particle. + + +== See also == + +Alan Turing +Anathem +Church–Turing thesis +Mind–body dualism +Orchestrated objective reduction +Quantum mind +Raymond Smullyan +Shadows of the Mind +"The Emperor's New Clothes" +Turing test + + +== References == \ No newline at end of file