“‘A spherical body––a planet, moon, or star––having a given quantity of matter, produces a gravitational attraction that is the same as if all of its matter were concentrated into a single geometric point at the center.’ ‘The same? You mean exactly the same?’ ‘It is a geometrical proof,’ Isaac merely said. ‘That the particles are […]
“World currency markets are rocked by the turbulent force of electronically lubricated financial speculation. Weapons of mass destruction are cultivated by rogue regimes and New Age cults. Nations seem less cohesive than before, afflicted by ethnic or religious or cultural faction. Health officials seriously discuss the prospect of a worldwide plague––the unspeakably gruesome Ebola virus, […]
Mark Johnson was my senior thesis adviser at the University of Oregon. More than that, he changed my life profoundly, starting with his Philosophy 101 lecture course on Philosophical Problems, which caused me to change my major after just one term at UO. Johnson introduced me to the works of John Dewey––my intellectual hero––and also […]
“‘Yes, Dr. Waterhouse, we live in an orderly society and men replace each other.’ ‘Sometimes. But some can’t be replaced.’ ‘I don’t know that I agree.’ ‘Suppose that, God forbid, Newton died. Who would replace him?’ ‘Hooke, or maybe Leibniz.’ ‘But Hooke and Leibniz are different. I put it to you that some men really […]
“‘I will not rest until my enemy’s identity is known, and I’ve put him in his grave.’ ‘But suppose that when you learn his identity, he turns out to be your great-uncle, and your cousin’s brother-in-law, and your best friend’s godfather?’ ‘I’m only speaking of one enemy––’ ‘I know. But royal families of Europe are […]
“‘What’s a chakra?’ ‘You’ll know when I find it.’ Some time later, she did, and then the procedure took on greater intensity, to say the least. Suspended between Eliza’s two hands, like a scale in a market-place, Jack could feel his balance-point shifting as quantities of fluids were pumped between internal reservoirs, all in preparation […]
“They were formidable-looking fellows with handsome sabers, the only Turks Jack had laid eyes on today who were actually alive, and the only ones who were in any condition to conduct violence against Christians. He preferred to leave them be. A saber struck at the top of one of those colorful tents, and a woman […]
“This rich man had hired Jack and arranged for him to get something called a Plague Pass: a large document in that Gothickal German script with occasional excursions into something that looked like either Latin (when it was desirable to invoke the mercy and grace of God) or French (for sucking up to King Looie, […]
“They came into the light of another street-lamp. Daniel took advantage of it to look at his companion’s face, and gauge his mood. Leibniz looked a good deal more resolute than he had beneath the previous street-lamp. ‘It is childish of me to expect older men to tell me what to do,’ the Doctor said. […]
“‘You have been to London before, Dr. Leibniz?’ ‘I have been studying London-paintings.’ ‘I’m afraid most of those became antiquarian curiosities after the Fire––like street plans of Atlantis.’ ‘And yet viewing several depictions of even an imaginary city, is enlightening in a way,’ Leibniz said. ‘Each painter can view the city from only one standpoint […]