It's a gray day here, in that good way ( Read more... )

Iron sun sets; stars stir --
Thoughts drift on cool night breeze.
Infinity blooms.

So I've been thinking a lot recently about the social structure of fame. That is: how is it that some people get to be "tops" in their fields and recognized even beyond the bounds of their disciplines, while (most) others don't? And, perhaps even more importantly, why is recognition distributed so disproportionately?

( Long meditation behind the cut )

Yeah, it's an overblown title, but I'm stealing it from the group who used it on their Science article. (Subscription only, I'm afraid, but you can at least read the abstract, and you can probably get the article itself if you have access to a university library or equivalent.)

( More thoughts on automated science )

echoweaver 's parents have been visiting this week.  During a dinner conversation, one of them mentioned a point that has always bothered me:

"95% of the rules exist for 5% of the people"

( A long, rambling meditation on possible approaches to fixing this... )