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Kipple drives out nonkipple

February 15th, 2009 · 3 Comments

Kipple is a word invented by the science fiction author Philip K. Dick for a concept similar to entropy. Here is the passage explaining kipple from Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was made into the film Blade Runner:

Kipple is useless objects, like junk mail or match folders after you use the last match or gum wrappers or yesterday’s home page. When nobody’s around, kipple reproduces itself. For instance, if you to go bed leaving any kipple around your apartment, when you wake up there is twice as much of it. It always gets more and more.

The novel’s philosopher of kipple, J. R. Isidore (who became J. F. Sebastian in Blade Runner), explains…

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→ 3 Comments | Categories: Ideas · Kipple · Science

The upside of natural disasters

February 13th, 2009 · No Comments

godzilla-economyThe Boston Globe published an article, How disasters help, making the case that “natural disasters can give a boost to the countries where they occur – and sometimes, the more the better.” A little over a month after a massive earthquake struck China’s Province, the Chinese government is claiming that despite the catastrophic amount of damage, thanks to the huge rebuilding effort the quake will actually boost national economic growth by .3 percent this year, and it may not be just government hype…

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→ No Comments | Categories: Disasters · Economy