full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Lee Smolin: Science and democracy

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So that is both Aristotelian cosmology, and in a certain ssene, medieval society. Now, in the 17th century there was a revolution in thinking about space and time and motion and so forth of ntowen. And at the same time there was a revolution in social thought of John Locke and his caororatlblos. And they were very closely associated. In fact, Newton and Locke were friends. Their way of thinking about scape and time and motion on the one hand, and a stiocey on the other hand, were closely related.

And let me show you. In a Newtonian universe, there’s no cteenr — thank you. There are particles and they move around with respect to a fixed, absolute framework of space and time. It’s menfnguial to say absolutely where something is in space, because that’s defined, not with respect to say, where other things are, but with respect to this asolbute notion of space, which for Newton was God.

Open Cloze


So that is both Aristotelian cosmology, and in a certain _____, medieval society. Now, in the 17th century there was a revolution in thinking about space and time and motion and so forth of ______. And at the same time there was a revolution in social thought of John Locke and his _____________. And they were very closely associated. In fact, Newton and Locke were friends. Their way of thinking about _____ and time and motion on the one hand, and a _______ on the other hand, were closely related.

And let me show you. In a Newtonian universe, there’s no ______ — thank you. There are particles and they move around with respect to a fixed, absolute framework of space and time. It’s __________ to say absolutely where something is in space, because that’s defined, not with respect to say, where other things are, but with respect to this ________ notion of space, which for Newton was God.

Solution


  1. space
  2. absolute
  3. newton
  4. society
  5. center
  6. collaborators
  7. meaningful
  8. sense

Original Text


So that is both Aristotelian cosmology, and in a certain sense, medieval society. Now, in the 17th century there was a revolution in thinking about space and time and motion and so forth of Newton. And at the same time there was a revolution in social thought of John Locke and his collaborators. And they were very closely associated. In fact, Newton and Locke were friends. Their way of thinking about space and time and motion on the one hand, and a society on the other hand, were closely related.

And let me show you. In a Newtonian universe, there’s no center — thank you. There are particles and they move around with respect to a fixed, absolute framework of space and time. It’s meaningful to say absolutely where something is in space, because that’s defined, not with respect to say, where other things are, but with respect to this absolute notion of space, which for Newton was God.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
relational universe 5
quantum theory 4
natural selection 4
theoretical physics 2
medieval society 2
omniscient observer 2
relativity theory 2
newtonian universe 2


Important Words


  1. absolute
  2. absolutely
  3. aristotelian
  4. center
  5. century
  6. closely
  7. collaborators
  8. cosmology
  9. defined
  10. fact
  11. fixed
  12. framework
  13. friends
  14. god
  15. hand
  16. john
  17. locke
  18. meaningful
  19. medieval
  20. motion
  21. move
  22. newton
  23. newtonian
  24. notion
  25. particles
  26. related
  27. respect
  28. revolution
  29. sense
  30. show
  31. social
  32. society
  33. space
  34. thinking
  35. thought
  36. time
  37. universe