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Self-Portrait by Ernst Mach (1886)

114 points by Hooke

by libraryofbabel

1 subcomments

The article mentions Mach numbers, but it leaves out what is most interesting about Mach’s place in the history of science, which is as a bridge to Einstein and General Relativity. Essentially Einstein read Mach and took a bunch of mind-bendingly profound but vague philosophical ideas like Mach’s Principle[0] and put together General Relativity out of it. And this self portrait gives that side of Mach too - the philosopher obsessed with phenomenology and how local perception relates to the large scale universe out there.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach%27s_principle

by vijucat

7 subcomments

I've always been struck by how long sentences are in writing from a century or more ago. To my mind whose attention-span has been poisoned by YouTube Shorts (even if they are mostly about trigonometry) and Tweets (even if I tell myself that's the new newspaper), they are most difficult to read. I often have to restart from the beginning.
Albeit an extreme example, here's a sentence from Henry James' "The Ambassadors", 1909:
The principle I have just mentioned as operating had been, with the most newly disembarked of the two men, wholly instinctive - the fruit of a sharp sense that, delightful as it would be to find himself looking, after so much separation, into his comrade's face, his business would be a trifle bungled should he simply arrange for this countenance to present itself to the nearing steamer as the first "note," of Europe.

by Jordan-117

2 subcomments

I like how details fade around the edges -- though for maximum accuracy, there should only be a tiny area of high detail in the center, with most of the visual field being indistinct (as well as a total blind spot to one side). The brain just knows how to fill in remembered details of stuff you're not looking at directly, same way you tune out the sight of your own nose. Gaze-tracking and foveated rendering is a neat way of taking advantage of this quirk to speed up graphical processing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foveated_rendering

by rebolek

0 subcomment

Ernst Mach is such an interesting guy! I’ve started working on a synth which is named by him [1] and I believe he needs much more recognition - this self portrait exactly captures his philosophy - there’s no absolute frame of reference, everything is relative, which leads directly to you know what. I wish he would be remembered for more than just Mach number.
[1] https://pokuston.com/mach-i.html

by baruchel

0 subcomment

If I remember correctly, this picture is commented in the very good book "Exact thinking in demented times", together with Mach's ideas.

by totetsu

0 subcomment

by noemit

0 subcomment

by arikrak

0 subcomment

This drawing influenced Douglas Harding in developing "The Headless Way", a recognition that in immediate experience there is no head or self (and influential on Sam Harris).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Harding#%22Headlessnes...

by devcraft_ai

0 subcomment