Week 10 -- what do we know about Jesus?

Here's a cool skeptic website where he broke down all the different breakdowns of Jesus. From birth, parents, marriage, adolescent years, resurrection etc - It also gives an account that the father of jesus was in fact a roman soldier, with his findings.

http://www.jesusreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=31

CBS posted an interview and report where people discussed the validity of the virgin birth. This goes along with the idea that Mary may not have been a virgin, but in fact hoped to be the story of the old testiment.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/19/48hours/main1135330_page2.shtml

Gerald Edelman - Neural Darwinism

brain is composed of many sub-systems. It may be goverend by a unversal algorithm

how does the mind derive from the brain?

is there a mechanistic, mathmatical theory of how the cognitinve processies derive from the brain.

it explains the organization of upper order brain functions, and made brain base devices to understand brain functions. To learn about the neural basis of consciousness.

we have to have a global brain theory. show which properties are responsible for consciousness, find ways to measure it, and show the differences in the brain that rise or do not rise to consciousness.

why is the brain not a computer? its more like an evolutinary jungle. it has structure, with lots of variablility. Its the most variablility structure imaginable, and each is different.

At the same time, the integrated powers is enourmous.

Ken Miller on Intelligent Design

Proper understanding of science. evolution is a theory, not a fact had warning stickers on text books that taught evolution in school.

there are several states that are trying to give time alotted in public school to teach intelligent design equally as evolution.

kansas had hearing, that invited many scientists to attend. They decided they would introduce criticisms in teaching evolution. they re-wrote the definition of science! science is the human activity of seeking natural explanations in the world around us. == now, science is the method of systematic continuing investigations, and finding more adequate explenations. we want more adequate explanations.

naturalism limits possible solutions, we want to open science up to non-naturalistic explanations.

ID argues fossil records is a problem for evolution. Sceince says there are so many forms of species and transitional forms its hard to pinpoint one and show it leads to x.

argument against evolution -- fossil records don't have the intermediate records to prove it.

there are 5 intermediate fossils found in the last 2 decades, in idia/pakistan is where the fossils are found

now have we solved the problem? no .. sceince is very self critical. Then middle ear would have completely changed. the land mammal is great at hearing on land, but can't hear under water.

The fossil records prove that adaptation, and becomes powerful for evolution.

Second
the genetic code for chimps were published in the last few years, they argue we evolved from the apes. There are similarities between us and apes ..

but we have 2 fewer chromosomes than the great apes.

Apes have 1 more pair of chromosomes than we do. If a whole chromoome was lost, that would be leathal! so if apes share common ancestor, they either have 46 or 48 chromosomes. One pair must have gotten fused, and non - of our chromosomes are fused, and if we don't find that, evolution is wrong we haven't found a link.

but, our chromosome # 2 was fused and is unique with our lineage.

Dr beke said the designer must be supernatural, and requires the horizons to broaden.. the project of ID is to expand science to include the supernatural.

sceince sucks at getting message to public. How many were known about the fusion of chromosome # 2 a 2 years ago??

Steven Pinker on Evolutinary Psychology

Variation is partly due to being genetic

Evoltionary Psychology - study of the universal human nature. Put most differences in people due to the environemnt, not genes. It depends on where you grew up.

Underneath all the variation, there is something more abstact with more rules of a language. A universal language is the stamp of those hidden rules. If you look superficiary at muscle movement and what they say, behavior is all over the map. But motives are all the same, usually.

Motions/patterns of thought is the nature of behavior.

Key insight of AI -- its hard to get computers to do intelligent things. They can't do waht we take for granted (walking without stepping over shadows). Gives appreciation to complexity to our brain, and have to ask where it came from? Could it be natual selection? what is evolutions role?

intelligence is a generic property, not something that came from nowhere. Evolution wasn't enough to evolve our brain.

Kin selection - key to understanding our social relationships. Our blood relatives are more important than strangers, why? Why are airports clogged at christmas? Whats up with strategic marriages, wars over succession ..

The existance of consciousness gives us the idea that there's something more to life... is it beyond neural science? is it beyond science?

what was life like before the big bang? what do you mean time only started when the big bang started? its a circle we fall into, which makes me think this thinking game is making us a victim , into thinking we don't need a purpose because our mind can't grasp it.

bottom line -- the brain is a limited organ. It was designed to finish a finite set of tasks, problems that are life and death matters ... we can't hold 10,000 words in short term or mentally rotate objects in the 4th dimension or solve complex issues like free will... so stop trying!

Week 9

Here's an awesome "illuminated text" on eugenics. There are multiple different areas you can click on to learn about history, quotes, photos etc that is easy to read and follow.

http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/

This is an encouraging eugenics sight that will provide you with tools, books and contacts to improve the human race. There are also testimonials, references and multiple images of how this can work.

http://www.eugenics.net/

Week 8 - Expelled

I also enjoyed the movie. I didn't know much about it, or what the purpose of it was. The only thing I dislike about those propoganda films is how they always show the lamest, belittling clips of things they are trying to bash. Like the film zietgeist, everytime jesus was protrayed it was the lamest, oldest stupidest low budget film clip around. I understand its hard to show something you are passionate about without having your biased views to be evident, but I wish it was more neutral just provding information. Here's what a few people thought about the movie:

http://community.centredaily.com/?q=node/4666


One of my favorite parts was the very end of the movie, where Dawkins was stumbling over his words. I respect and admire the guys knowledge about so many theistic issues, but I'm not a huge fan of his attitude and the way he protrays himself as an intelectual. Hitchens is much worse, and is way to arrogant for me to seriously listen to what he has to say just based on his delivery. This is a funny website of a guy who is agnostic, but doesn't like Dawkins based on his pesonality and presentation of his views:
http://dawkinsdouche.wordpress.com/

week 7 --

conscious vs nonconscious. I never realized how many differences were in the two, and this site has a long list of what some of the differences are. Verbal, deliberate, single-tasking, orderly and analytical are all examples of our consciousness. On the other hand, our non-conscious side is based on emotional, multi-tasking, not the right here right now, and the understanding of why. Looking at the two,our non-conscious side leads much more to the possibility of outside realms and levels of reality. Our practical mind doesn't give us that option, and limits our living to the right here right now. Therefore, it appears we aren't able to consciously get outside our earthly limits until we are allowed to dream.

http://www.ayrmetes.com/articles/conscious_and_unconscious.htm


Does our brain control us, or are we in control? This article discusses cases with battered women and children, and how this sticks with us for a lifetime. Our fondest memories or deepest fears are always on our mind, and resurrected throughout life. Showing that we aren't really in control of our mind or emotions, but rather our brain brings them up throught life. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/186047/does_our_brain_control_us.html

Video Conference review

Science is based more on facts, while religion on emotions
They tend to have negative effects on each other

Science can't prove that god doesn't intervine with earth, but the older the earth gets, the less we see god having to intervene. Where is there a place for god?

Science shows the earth is a perfect, balanced place...

Weekly Posts, Week1, 2, 3, 4, 5

I ran across google authors on youtube, and found an awesome one with
charles hitchens. He starts out with about a 20 minute recap of his
book, God is not great, and discusses a few things of religion
poisoning our efforts and accomplishments as man in this day and age.
Then he answers questions from the audience

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7205668993419299046&vt=lf&hl=en

Here's another shorter interview of Hitchens, where he talks about the
frustration as he feels many are forced to believe in God. He felt the
timing was right to publish his book with the war, and so much turmoil
going on with distension among the country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YPmt8TUoX4

Sun Oct 5, 2008 5:13 pm

When Lane talked about how our brains are divided, and how we weren't
able to comprehend anything too complex, I wanted to check out to see
what some other people thought. In this link the argument is we use
our imagination to try to make sense of things we don't understand,
and give a basic interpretation to conclusions we want answers to
(even if they aren't there).

http://novan.com/god.htm


This is a great website, and gives a brief outline of all the lectures
so far. It starts with Einstein being a realist, and stating that
everything that happened is due to another subsequent action. Then
Newton, providing us he outline of the earths rotation around the sun,
and with time and motion you can figure out paths to find speeds, and
start times. But this does not apply to quanta.

http://www.eequalsmcsquared.auckland.ac.nz/sites/emc2/tl/philosophy/dice.cfm

Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:49 am

After starting to read Hitchens book, God is Not Great, I really
wanted to learn more about his history, childhood, and past
experiences. He makes a lot of bold statements, and I didn't know if
he had some bad/enlightening experiences in his past to shape his
character. He was involved in many left sided clubs and organizations
growing up, and has a ton of education, basically in economics,
philosophy and politics. He is extermely knowledgeable of various
religions, practices and political issues. He has been all over the
map in terms of opinions (protested vietnam war, but in favor of
bush's re-election and the Iraqi war. Its a good read, especially if
you are reading his books.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens


Dawkins is another guy I wanted to know more about. Richard Dawkins is
an evolutionary biologist, and received most of his education from
Berkley. He is against the idea of creationism, saying it is something
we make up in our mind and want to believe. Evolution is a proven
thing, and something that has been observed, just not observed in the
process. Here's a link to his bio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins

Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:07 pm

Show Message Option

Here's a cool website where you can look at any verse in the bible,
with all the various translations of the books of the bible.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/


Dave also talked about how many religions tend to defend, instead of
falsify their beliefs and teachings ... one of the best known
apologetics Christian books I know of is "Evidence that Demands a
Verdict" by Josh MdDowell. Here's a guys opinion of the book in review..

http://www.islandnet.com/~luree/evidence.html

Sat Sep 13, 2008 3:18 pm

Show Message Option

After reading and watching those you tube videos, I think its
important to really check and see what the definition of religion is
to different people. To that Freeman Dyson guy, religion is just a
community based on ethics and morals, more so than a devine god.

This guy breaks down religion into people with the same interests,
with similar rules, who live similar ways that live a way of life.
Creed, Code, Ethics and Conduct. Religion doesn't have to have faith
in a God, creator, or neither. It could just stand for a group of
people living together with the same interests, laws, morals and way
of life, as described below:

http://www.crosscurrents.org/whatisreligion.htm


The Dead Sea Scrolls are an important part of biblical history,
proving the translation and relevance of the old testement. When they
were found in 1947, they contained parts of Genesis, Psalms, Danial
and about 15 other books of the old testiment. Here you can see
pictures, and learn more about the scrolls

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_scrolls

Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:34 pm

Show Message Option

Gammon at the Dell ..

Tuesday taco night, town center, a great night for gammon , but, not so much for kozmo
3-1. He tried a new strategy, the picture you see is after game one (where he leads 1-0) soon, reality hit. Its a good thing he enjoyed that shake before the next roll ..

Charles Hitchens on Google video talking about his book .. God is not Great - How Religion Poisions Everything

We are all part of nature

We can be assure that the big bang is still moving away from us, and can be sure that it is not a design like you are reading this now. God , if there is one, wouldn't know or care that we are here.

Religion poisons matters, because it asks why don't we pretend we aren't going to die. Why do we not pretend that modern diseases (which we can sequence), why do we keep fooling ourselves? It attacks the integrity we need, to investigate the evidence we need to prosper and grow.

We shouldn't tamper with god's design, like limiting stem cell research is absurb!!! why not use technology to protect human kind?

Religious people ask where would our morals come from if there is no god? If god is dead, isn't everything acceptable? I take it as an insult ... we don't rape because we are affraid of divine punishment

I don't believe in moses, or the excile of the jews etc, I don't believe that my ancestors believed in rape and everything until they got to mount siani, then when they get there learn its bad.

Nobody could get that far, unless they know that human solidairty demands we look at each other as brohter and sister.

There are psychopaths, which makes the image of god questionable? or can they be explained and be held back in society..

There's a temptation of something that is really poisonous, and it is the fear of freedom. We like to live under documentations, and its our brithright to be free and liberated.

Do we really wish it is true that there is a god that watches over us all day, all night, knows our thoughts,convicts us for our private thoughts, and doesn't let go of us when we are dead! who wishes that is true?? who wants to lead the life of a servant all the time??

Some religious people have done great things! don't get me wrong ..

Name me an ethical statement, by a religous person in the name of faith, that couldn't have been made my someone with no faith? Nobody has been able to do it ..

That being the case, think of a wicked thing said or done by somoene of religous faith, and everyone could name a bunch of things instantly.

If everyone can nam an instance, where religion has made each other act worse, its all the time. Humans are better off, with our technology, than by the rules of any god. We have small microscopes which look at the double helix in awe, the fools that believe in the supernatural are wasting their time.

What about the seperation between church and state? God isn't mentioned in the constitution, other than to keep it out of the country. Jefferson made that very clear, he built up that wall and may nobody take it down.

The word islam, means give all to god

we want someone to take care of us all the time

John Maynard Smith and evolution...

Game theory -- Thinking, concious, rational beings
He applies to animals as well as humans

Applied game theory to plants, insects, all aspects of life
he borrowed the mathematical notation.. the idea of the payoff matrix ( I do this, you do that)

Natural selection and design produce the same results...
One just isn't done conciously

frequency dependent selection -- the idea that the selection in favor goes to how frequent it lives in the population.
The rarer sex would have more children, and have a better chance to survive

Hawk/Dove theory -- One is like to withdraw, and the other aggressive. He shows that that, in theory, can stabelize.
He made it as a hypothetical way of looking at the problem, which was derived from game theory.

Being aggressive is a more costly thing, which can cause equilibruim.


The reasons animals fight without getting in an escelated fight, if they fought more aggressive, they would die. That is bad for the species..

He has hard times answering questions on humans, and its more difficult to test <>
Human behavior is very odd, there's lots of traits it lowers the fitness of a person

Depression, recessions, can limit reproduction .. outside factors
While genetics can change the human race, too .. many of which are common

The Evolutionary Stable Strategy -- -- simple minded idea, he came up with the theory -
If there is strategies, then the ESS, provided everyone in the population does it, there's no way to beat it.

the more cooporation in a species, the more it will do well.
Human psychology, if you put 2 people in a situation where they are playing for money, and there's no chance they will meet ...
If one of them cheated, the other person gets mad, and they will punish their opponent even if it hurts themselves

Multi-cellular life can seem so impossible from chance.. does it still seem unlikely on theoretical ground? yes, its very hard to come up with an explenation of primitive cells divide and evolve is an incredible process of meiosis.

Evolution happens in a sexual active population much quicker than random mutations...

In not so long, in evolution terms, you find intelligent species. The species looks back, and is in awe that the evolution happened

Dinosaurs were bi-pedal too, why didn't species have high intelligence? they weren't given enough time to evolve that ..

If one species evolves with high intelligence, it will stop other species from doing that as well, so you only have one dominant species

The last major transfomation wasn't language, but technology and storing information. that only took 50 yrs, what is it going to look like in 500 years? could we be replaced by electronic organisations? it will depend on us letting them and how they do without our electroic aid.

As far as darwin, its hard to picture a species changing by environmental means. He thinks there's more to it than that .. but a strong conflict between Marx's view <> are a result of society and our role in the economy. Vs human beings are a product of million of years of being and evolution.

darwinsim is hard, because he says there is no higher purpose in the universe. And its hard, because we don't know what it means to have a higher purpose. this feeling is a product of humans, not a product of the universe. People create their own meaning.

Darwinsim helps with understanding of the world, with an intelligent interest.

Gammon at the Ol' Charby ...

As Kozmo munched on Chili Cheese fries and slurpies, a dominating performance, 4-0 was displayed

Gammon of the week--

After a fine cuisine at Miyakos , Kozmo's fate was handed to him with the winning roll of double 6's ( as shown by the chopsticks ) ... thus marks the epic role of the day ..

honorable mention .. ronnie d whipped the floor with me in online backgammon, finishing a 2-game series 4-2 (im calling major online shananaggans)

Backgammon in the backyard

It was an awesome night of BBQ tukey burgers, fries, chips and drinks --

We played a few rounds of PIG, and a few rounds of gammon --

ryan - 2:1
ron -- 2:1
jack -- 2:1
Kozmo -- 0:3 <>

Richard Dawkins - The Strangeness of Science

There are more things in heaven/earth, than more that can be dreamed of in any philosophy

Quantum Theory must be true, but their assumptions are very mysterious

The worst thing you can say about it, is that it is wasteful -

What makes us capable for us to suppose? Will we always never know things about the universe? Ungraspable to any mind?

We are used to the idea of the earth spinning, its hard to imagine how shattering that revolution was.

Science taught us that solid things, are entirely composed of empty space
The hardest, solidest, denseness rock is empty space

Why do they look and feel solid? Our brains have evolved to help us survive, because we never evolved to see science

its useful for our brains to evolve ideas, because those notions help us navigate through the middle sized road, otherwise we would understand Einstein

It limits what we are capable of understanding because we are middle road thinkers

Our priority is gravity, but small organisms think about surface tension the most


Waves in a vacuum seem unreal, we find real matter comoforting as solids, where matter is more of a thing

We are more like a wave, than a permament thing -- like, our childhood memories of smell etc.
Matter flows from place to place, and momentry brings us together now.

Variety of "really's" depends on what we need to survive -- its regulated and adjusted by data, and constructed for dealing in the real world. A fly needs a different model then a swimming model, and has different software to its daily needs

Bats could smell in color .. Just as dogs and smell various fatty acids with their nose, much like we can tell you how long and thick a piano string is by hearing a note.. bats can smell to see the color

Middle road is the narrow range of reality, we consider normal --

A marble model could wave and say hi to us, and it could because the atoms are moving the whole time, and the atoms could move at the same time in the same way, and we could see it moving at us -- its not probable in middle world, but it could happen

There are 100 billion billion planets out there

If life only arise once, that planet has to be us. So we are allowed to postulate chemical events which have a really low probability .. but he thinks life is common, but it could be so rare that no form of life will encounter another

He argues that our kids, should start playing computer games to help develop middle brains to understand quantum physics

Mechanistic view of mind, we are wired the same way, but if our neural anatomy was different we would be different -- but we are incosistent, we act differently in situations

the reason we personify things, like cars etc .. we live in a social world. We are evolved to second guess the behavior of others..

Its a great way to model humans..

If the universe is so weird, is it because we programed our brains to think so? or can we train ourselves to break out of the box, or are there so things soo queer that not even humans can dream of?

Spooky Physics -- Einstein Bohr Debates...

Our brains have adapted and evolved so we don't understand or comprehend high or low levels of thinking, just enough to know about survival and staying alive. A man's brain is never static, thus the world is never static as well.

Neutonian physics - holds true that with time and momentum, things on earth and the universe can be predictable by applying one principal to the many. However, in smaller quantas of energy, the theory breaks down.

Once you get a measure on either the electrons speed or momentum, you lose information about the other. the radar, or measuring device is changing either the electrons speed or momentum when it hits the electron, therefore you can never fully know where a single packet of energy is at any given time

The smallest bundle of energy, or proton is the smallest thing you can break down, just like a penny is the smallest currency. Nature decided that, which is why you can never fully know the location of a single electron (also known as Plank's constant)

This questioned Einsteins accomplishments of light being a wave. Is it a wave, or particle, or both?

The light experiment, done by Feynman in the late 1960's, shows that when you have 2 slits open, light acts as a wave and transmits through both slits, But when one dot is open, light acts as bundles of energy, and becomes particles to transmit itself

Schrodingers cat -- Particles can be in two positions at once. Like the cat experiment, the cat can be both alive or dead, you just don't know the outcome until you move the curtain, then you determined the state of the particles.

Objective reality -- does the moon exist if we aren't looking at it? Traditional quantum physicists say no, there is no reality beyond what we observe.

CHAPTER 2
Einstien - I dont like quantum physics, if we aren't measuing an atom, we know it is moving and spinning ... Therefore, if we aren't looking at the moon, we still know its there

"There was no phenomena, unless it is an observed phenomena"

"Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory must not have understood it"

Backgammon, 2

Ryan just got his new, sweet motorcycle a few days ago ... we had to celebrate by feasting on a surfer special at el burrito jr , and playing gammon at the beach. Another solid victory, defeating ryan 3 games to 1

Backgammon, part 1

So I decided that we need to keep an ongoing tally of all backgammon played, specific to traveling backgammon. yesterday, Kozmo and I biked to Inn n out, where he got the best of me. Then, we brought it to seal beach, where a drunk guy in his 40's kept talking to us about how Backgammon is a lost art, and most people dont know how to play etc. I won, 3-2, and got a free slurpee (which he still owes)

Jack- 1
Kozmo-0

Owen Gingerich on Astromony, God and Jesus

The universe is easier to understand with purpose and design.

It would be silly to picture everything here, alive, and the universe without having a meaning

Its hard to prove, but it makes more sense to have ultimate purpose and reasoning


there's always a religious tension between science and the natural world. In the early part of the periodic table, there is no stable mass 5. Some say it is God's goof. If you make the elements from scratch, you will not be able to build up to higher elements.

Hydrogen links to everyone, but to build up Helium atoms (4 mass)

Carbon and Oxygen are the 2 most abundant elements after Helium, necessary for life.
If there was a mass 5, then you can zoom up to the heavier elements in the big bang.

So this goof, was necessary to creating life to have an abundance of the elements of life.


Anthropic principal -- when it was proposed as an idea, it was saying all these things are magnificent, it looks like the universe was designed to make life possible
When people got uncomfortable, people turned it around -- saying we wouldn't be here to speculate, so we have to find out the answer because we are here

there could be a master plan with a designer
2 - we are just in 1 universe, where we are in the one that happens to have this configuration
3 - the universe could be no other way, there are no alternative universes. To make a universe at all, it needs to be this way

Everyone is men of faith, even the skeptics have fallen for a belief system that ruled out the notion of God, but something you can't prove in any way.
It may make more sense for your, but it can't be proved there is no God.

Agnostic -- say you dont' know, you are open to arguments from both sides. Its hard to pin a tag of faith.

Eternity can embody all of time in it. Scientists think about eternity, you have to go outside of our measure of time. To learn before the big bang, time is only present if you have change and motion. If you have nothing, you dont have change and motion.

An eternity can be defined as something in which time is embedded, and other universes might arise that lack a dimension of time, or multiple dimensions of time. Its hard for us to fathom, because we think in term sof cause and effect, and as having a past that can be remembered, and a future that is not accessible to us.

Before the big bang, they aren't dismmissing themselves from time. What is happening is a time dependent notion.

christians talk about another universe, that we dont' have access to -- heaven

The image of God as the creater is hard to comprehend, and picture an image of God. If , he has this omnicipants and wants to relate to his creatures, then God has the power to come forward in different aspects --

whats the purpose? we hope we play a part, otherwise we can't philisophically understand our purpose. We think the purpose is to study and understand, in which God created a universe that allows us to examine and understand the universe, and use taht understanding to enhance the relationships with the creatures on the earth. (kepler said by studying the uinverse, he is glorified God)

Week 1 Posts..

These are the posts to the group website from week 1

Here's a cool website where you can look at any verse in the bible,
with all the various translations of the books of the bible.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/


Dave also talked about how many religions tend to defend, instead of
falsify their beliefs and teachings ... one of the best known
apologetics Christian books I know of is "Evidence that Demands a
Verdict" by Josh MdDowell. Here's a guys opinion of the book in review..

http://www.islandnet.com/~luree/evidence.html

Freeman Dyson and the Mathmatics of the Universe

Can life survive indefinately in an expanding universe??

Dicen's sphere

Background -- remains mathmetician

Quantum physics -- a tool for describing the world, mathmatics tool. Precise and clear, hard to explain in words.

Religion is a way of life, not a belief

He is a christian, without the theology

He looks at the church as a community, who take care of each other, a true artform , more than a philosophy

God is a mind beyond the scale of our understanding

Religion is the things that people do ..


More about observance, and less about beliefs


So whats the difference between beliefs and ethics??
Religion = lasts over time, lots of tradition

Life doesn't make sense if you don't believe in some sort of purpose

He argues science is compatable with religion --


3 levels of mind
1 - human
2 - sub atomic
3 - macro, universal mind

Science has a restricted frame of application, science doesn't touch questions religion does
Science can't take care of ethics


Dyson spheres -- there is intelligent life out there, they are just not interested in communicating
We should try to connect to alians that do not want to communicate, to search and find all sorts of societies

Spooky Physics, part 1

Here's a compilation of written thoughts/things I want to remember as I read this...

Human brains are meant to understand middle concepts, nothing too complex or too small.

Newtonian physics says the universe is mechanical and predictable, so if we figure out certain things about the stars or universe, it is constant and can be indentified

Qunatum Physics nit picks and breaks down everything into the tinniest molecules, which leaves our mind in a wonder when we try to interpret our findings.

A quanta is the smallest unit you can measure, much like a penny is our currencies smallest monetary value.

Is light a wave , or particle? in richard feynman's double split experiment, shows how light is displayed depends on the application. It can be seen as a beam of light, and also as a quanta -- it depends on our measuring device.


Quantum mechanics is just a probable model that can help us to figure out outcomes, probablities, odds, outcomes and trjectories.

If you toss a coin, whats the odds it will be heads 100 times in a row? if its out of a 1,000 tries, not a good bet .. but if its a trillion, much better odds

a cat can be alive and dead in a box, only when you open the box is the cat's fate shown

Quantum theory says there is nothing existing past what we see.

Eistein didn't like the final idea of quantum theory, and disagreed ..


CHAPTER 2

eisntein said the moon is there, even when I am not looking at it

He later said there is so much human error and uncertaintly, even when we are in a measuring device (which already alters what is known) - Like the radar gun

Einstein beleived there was a real model that could explain reality, not just a model that gave probabilities and outcomes, but he wanted something more concrete

Lisa Randall on the Universe, Edward O. Wilson on the Creation ...

NOTES FROM LISA RANDALL

Einstein helped develop a toolbox to look at space, particles and other breakthroughs

We are trying to understand how the forces are related, learn more about gravity and why its weaker than other forces...

How does gravity manifest itself?

4 dimensions -- up down, left right, forward backward, and time

String theory -- branes could be in universe that don't spread, and things are stuck on those surfaces -- example is water droplets on a shower curtain. there's a dimension stuck on another.

what does gravity look like? Energy allows it to be concentrated, otherwise it would just be spread out. meaning what? as you move away from branes, gravity gets weaker, and could create another dimension and be concentrated on another gravity brane

we percive gravity as week, because it is concentrated elsewhere in an extra dimension, and we are getting the tail end of gravity

space time is warped.. we rescale things in extra dimensions. Things aren't alwasy heavy, just in the gravity brane. So warp space time effects various dimensions

Its very hard to measure extra dimensions, but if they do exist it would change the way everyone views the universe, both phsyicists, mathmaticians and cosmotolocists.


What is the universe in which we live? Are there other dimensions, other forces, other people?

We are just a small part of something very big..

There could me a multi-verse, where we don't have access, tools or the capacity to measure or find them...

We live on a brane, if there's another brane, it wouldn't apply on another brane, due to the totally different forces.

Maybe the only force we have in common with othter branes is only gravity



Effective theory -- you can learn about things on a large scale, and compare and relate them to smaller scales to come up with conclusions


EDWARD WILSON NOTES

The Creation - an appeal to save life on earth-- latest book
an effort to bridge the gap between scientists and evangelicals

It's agenda is to call on the religious faithful to join scientists, environmentalists etc to show respect to each other

We, as humans, should be promoters and preservers of the planet, not destroyers and just consumers.

Wison argues that christians, or theists in general, need to address the earths issues together with scientists, and unite the two social forces.

It's not AGAINST religion to be against the world, and he argues scientists think the two can't cross paths or coincide at all, and thats not true.

We need to do several things to save the planet, we need to define what the problm is and make it known to the public. Need education, define and measure.

People want to know what the problem is, the consequences, how to fix it (what science can contribute) and how much it will cost to fix things (economist).

To save the hottest of the hot spots (hawaii, madagascar and all the plants, species etc) and put an umbrella over them, and save the core area from the 3 remaining tropical rain forests (amazon, congo, new guinies) would cost 30 billion dollars

which is 10% of what the Iraqi war costs!!!

The first week of class...

I was blown away by all the knowledge and memory the teacher had. Most of the time, I found myself trying to catch up with what was already said. It is easy to give respect to individuals who lead my example and knowledge, rather than most teachers who instill all of their degrees and work experience to gain notoriety.

Its a nice break from the typical business classes I am used to, and I can't wait to see what is in store for the semester.