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 <>
Monday, September 29, 2008
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 <>
Sunday, September 28, 2008
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?
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?
Monday, September 22, 2008
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"
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
Saturday, September 20, 2008
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)
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)
Thursday, September 18, 2008
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
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
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
Sunday, September 14, 2008
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
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
Saturday, September 13, 2008
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!!!
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.
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.
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