frogspawn

This, That and The Other

2011-11-23T13:40:00.001Z

I am This. When I look out at the world, I see That. That is the world I try to understand. Sometimes I try to look in at myself, I try to understand This.
To me, you are The Other, you are a special part of That which I assume is like me. Of course, you see yourself as 'This' and to you, I am 'The Other'. But we both share an experience of That.

The interface between This and That is my skin. Perhaps the self does not lie inside or outside this membrane but in the membrane itself - just like the present exists in the membrane between past and future.

The Real World Out There

2011-11-15T10:31:00.001Z

The RWOT is where we go to test our scientific theories to see if they are true.
Does the RWOT really exist (independently from us)?
Do we continuously modify it?
Does it depend on the stories we tell about it?
Does it modify us?
Do we modify it?
Perhaps the idea of the RWOT came after the invention of windows? (No not the Microsoft one!)

Who created God?

2011-11-11T12:51:00.001Z

It is my belief that we created the idea of God, just as we have created other useful concepts like Energy, Matter, Time and Space.
Is it possible that we created God AND God created us?

What is the universe made of?

2011-11-11T12:21:00.001Z

The universe is made of events and stories.

What beliefs matter?

2011-11-10T16:35:00.000Z

Some beliefs affect our individual lives and the way we live them, the decisions we take and the goals we set for ourselves. Other beliefs though they seem at first to be fundamental, don't make two hoots of difference to our behavior.
Some beliefs which matter
The power of prayer, destiny, The existence of Good and Evil forces, Heaven and/or Hell, Karma, A belief in the Divine Right of a ruler, belief in an interventionist God, magic, that you are invulnerable, patriotism, that one race or group is superior/inferior to another, that mankind is basically good/evil, greed is good/bad, we should follow a set of divine rules.
Some beliefs which don't make any difference
Cosmology, the laws of Physics, evolution, determinism, that God created/did not create the universe, that a non-interventionist God does/does not exist, that we have an immortal soul but we don't remember anything of our past life.

"But the Solar System" I protested.
"What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently, "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would make not a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work".
A Study in Scarlet - Mr Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Duration and size

2011-11-09T10:38:00.000Z

This graph plots Duration (the length of time for which something lasts) against its size (Volume). The axes are both approximate logarithmic scales (with a few gaps so I could squeeze everything in). The arrows show how some things change in size over their lifetime. I could not think of many things which get smaller, but put in the polar ice caps as an example.

Determinism and fatalism

2011-11-09T10:28:00.000Z

Determinism is the belief that every event in the universe is caused by previous events and so all outcomes are inevitable and (theoretically) predictable. In other words the present state of all the particles in the universe is the inevitable consequence of its initial state (the big bang). This would seem at first to annihilate the idea of 'free will', since whenever we 'seem to make a decision', in fact the outcome was inevitable. But in what way is 'seeming to make a decision' any different from actually making a decision?
Fatalism is the belief that some events are pre-determined. For example the bullet or lottery ticket 'has your name on it' - whatever you do you can't avoid the Finger of Fate. Many stories (e.g. Macbeth, Oedipus) explore this assumption. The doctrine of Karma is a variation of this where a cosmic balance sheet is kept which subtly adjusts fate to influence future outcomes.

The last drug

2011-11-04T16:57:00.001Z

Research for a cure for dementia produces a drug which miraculously rejuvenates the nervous system. But only for a day. You experience a day of bliss - then you die.
Available on the black market, the drug kills old and young in large numbers.

Kiss

2011-11-02T12:54:00.000Z

As the first syllable of the word is spoken
On the horizon
Just before the alarm rings
At the join of the toupee
On the seashore
As the finger touches the trigger
At the moment between breathing out and breathing in
Eternity

A zen koan

2011-11-01T14:28:00.000Z

A koan is a kind of linguistic puzzle set by zen masters to subvert the logical thought process and provoke a state of confusion which can give rise to enlightenment. (a famous example is 'What is the sound of one hand clapping?')

This koan is called 'Not Wind, Not Flag'.
Q. 'See the flag blowing in the wind - what is it that moves?'
A1. 'The flag?' - 'No - the flag is what is moved.'
A2. 'The wind?' - 'No the wind simply moves the flag.'
A3. (supposedly the correct answer.) 'Not wind and not flag.'

Some of the confusion arrises because Wind and Flag are different kinds of concepts. Even more confusion arrises because 'moves' has two meanings: as a cause of movement and as the movement itself.
In the Venn diagrams, Not flag includes Wind, and Not wind includes Flag of course.
Are you confused or enlightened? (or both).

Conservation of energy?

2011-10-24T17:07:00.000+01:00

Since we invented the notion of 'energy', perhaps we defined it in such a way that it had to be conserved. Potential energy (for example the energy possessed by something by virtue of its height) is just an invention to keep energy constant.

When is now?

2011-10-20T10:26:00.001+01:00

If we imagine time on a 'normal' scale like a ruler, it stretches from 'zero' (the Big Bang) to 'the present' - which is some sliding point on the scale. This is very much like the visual metaphor used in a sound-editing program.
Alternatively we can visualise the present as a zero-point - the past recedes away from us and the future stretches out before us to infinity.
Perhaps we are mislead by this scalar metaphor for time. If we plotted time on a log scale, we would not have to allocate zero to either the Big Bang or the present (since log-scales do not have a zero). 'The present moment' would then be a more flexible concept defined by how small an interval we chose to examine.
In any case, our own perception lags behind the 'actual' occurrence of an event. So when does an event actually occur? Is this a sensible question to ask?

The names of things

2011-08-19T16:01:00.000+01:00

Language evolved to describe the natural environment. ‘Water’ meant almost any liquid (except perhaps blood). ‘Tree’ meant any large plant. ‘Earth’ meant any solid. Slowly these words aquired new or more precise meanings or modifications (fire-water, salt-water, pure water; oak tree, shrub, sapling; metal, soil, rock). Words evolved as our knowldge of the world grew. In a natural environment (like a forest) there are many things we cannot name. Beetles, fungi, a type of rain... I will call these natural names.

There is another class of nouns which describe things we have made to perform a function. ‘Saw’ is a serated tool for cutting things. An ‘iPod’ is a device for storing and playing music. We have given these artifacts their names, so we have complete control over them. There is no imprecision in the use of these words. We have made the things and we have made the words to label them. In a built environment, most things we encounter are manufactured, they have precise names. Pen, computer, shoe, table, cup ... I will call these manufatured names.

The differences between these two types of name arise from their relationship to us. Manufactured things have a function which we have devised, and they are defined by that function. Natural things do not have a purpose related to ourselves and so cannot be defined in this way. Because we have an intimate relationship with the things and the words we have made, we have more confidence in manufactured names than natural names.

Symmetry and dance

2011-07-06T14:16:00.002+01:00

If the dancers are allowed only 3 positions of the arms and two positions of the legs, there would be 35 different possible positions. Five of these are symmetrical so if the dancers wear masks on the backs of their heads, rotating through 180 degrees produces a mirror image of the same position. In other words, the dancers have not changed shape.

Each of the 15 asymmetrical positions produces a new one when rotated through 180 degrees. So the dancers would appear to have changed shape.
Moving from one position to any other requires a real change of shape (i.e. a move through at least one other dimension).

2011-07-05T16:13:00.009+01:00

Multi-dimensional space - and dance

In Flatterland* the 'Spacehopper' explains that a bicycle has seven dimensions:

The Spahehopper nudged the bicycle handlebars through a small angle. "There - a fourth dimension!"
"But you just moved it in three dimensions."
"Yes, but it has changed shape - if it had stayed the same shape, you could make it fit its current position by rigid motion."
"So if it has moved through a new dimension, in which direction does that dimension point?"
"The turn-the-handlebars direction." said the Spacehopper "Different from the turn-the-front-wheel direction and the turn-the-back-wheel direction and the turn-the-pedals direction. That makes seven dimensions in all."
So every time we change shape, we enter a new dimension. Dance is a truly multi-dimensional art-form.
* Flatterland (Like Flatland only more so) by Ian Stewart

Duration and size

2011-06-14T17:34:00.001+01:00

This graph plots Duration (how long something exists) against Volume (size). The axes are both log scales with quite a few gaps to accommodate the biggest things.
The arrows show things which change in size during their lifetimes. I could not think of many things which decrease in size, but added the polar ice caps as an example.

Self-consciousness, movies, halls of mirrors and immortality

2011-06-09T09:22:00.003+01:00

Self-consciousness could be defined as 'awareness that experience is happening'. A cat wakes up feeling hungry and 'decides' to hunt, catches a mouse and eats it. I wake up feeling hungry, make breakfast and eat it.
One difference between me and the cat is the concept of self.
I can think 'I am eating breakfast' - the cat has no language and can't formulate such a thought. Essentially self-consciousness involves removing myself one step from reality so I can invent an 'I' which can be referred to. This is a uniquely human ability which can get us into all sorts of trouble:

We can pretend we are in a movie in which we are the main protagonist.
We can create endless chains of self-consciousness: "I am aware that I am thinking 'I am eating breakfast'" .... and so on to infinity.
We can delude ourselves into thinking that the 'I' we have invented actually exists - and is immortal.

The Anthropic Observation

2011-06-01T18:32:00.002+01:00

Lee Smolin* poses the question “Given there seems to be many sets of consistent ‘Laws of Nature’ which could reign in many possible universes, how come our universe has such finely-tuned parameters which make life possible?”

Answer 1) There are very many universes, so the chances of one with life in it is greater.

Answer 2) We can imagine a universe without life but only from our fortunate position of being alive! If a universe existed without life there would be no observer to perceive it – so would it exist? In other words, maybe a universe without life is impossible.

Answer 3) The universe passed through many phases of evolution to its present state. (this is a bit like Answer 1 – but time replaces space.

Maybe the universe is driven by a mechanism which favours consciousness.

Our role as observers or perceivers of the universe may not be a passive one. We have to ask the question about relativity – ‘Who is this observer?’ - What happens when she goes away?

Hume decided there was no way to show that the world exists when we stop perceiving it.

Bishop Berkley said ‘That proves the existence of God who is perceiving everything all the time – thus thinking it into existence.’

But who invents the idea of God? – We do of course (maybe not individually but collectively).

So perhaps the universe is brought about by our collective conciousness.

* In The Life of the Cosmos

Pi = 3

2010-10-22T11:55:00.002+01:00

In the Old Testament, King Solomon’s pool had a diameter of 10 cubits and a circumference of 30 cubits. This gives a value of pi = 3.

Suppose our instruments were not accurate enough to detect that pi is actually a bit more than 3. Or suppose we had a reigious conviction that pi must be a whole number. When measuring a circle with string, we would stretch the string a bit to accomodate the error.

One day a pedantic mathematician with a length of un-stretchy string would be sure to challenge this belief. To avoid being burnt at the stake, he (or she) suggests that space-time must be curved just enough to make pi ‘seem’ to be a bit more than 3. In other words the circle is 'really' shaped like a dutch cap and the diameter is being measured across the arc of a circle (see diagram below).

From God’s point of view it is exactly 3 of course!

This is dicussed in this Physics Forums link:

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=9869

The unknowable

2010-09-29T10:12:00.001+01:00

Since the speed of light is constant, there is a limit to how much of the universe we can ever see or explore. Beyond this limit, everything is unknowable. Does it make any sense to ask what could be in this unknowable region? Is what we could know of the universe simply a definition of the universe? Does God know the unknowable bit?

New number line

2010-08-20T11:03:00.000+01:00

Could you invent a number system which has zero and pi as fundamental integers instead of zero and one?

What is the difference between 'identical' and 'indistinguishable'?

2010-08-20T11:00:00.001+01:00

Here are some identical things:
• Fundamental particles of the same type (eg 2 electrons).
• Perfectly replicated DNA molecules
• A digital image (before it is printed or displayed on a screen)
• A poem remembered accurately by 2 people.
• Two identical numbers

Here are some indistinguishable things (or are they?):
• Copies of the same book - or any mass-produced product.
• 'Identical' twins
• Peas in the same pod

Listen to the birds

2010-08-10T12:00:00.002+01:00

We're all gonna die

2010-08-09T10:48:00.002+01:00

Imagination will save us

2010-08-06T12:20:00.007+01:00

I watched the brilliant Argentinean film La Antena last night. A picture like this appears briefly towards the end and inspired me to draw this - and make a series for this blog.

Problems with infinity

2010-02-08T12:11:00.001Z

Considering all the difficult problems which the concept of infinity poses, Aristotle suggested separating the idea of ‘actual infinite’ from ‘potential infinite’.

If you add all the terms in the series: ‘a half plus a quarter plus an eighth plus a sixteenth … and so on’ you get closer and closer to One the more terms you add, but you never quite get there unless you have an ‘infinite number’ of terms.

But suppose we ban the idea of an actually infinite number and put in its place a very big (but real) number (L). Then, considered in this way as a sum of fractions, the number One would be ‘imperfect’ since it could never quite be really one! Of course, all the other natural numbers would be ‘tarnished’ in the same way.

How could this very big number L be defined?

Here are two suggestions for what L could be:

L₁ The total number of particles in the universe. (about 10⁸⁷)

L₂The biggest number anyone has ever thought of. (apparently there are lots of ways to generate huge numbers, but at any given time, one of them would be the biggest).

If it was, L₂ this would be dependant on human (or perhaps computer) interaction – is this the first time that a mathematical quantity depends on human behaviour?

2009-12-03T12:45:00.002Z

According to the Associated Press:

“If all Americans between 10 and 74 walked just half an hour a day instead of driving, they would cut the annual U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, by 64 million tons. That would save about 6.5 billion gallons of gasoline …and Americans would also shed more than 3 billion pounds (flesh) overall, according to these calculations.”

2009-11-25T09:23:00.002Z

There were people who would sit in one place for years. Not the Saddhus of India who would sit in one place with a limb hanging emulating a god. These would sleep, eat, work and play in one box. Cooked food could be delivered to this box. They did not graze their animals or farm the land. They used artificial light instead of the sun. They used numbered devices to know when to begin and end a task. They did not leave their boxes to visit family and friends as they had machines to communicate over the air with their voice or by writing. Music and pictures were delivered into the boxes. Their minds would move from place to place but their bodies remained stationary.

Adapted from 'Lost Guides' http://www.turbulence.org

Perception of time

2009-11-12T09:44:00.003Z

It is a common observation that our perception of time changes as we get older (and bigger). I have tried to show this in the graph. Time is plotted on a log scale against height in metres.

2009-11-04T09:18:00.001Z

science = art

2009-11-03T08:40:00.003Z

Here sizes below the time axis get smaller and smaller through the building-blocks of matter until we reach a size less than a quark. The vertical axis would have to extend a lot lower to include the theoretical sizes of loops according to string theory.

The future is plotted on a similar curious scale where we imagine what will happen about a second into the future.

We finally reach the limits of what is knowable.

2009-10-27T10:57:00.002Z

More plastic = less greenhouse gas

Lord Stern pointed out that if we all changed to a vegetarian diet, it would make a major contribution to slow global warming since:

• more energy is used to produce meat and

• methane from animals is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide

Here are a 2 other less-obvious things we can do:

• Make more things out of wood - this locks up the carbon for a period - as long as we recycle and don't burn the wood afterwards.

• Make more durable things from plastic. (yes plastic!) - again this locks up the carbon in the fossil fuel instead of burning it.

2009-10-22T10:59:00.005+01:00

On this logarithmic scale we can see our own lifespan and size in relation to the universe.

The universe has expanded to 10 to the power of 27 metres diameter in 14 bn years

You expanded from 0 to 2 metres in about 20 years.

Our sun began life as a cloud of gas 5 bn years ago and will end as a red giant in about 5 bn years’ time.

Your life will end in less than half a million hours.

2009-10-16T15:41:00.005+01:00

When we were babies, before we learnt to use language, we lived in a world of pure perception and gratification. This wonderful world in which everything has equal meaning slowly dissolves as we learn to classify, communicate, exclude and discriminate. Sometimes we return to that world in our dreams.

2009-10-15T12:51:00.007+01:00

These 3 timelines are on a log scale with the present in the middle. The Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity and Judaism) more or less agree that God is eternal and created the universe at a certain time. Buddhists and Hindus believe time to be cyclical. Most current science theories assume the universe has a beginning and an end.

2009-10-15T12:17:00.016+01:00

Big ideas

I find it very hard to understand really big numbers relating to the cosmos or tiny sub-atomic particles. So I am trying to plot some big and small things on charts which start with the scale of a human being and go up to the scale of the universe.

Logarithmic scales

These are scales which stretch the axes of a graph to help show big and small things on the same axis. On a 'base 10' log scale each equal space represents 10 times the last one. So if the first division represents one unit, the second is 10 units, the next is 100 and so on. We soon reach huge numbers with lots of zeros.

To save writing lots of zeros, we can write 1000 as '10 with a little 3 after it' - the 3 tells us there are 3 zeros. So a million is '10 with a little 6 after it'. (Blogger won't let me write this properly).
Log scales don't have a zero-point, they just have smaller and smaller divisions. On some of my graphs I have ignored this!!

Cosmic charts

So I'm experimenting with drawing charts about us and the cosmos. Please let me have critical comments and suggestions so I can improve them (ie don't just say 'awesome').

2009-10-14T10:38:00.002+01:00

"As above, so below" - this was the motto of the alchemists. They meant that our world and our bodies are microcosms of the whole universe. This is hardly surprising as we are children of our universe - so all the ideas we have are sons and daughters in this process. So we should take seriously all the ideas that have ever occurred to anyone.

2009-10-14T10:21:00.003+01:00

This blog is about ideas: crazy, stimulating ideas, big slobbery ideas, half-formed ideas, scary ideas, beautiful ideas, ugly ideas, random ideas. Just ideas really.