New Symphony of Science Video and "The Grand Design"
Those of you, who know me, know that I am a sucker for science-y things. I'm even more of a sucker for science-y, auto-tuned things. So when I found out there was a new Symphony of Science video, I nearly squeed myself to death.
If you haven't seen the other Symphony of Science Vids, I'm so sorry for you. Get up to speed right now. Some of my favorites include: We Are All Connected, Poetry of Reality, The Unbroken Thread, and A Glorious Dawn. But really, they all are pretty much brilliant. I probably account for half of all the YouTube view hits.
The thing I liked about the latest one is that it reminded me of what I learned about in one of my fairly recent reads, The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow.
In it, the authors write a lot about particle wave duality, and how the structure of the universe on a grand scale seems to operate under different laws than the cosmos on a quantum scale. It was amazing. They talked a lot about Richard Feynman's huge contributions to quantum physics, and my brain nearly imploded when I considered that any one electron can be everywhere and anywhere in the universe at any given time. Near the end of the book, the authors also point out a nifty game called "The Game of Life" by John Conway.
It is basically a tiny closed "universe," in which a square can either be alive or dead. It is a universe with very simple rules:
The Rules
For a space that is 'populated':
Each cell with one or no neighbors dies, as if by loneliness.
Each cell with four or more neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation.
Each cell with two or three neighbors survives.
For a space that is 'empty' or 'unpopulated'
Each cell with three neighbors becomes populated.
So after you set up all the conditions of your universe (select the squares you want to be "on" or "alive"), then you hit go and see what happens. They also have some preset conditions for you to play with and see how they work.
Try it out for yourself. Is your universe sustainable? Or will entropy take hold quickly?
If you haven't seen the other Symphony of Science Vids, I'm so sorry for you. Get up to speed right now. Some of my favorites include: We Are All Connected, Poetry of Reality, The Unbroken Thread, and A Glorious Dawn. But really, they all are pretty much brilliant. I probably account for half of all the YouTube view hits.
The thing I liked about the latest one is that it reminded me of what I learned about in one of my fairly recent reads, The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow.
In it, the authors write a lot about particle wave duality, and how the structure of the universe on a grand scale seems to operate under different laws than the cosmos on a quantum scale. It was amazing. They talked a lot about Richard Feynman's huge contributions to quantum physics, and my brain nearly imploded when I considered that any one electron can be everywhere and anywhere in the universe at any given time. Near the end of the book, the authors also point out a nifty game called "The Game of Life" by John Conway.
It is basically a tiny closed "universe," in which a square can either be alive or dead. It is a universe with very simple rules:
The Rules
For a space that is 'populated':
Each cell with one or no neighbors dies, as if by loneliness.
Each cell with four or more neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation.
Each cell with two or three neighbors survives.
For a space that is 'empty' or 'unpopulated'
Each cell with three neighbors becomes populated.
So after you set up all the conditions of your universe (select the squares you want to be "on" or "alive"), then you hit go and see what happens. They also have some preset conditions for you to play with and see how they work.
Try it out for yourself. Is your universe sustainable? Or will entropy take hold quickly?
In "The Grand Design" Stephen Hawking postulates that the M-theory may be the Holy Grail of physics...the Grand Unified Theory which Einstein had tried to formulate but never completed. It expands on quantum mechanics and string theories.
ReplyDeleteIn my free ebook on comparative mysticism, "the greatest achievement in life," is a quote by Albert Einstein: “…most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and most radiant beauty – which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive form – this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of all religion.”E=mc², Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, is probably the best known scientific equation. I revised it to help better understand the relationship between divine Essence (Love, Grace, Spirit), matter (mass/energy: visible/dark) and consciousness (f(x) raised to its greatest power). Unlike the speed of light, which is a constant, there are no exact measurements for consciousness. In this hypothetical formula, basic consciousness may be of insects, to the second power of animals and to the third power the rational mind of humans. The fourth power is suprarational consciousness of mystics, when they intuit the divine essence in perceived matter. This was a convenient analogy, but there cannot be a divine formula.http://www.peacenext.org/profile/RonKrumpos