One Small step.......for Mankind

It should read...Humankind.

Lee Smolin:

"Here is a metaphor due to Eric Weinstein that I would have put in the book had I heard it before. Let us take a different twist on the landscape of theories and consider the landscape of possible ideas about post standard model or quantum gravity physics that have been proposed. Height is proportional to the number of things the theory gets right. Since we don’t have a convincing case for the right theory yet, that is a high peak somewhere off in the distance. The existing approaches are hills of various heights that may or may not be connected, across some ridges and high valleys to the real peak. We assume the landscape is covered by fog so we can’t see where the real peak is, we can only feel around and detect slopes and local maxima.

Counter arguments are good things if we can understand where this next step takes us.

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Science Saturday: The Recipe For Our Universe

People need to understand something about dialogue( Pirsig is being offered here as gesture of what I am paying forward by implication) as a means of bringing out the best of us and of each other. I could of course digress to the Socratic method of searching the population for the most "wisest of words" but we are living in a new age of media now aren't we?:)

I thought to replace Sean's head with Plato and Mark Troddens with Sir Francis Bacon, just to encapsulate further "the rhetoric" that seems "to find the most viable method of presenting the place were we can step off of," and if the moon step taken on one rung down would have you think of Michael Jackson current passing, this would be far from what stepping on new worlds should mean, although I would present his passing as a higher perspective of viewing the world from which he had lived in and shared.

Such conceptual boundaries are then moved in kind. Working the earth in higher geometrical perspective and it's curvature, is a Geometers historical place once part of the discussion of earth as a postulate, to find that all of this becomes part of what the earth as a pearl could look like for the very first time as that first space walk took place.



Photo from NASA of the Bullet Cluster

 

These stills show four stages from an artist's representation of the huge collision that is taking place in the bullet cluster. Hot gas, containing most of the normal matter in the cluster, is shown in red and dark matter is shown in blue. During the collision the hot gas in each cluster is slowed and distorted by a drag force, similar to air resistance. A bullet-shaped cloud of gas forms in one of the clusters. In contrast, the dark matter is not slowed by the impact because it does not interact directly with itself or the gas except through gravity. Therefore, the dark matter clumps from the two clusters move ahead of the hot gas, producing the separation of the dark and normal matter seen in the image. More Images

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'An unexpected gift' from string theory

The possibility that enormously large galaxies originated from tiny quantum fluctuations may seem too strange to be true. But many aspects of inflationary theory were confirmed by recent astronomical observations, for which the observers won the Nobel Prize in 2006. This gives some credence to an even more surprising claim made by Linde: During inflation, quantum fluctuations can produce not only galaxies, but also new parts of the universe.

Take an expanding universe with its little pockets of heterogeneous quantum events. At some point one of those random events may actually "escape" from its parent universe, forming a new one, Linde said. To use the ball analogy, if it experiences small perturbations as it rolls, it might at some point roll over into the next valley, initiating a new inflationary process, he said.

"The string theorists predict that there are perhaps 101000 different types of universes that can be formed that way," Linde said. "I had known that there must be many different kinds of universes with different physical properties, but this huge number of different possibilities was an unexpected gift of string theory."

According to string theory, there are 10 dimensions. We live aware of four of them—three of space plus one of time. The rest are so small that we cannot experience them directly. In 2003, Stanford physicists Shamit Kachru, Renata Kallosh and Linde, with their collaborator Sandip Trivedi from India, discovered that these compacted dimensions want to expand, but that the time it would take for them to do so is beyond human comprehension. When a new universe buds off from its parent, the configuration of which dimensions remain small and which grow large determines the physical laws of that universe. In other words, an infinite number of worlds could exist with 101000 different types of physical laws operating among them. Susskind called this picture "the string theory landscape."

For many physicists, it is disturbing to think that the very laws and properties that are the essence of our world might only hold true as long as we remain in that world. "We always wanted to discover the theory of everything that would explain the unique properties of our world, and now we must adjust to the thought that many different worlds are possible," Linde said. But he sees an advantage in what some others could see a problem: "We finally learned that inflationary universe is not just a free lunch: It is an eternal feast where all possible dishes are served."

***



See:

Bullet Cluster

Dark Matter Issue

AP(Anthropic Principal) May Still be Useful?

What Good are Mathematics in the Real World?

Came across this article at Clifford of Asymptotia blog( doesn't this have an "ole English sound" to it?:).

Clifford writes:

The first article? It’s a discussion of some of the things I’ve been telling you about in recent times. Applications of string theory to various pieces of physics in a wider realm of physics than you normally hear string theory being discussed. There’s a lot of excitement about the usefulness of various techniques in string theory for understanding certain aspects of nuclear physics being experimentally probed, and also growing excitement about possible string theory approaches to a variety of systems in condensed matter physics.

To me following as a lay person it is indeed impossible to capture all of what the good science people have venturing forward in terms of conceptions that have formed from this mathematical prowess and excursion into the abstract.

Not saying I haven't followed the conversations of the likes of Jacques Distler and Clifford Johnson together with Lee Smolin on the idea of Genus figures that appear at the valleys, but of the limitations that Lee fell short of in response to where Stanley Mandelstam was in the research is part of the addendum that needs to be added to perspective synoptic books already written. Just the keeping up to date aspect of wha is current and happening in regard to String Theory.

String theory might help us understand how mystery materials like high-temperature superconductors work (Illustration: Samuele Bastianello’)STRING theory: you love it or loathe it. To some it represents our best hope for a route to a "theory of everything"; others portray it as anything from a mathematically obtuse minefield to a quasi-religion that has precious little to do with science.

There might be a middle way. String theory's mathematical tools were designed to unlock the most profound secrets of the cosmos, but they could have a far less esoteric purpose: to tease out the properties of some of the most complex yet useful types of material here on Earth.

Both string theorists and condensed matter physicists - those studying the properties of complex matter phases such as solids and liquids - are enthused by the development. "I am flabbergasted," says Jan Zaanen, a condensed matter theorist from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. "The theory is calculating precisely what we are seeing in experiments."

If solid science does turn out to be the salvation of string theory, it would be the latest twist in a tangled history. String theory was formulated in the late 1960s to explain certain features of the strong nuclear force, one of four fundamental forces of nature. It holds that electrons, quarks and the like are not point-like particles but minuscule, curled-up, vibrating strings. No sooner had this idea emerged, though, than it lost ground to particle physicists' "standard model", which proved capable of describing not just the strong force but also the weak and electromagnetic forces - and did so far more intuitively through the interactions of point-like quantum particles...... See more here

I know it makes no sense when thinking about extremities of heat and cold in terms of the superconductors but for me if cooling was an attribute of the necessity of particle collisions, it held in my mind that the extra dimension were the loss of energy that were possible about the current states in the conductors themselves. It had holes( special kind of holes dimensionally related) that allowed this leakage of energy even though it was encased as it was, as to the displayed in the cavity of particle spreading discernment.

So I arrived at this conclusion some time ago understanding that a limit had to have been reached in terms of the reductionist principle even though perspective had been reduced from the First Three Minutes of Steven Weinberg to the First Three Microseconds. So it was this that what is compelling to me "was a place where" transference of neutrino oscillation toward the time of muon revealed could have arisen out of the neutrino beam. I am thinking of Gran Sasso here, as well as, all the experiments currently unfolding with regard to IceCube and Sno.

Cascading particle dissemination was a point of correlation in my understanding of what "places nature" had provided us in terms of the spreading of "contact of high energy particles in our atmospheres" that we could study Cerenkov in the mediums that we do in ice and water as well describe this correlation in the LHC.

But here's the rub for me, that containment of perspective in the cosmological box, was and is held in comparison to what precedes this universe, is asking that Veneziano suggests an earlier time and corresponds to perspective being push back.

But push back to where? For the cosmologists it was not sufficient that such entertainment exist, yet that such a state and place to exist was a fundamental realization of the ball rolling down the hill to correlate with the universe. Was to relate to all possible universes. Was to relate to the scope and travel of abstraction in relation to a Genus figure.

First Principles by Howard Burton

After returning home from our little vacation, I've hunkered down to read, and I thought this would be a good time to come to know of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada and how it started up.

As you know I've linked the Q2c site coming in September as well as I think after ten years this Institute has done a very good job of promoting a science based view toward the latest in the science frontiers.


Mike Lazaridis Donates Additional $50 Million to Perimeter Institute

In his remarks on behalf of the Government of Ontario, The Honourable John Wilkinson, Minister of Research and Innovation said: "Ontario's $3B Innovation Agenda focuses on our government acting as a catalyst to support our top researchers and entrepreneurs - extraordinary people like Mike Lazaridis who are leading the way to turn groundbreaking ideas and innovation into Ontario's next generation of jobs. Ontario's commitment to fundamental and applied research has not only been informed but also inspired by Mike's personal commitment to innovation, and his contributions to the Perimeter Institute. That's why our government has already invested over $65M to support this important initiative. This new investment will strengthen the Institute and the government-industry partnerships that have made it possible, and help us to continue to attract the world-class talent and the scientific knowledge Ontario needs to compete in the 21st century."See: Mike Lazaridis Donates Additional $50 Million to Perimeter Institute

Now you should know that I had received earlier notice of Howard's book from Bee of Backreaction. I have always been under the notion that what can be learnt can be learnt from all ages and there is no one aspect that we can not learn from, when we read and write about the thoughts of bloggers who have something to share with regard to their own journeys.

Bee of Backreaction writes:

The book tells the story of the first years of Perimeter Institute. From Mike Lazaridis' donation, over the search for a name, for a mission, for a location, the joy of building constructions, the hiring of the first faculty members, the establishment of PI's public outreach program, and the successful acquisition of governmental funding, to Howard's departure.

It is very entertainingly written and quite informative in addition, though I admittedly had hoped for more gossip stories about the research and the researchers. The chapter about who talked to whom when and where to pull the strings for governmental support is somewhat lengthy and tiresome, but provides interesting inside views. The book also has an amusing chapter titled "The Trouble with Physicists" about the difficulties in saving scientists from administrating themselves into dysfunctionality. I'm very tempted to quote the funniest paragraphs, but I think you should read the book yourself. It comes with some characterizations of well-known physicists that are quite to the point indeed.

The book is probably more interesting if you know some of the people involved, but besides this it conveys authentically and passionately the fascination, joy and importance of theoretical physics. Overall recommendable. If this was an Amazon review, I'd give 5 stars.Howard Burton: First Principles

I think this is what I like most that what can be revealed in our blogging encounters, that what was written can go out toward the public to what had be done for me in the exposure of a book. I scoured the bookshop shelves for something interesting to read about science. Of course, in this case it was Howard' Burton's book First Principles.

At 5:18 PM, April 09, 2009, Blogger Plato said...

I have been watch this developing institution as well. In a weird sort of way feeling quite proud that such an institution was given impetus out of which an appreciation for developing of the science perspective was displayed here in the north, by Lazardis

I really don't think it is a Ivory Tower that is being described while Turok resides in his position. Just that what you do as a theorist is brought in line with cosmology. It's much like working the LHC and see that it is working from two perspectives, not just one.

I don't see anything wrong with that.

Nice to see a few prominent names like Susskind, Hawking and Hooft associated with PI.

When I seen the name of the book and the time you spent at PI Howard I was drawn to the idea of what Condense Matter theorists spoke of, in the same way Robert Laughlin looked at how he might describe the "foundational basis" that Phil was talking about.

Witten and others understood the condensed matter point of view as well.

Again I will read the book once finding it.

Best,

Now you must know something about this lay person who writes this blog. Previous to Howard's selective title I came across this term when I was looking for some basis as if in equatorial description that was simple to think it has some relation in algorithmic proportion that this could be the basis of all organization thought that could have exploded amongst the computer world. The very essence and core of our being as it was translated to reveal the very nature of who we are as beings.

This is when I came upon my own "Correlations of Cognition," as the condense matter theorist came to mind. I saw this relevance in how organization could be thought of at a fundamental level. Here in this case, "string theory" held my mind. So when I seen Howard's title of his book it resonated with me, for this is something that had stayed with me for years as I've remained part of the blogging experience of scientists and their engagements with each other.

How is it you then I could not learn to think, that by experiment, that one could line up two counter and oppositional points of view, to see what can be held as truth, and what remains as abstraction of the theoretical division of exploration. You know that what can reside internally as to the mode of operation as to what is self evident(arche), is something that you can place in the external world as well.

So Howard and young students become "mindful of the conduct becoming" and we see this value orientation as to the discussions between scientists. Some students become discouraged and subtle voices strain to speak,"May the ole work horses die?":)

The Book

Anyway I am on page 47 for those readers that have their books. I recognize some aspect of what Mike Lazaridis likes in Howard as to the letter he wrote, preparing the way for his future as to what? I see this fateful discerningly as to a course of action, to much in how after serving their time in the academics, that they must make their way to the financial responsibility toward providing food and sustenance to the family. No fooling around now is there.

So the letter is a spark of genius in terms of putting it out there for hire. Mike Lazaridis recognized something in himself, in what was written by Howard Burton. Mike Lazaridis although an engineer, was was much like him? Avenues to freedom then were the ability to put together a plan once accepting the job, and Howard ability to get to work even though it didn't seem like Howard Burton had a job, was exactly what Mike seem to me what he was looking for.

I liked Chris Isham too, in his explanations, and toward this regard, Chris Isham reminded me of Penrose. I found it kind of odd that later on as Howard is making his way gathering information on Institutes that when again visiting Isham that there was a distance and unknowing attribute of who Howard was? I find this strange when mentioning about his wife and who was meet first as to consequence of saying?

Quantum to Cosmos

Came by this announcement from Bee of Backreaction and posted here. Looks like it will be an exciting event.

The Record.com reports....

You don't have to be Einstein to appreciate the principles explored in an upcoming festival about theoretical physics, titled Quantum to Cosmos.

After all, the festival's name essentially translates to: "Really, really small to really, really big."

Making science accessible and, to a certain extent, understandable to the general public has always been part of the mandate of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

So to celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Waterloo think-tank will open its doors to the public -- and to dozens of scientific scholars from around the world -- for 10 days in October.

Starting Oct. 15, the Quantum to Cosmos festival will host more than 50 events including keynote presentations, film screenings, interactive exhibits and informal barroom discussions.

Nearly 20 renowned physicists from Perimeter Institute and around the world will deliver presentations about quantum communication, robotics, green technology and planetary exploration......See more here:Festival to show physics as 'extremely exciting'

I have not seen to much interaction below as of yet, but hopefully we can change this.

See:Quantum to Cosmos Blog

Welcome to PI’s Quantum to Cosmos Festival blog! It’s exciting to get acquainted with fellow physicists, scientists, students, and inquisitors.

We’re writing this blog to let everyone know that this October is a chance for you, no matter where you live, to participate in what may be one of the biggest science festivals this year.

What sets our festival apart from other numerous celebratory events? Our extensive program of presentations, exhibits and cultural performances will offer 50 events to explore. These include activities featuring Stephen Hawking, Honorary Festival President, and displays such as the full-scale model of the next Mars Rover.

The Festival’s three interconnected themes of Quantum, Cosmos, and Ideas for the Future will celebrate the power of human understanding and ingenuity – from our current scientific knowledge to anticipated innovations in the years ahead. Quantum to Cosmos (Q2C) will showcase fascinating topics in detail, such as new forms of quantum communication, scientific visualization, green technologies and the possibility of life on other planets.

Black Bear Pays us a Visit

It was about six o'clock in the morning when I woke up, walked down the hallway to turn on a our water for heating and drinking for our morning coffee. Walking over to our kitchen window I looked out and under some of our larger fir trees I notice this gaffer reaching for bird seed that had been place in the feeder for our bird population that we like to watch.

He'd already been doing some walking around when we snap these pictures. Unfortunately a lot of them were fuzzy trying to take them through our picture windows.



When we had taken our three granddaughters for a sleep over after getting off my work shift, my son had left us a pamphlet in our door unbeknownst to us about the bear population and things that we should be doing to a least keep the bears away. One was keeping the garbage in the garage, as well as "not putting out bird feeders."



That is outside our patio window in our dining room. Some of you might have remembered our "earlier visitor last year" who had thought to check inside to see what was happening while my wife stood around the corner to snap the picture. Quite the contrast between this black bear and the one last year.

Well, my wife now brings in her feeders during the night now, and places them out during the day. My son was worried about the girls and the bears out here, so as with these other two things that should be done, we had also from "early spring to now" been clearing out the under brush so we can see who's coming, which helps to alert us. Our two dogs help to keep them away as well. At night we bring them in as well.

Free Access to the Universal Library?

“The World Digital Library will make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, archi­tectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials. The objectives of the World Digital Library are to promote international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness, provide resources to educators, expand non-English and non-Western content on the Internet, and to contribute to scholarly research.”

See: World Digital Library. Project information here.

I think it's more wishful thinking on my part that people are able to gain access to the internet freely, and be allowed access to this Library.

UNESCO, Library of Congress and partners launch World Digital Library

The WDL was developed by a team at the Library of Congress. Technical assistance was provided by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina of Alexandria, Egypt. Institutions contributing content and expertise to the WDL include national libraries and cultural and educational institutions in Brazil, Egypt, China, France, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Examples of treasures that will be featured on the WDL include oracle bones and steles contributed by the National Library of China; Arabic scientific manuscripts from the National Library and Archives of Egypt; early photographs of Latin America from the National Library of Brazil; the Hyakumanto darani, a publication from the year 764 from the National Diet Library of Japan; the famous 13th century “Devil’s Bible” from the National Library of Sweden; and works of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish calligraphy from the collections of the Library of Congress.

One of UNESCO’s main mandates is to promote the free flow of all forms of knowledge in education, science, culture and communication. The Organization therefore supports initiatives to improve and increase content on the Internet. To this end, it collaborates with a range of partners on the creation of digital and other repositories.

Video

While PIRSA has been most kind in allowing archive demonstrations of Seminars to which I have been greatly appreciative. As a general public enthusiast for Science and where it's going to date, it was important that I also see the development to date in relation to those closely associated with You Tube EDU programming that has been established.



See:Youtube EDU Also, see parameters changes with regard to adjusting Youtube Screening.

Thanks to Open Reflections for the wonderful information that supplied resource info.

Hubble Reveals Potential Titanium Oxide Deposits at Aristarchus and Schroter's Valley Rille

Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Garvin (NASA/GSFC)Aristarchus Crater in False Color

This color composite focuses on the 26-mile-diameter (42-kilometer-diameter) Aristarchus impact crater, and employs ultraviolet- to visible-color-ratio information to accentuate differences that are potentially diagnostic of ilmenite- (i.e, titanium oxide) bearing materials as well as pyroclastic glasses. The symphony of color within the Aristarchus crater clearly shows a diversity of materials — anorthosite, basalt, and olivine. The images were acquired Aug. 21, 2005. The processing was accomplished by the Hubble Space Telescope Lunar Exploration Team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Northwestern University, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. False-color images were constructed using the red channel as 502/250 nanometers; the green as 502 nanometers; and the blue as 250/658 nanometers. North is at the top in the image.

Credit: NASA, ESA and J. Garvin (NASA/GSFC)

This view of the lunar impact crater Aristarchus and adjacent features (Herodotus crater, Schroter's Valley rille) illustrates the ultraviolet and visible wavelength characteristics of this geologically diverse region of the Moon. The two inset images illustrate one preliminary approach for isolating differences due to such effects as composition, soil maturity, mixing, and impact ejecta emplacement. The color composite in the lower right focuses on the 26-mile-diameter (42-kilometer-diameter) Aristarchus impact crater, and employs ultraviolet- to visible-color-ratio information to accentuate differences that are potentially diagnostic of ilmenite- (i.e, titanium oxide) bearing materials as well as pyroclastic glasses.

The same is the case for the image of a section of Schroter's Valley (rille) in the upper right. Bluer units in these spectral-ratio images suggest enrichment in opaque phases in a relative sense. The magenta color indicates dark mantle material which scientists believe contains titanium-bearing pyroclastic material.

The symphony of color within the Aristarchus crater clearly shows a diversity of materials — anorthosite, basalt, and olivine. The impact crater actually cut through a mare highlands boundary with superposed pyroclastics - a unique geologic setting on the Moon! The distinctive tongue of material extending out of the crater's southeastern rim is thought to be very olivine-rich material, based on Earth-based spectra and Clementine visible and infrared imaging data.

North is at the top in these images.

These images were acquired Aug. 21, 2005. The processing was accomplished by the Hubble Space Telescope Lunar Exploration Team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Northwestern University, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. False-color images were constructed using the red channel as 502/250 nanometers; the green as 502 nanometers; and the blue as 250/658 nanometers.

(Clementine, USGS slide 11)

Clementine color ratio composite image of Aristarchus Crater on the Moon. This 42 km diameter crater is located on the corner of the Aristarchus plateau, at 24 N, 47 W. Ejecta from the plateau is visible as the blue material at the upper left (northwest), while material excavated from the Oceanus Procellarum area is the reddish color to the lower right (southeast). The colors in this image can be used to ascertain compositional properties of the materials making up the deep strata of these two regions.

***

APOLLO

The points of reference for the earth-moon measurement are the earth-based telescope—in this case, the 3.5 meter telescope at Apache Point, and in particular, the intersection of the telescope mount axes—and the small, suitcase-sized retroreflector array placed on the lunar surface by Apollo astronauts (pictured is the Apollo 11 reflector at Tranquility Base). A total of four lunar retroreflectors are functional: three Apollo reflectors from Apollo 11, 14, and 15 (three times bigger than 11 & 14), and one French-built, Soviet landed (unmanned) unit from the Luna 21 mission. A significant part of the challenge of lunar range modeling is converting this point-to-point measurement into a distance between the center-of-mass of the earth and the center-of-mass of the moon. It is only after this reduction that one can consider the interesting part of the problem: the dynamics of the earth-moon-sun system. For more general information on the technique, see this description of how the technique works and why we're performing this experiment.

Location of the reflector landing sites

APOLLO Laser First Light

Another picture from July 24, 2005. Larry Carey is seen standing on the catwalk performing aircraft spotting duties. Bruce Gillespie is the other spotter, hidden by the pine tree. On some viewing screens, the green beam may be barely visible leaving the dome. The beam is about as visible as the Milky Way. Part of Ursa Minor is at right, and Draco at upper left. Photo by Gretchen van Doren.

A picture from the August 2005 run by Gretchen van Doren, showing the laser beam making its way to the (over-exposed) moon. No, the moon is not exploding under the influence of our 2.3 Watt laser! The edge-brightening of the beam can be seen, as the telescope secondary mirror robs the beam of light in its center. Orion is seen at right.

A picture from the June 2006 run showing the back of the telescope, the APOLLO laser enclosure (left), the beam heading moon-ward, and the moon intself. The moon is actually a crescent, but so terrifically overexposed (16 seconds) that it looks rather round.

***

Question 4 : What is the structure of Mercury's core?


Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

More recently, Earth-based radar observations of Mercury have also determined that at least a portion of the large metal core is still liquid to this day! Having at least a partially molten core means that a very small but detectable variation in the spin-rate of Mercury has a larger amplitude because of decoupling between the solid mantle and liquid core. Knowing that the core has not completely solidified, even as Mercury has cooled over billions of years since its formation, places important constraints on the thermal history, evolution, and core composition of the planet.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

This MESSENGER image was taken from a distance of about 18,000 kilometers (11,000 miles) from the surface of Mercury, at 20:03 UTC, about 58 minutes after the closest approach point of the flyby. The region shown is about 500 kilometers (300 miles) across, and craters as small as 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) can be seen in this image.

The Gravity Field

The Golden Rule: Heart as Feather, is a Heart in Measure

Der Barmherzige Samariter(The Merciful Samaritan) 1632-1633Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 15 July 1606, Leiden – 4 October 1669, Amsterdam) was a Dutch painter, engraver and draftsman.

The Good Samaritan

"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead with no clothes. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, and he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, he too passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and looked after him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' "Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Ethic of reciprocity

Der gute Samariter (nach Delacroix)1890 Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)

The ethic of reciprocity, also known as the Golden Rule, is an ethical code that states one has a right to just treatment, and a responsibility to ensure justice for others. Reciprocity is arguably the most essential basis for the modern concept of human rights, though it has its critics.[1] A key element of the golden rule is that a person attempting to live by this rule treats all people, not just members of his or her in-group, with consideration.

The golden rule has its roots in a wide range of world cultures, and is a standard which different cultures use to resolve conflicts[2]; it was present in the philosophies of ancient India, Greece, and China. Principal philosophers and religious figures have stated it in different ways, but its most common English phrasing is attributed to Jesus of Nazareth in the Biblical book of Luke: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The "Do unto others" wording first appeared in English in a Catholic Catechism around 1567, but certainly in the reprint of 1583.[3]

Follow Up to the Economic Manhattan Project

Dr.Conway,  I thought this might be helpful for you to see the whole works. Not often is perspective in science used to arise above what has been normally happening with the economy to see it in a new light. Imagine using the term "Economic Manhattan Project," for us to consider how seriously this undertaking is presented?

 

Photo by Steve Hsu->

The first photo is the morning panel discussion. From left to right, Eric Weinstein, Nouriel Roubini, Richard Freeman and Nassim Taleb.

The Economic Crisis and its Implications for The Science of Economics.

May 1 - 4, 2009
Perimeter Institute

Concerns over the current financial situation are giving rise to a need to evaluate the very mathematics that underpins economics as a predictive and descriptive science. A growing desire to examine economics through the lens of diverse scientific methodologies - including physics and complex systems - is making way to a meeting of leading economists and theorists of finance together with physicists, mathematicians, biologists and computer scientists in an effort to evaluate current theories of markets and identify key issues that can motivate new directions for research. Perimeter Institute was suggested to be the gathering point and conference organizers plan to foster a very careful, dispassionate discussion, in an atmosphere governed by the modesty and open mindedness that characterizes the scientific community.

The conference will begin on May 1, 2009, with a day of talks by leading experts to an invited audience on the status of economic and financial theory in light of the current situation. Three days of private, focused discussions and workshops will ensue, aimed at addressing complex questions and defining future research agendas for the world that can help address and resolve them.

***

Perimeter posted some recommended reading as follows:

• Liquidity and Leverage
  September 2007
  Tobias Adrian and Hyun Song Shin


• An Historical Perspective On The Crisis Of 2007-2008
  Cambridge 2008
  Michael D. Bordo


• Origins and Responses to the Crisis
  Berkeley 2008
  Barry Eichengreen


• Information, Liquidity, And The (Ongoing) Panic Of 2007
  Cambridge 2009
  Gary B. Gorton


• Has Financial Development Made the World Riskier?
  September 2005
  Raghuram G. Rajan


• The Financial And The Policy Responses; An Empirical Analysis Of What Went Wrong
  Cambridge 2009
  John B. Taylor

***

This is a follow up to the conference that has already taken place.

PIRSA:C09006 - The Economic Crisis and It's Implications for The Science of Economics

The Perimeter Institute conference on economics is being organized in an effort to better evaluate the state of economics as a predictive and descriptive science in light of the current market crisis. We believe that this requires careful, dispassionate discussion, in an atmosphere governed by the modesty and open mindedness that characterizes the scientific community. To do this we aim to bring leading economists and theorists of finance together with physicists, mathematicians, biologists and computer scientists to evaluate current theories of markets, and identify key issues that can motivate new directions for research. The conference will begin on May 1, 2009, with a day of invited talks by leading experts to a public audience of around 200 on the status of economic and financial theory in light of the crisis. We will then continue for three days of focused discussion and workshops with an invited group of around 30, aimed at defining research agendas that address that question and beginning work on them. See: Welcome to the Economic Manhattan Project

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Let's keep the issue of economy alive here and the struggle between facets of our society that might develop perspective about a counter culture that exists. This was a inherent struggle diagnosed in Robert Pirsig and John Nash to show, that the ability of any society can become fraught with the struggle to be, always assertively saying who are are by name.

So to continue from the factual explorations science had undertaken, too the story of Angel and Daemons is to realize the struggle society can manifest with itself in an open dialogue with respect to position. It is about being aware first, then knowing that an emotive struggle is to be realized as the ever emotive charge seals memory to its place.

One cannot imagine the full scope with which might respond to criticism about a particular position and point of view. The lesson about Fear is an important one. This distinction needed to be seen in relation to what was being said and could have been mistakenly seen as so.

Yet, it should be noted that while not speaking directly to the fear or that it could it have been thought enduring too, by comment, it was never my intention. That such an action taken by scientist is an example in my books where science is working outside the box to help us see if they can add or change conceptual frameworks that are stuck in the current economic reality.

Learning about Pirsig's use in literary style about rhetoric and oration was a lesson in itself about what and who is speaking. It was about not being stagnant in view of, but taking on the challenge to bring new hope to a current treadmill that mice are running, or "busy bees" are working.

There is a distinction that I had come across in terms of Pessimism and Optimism. It seemingly shows the negative on the one hand, requires one to take stock of, while on the other half of the partnership, is to see that optimism is eventually reached.

One should know that if they take the proper steps in accounting, they can indeed see a brighter future. This in no way should be seen as "fear mongering," but of a responsibility to self and others to check the current situation and to act accordingly.

Of course, you might have seen some of my own pithy attempts at addition? These are listed under the label of Economics. They take to heart that seeing above the dilemma, is to see applicability that would not normally have been entertained.


Emotive Struggle

Is not something we can underscore without realizing the impact such emotions may have on a society as a whole. To see that the ideology of the struggle to become better persons, is to unshackle ourselves from those things which hold and bind us to our current, and existing state of mind. That such brief moments of the real you are the respite with which we seek to advance who we are, is to remind ourselves of the person by name we had become.

Are we then not in appearance locked in the battle to become "another person" amongst the struggles of dualism that perpetuate our continuing to run that wheel of life? It would seem then such "a Daemon" that would appear to exist as a counter culture to advancement, would keep us and forever keep us locked in that dualism. You see?

Seeing the images of emotively charge packets are but the process with which to forever remain in that cyclical universe. Is to realize that going "outside the box" is to shock the system and slap it into recognition of moving away from it's "normal attributive" position. If one were to imagine this cloud gathering itself around anyone, then it would have to appear that it always appeared at one spot continually, while the idea is to shift this perspective and shake it from what it has always known.

The Rhetorician

This raises all sorts of questions, the most basic of which are: “What counts as `looking’ vs. `not looking’?” and “Do we really need a separate law of physics to describe the evolution of systems that are being looked at?” Sean Carroll

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

AN INQUIRY INTO VALUES

Robert M. Pirsig

Afterword

This book has a lot to say about Ancient Greek perspectives and their meaning but there is one perspective it misses. That is their view of time. They saw the future as something that came upon them from behind their backs with the past receding away before their eyes.

When you think about it, that's a more accurate metaphor than our present one. Who really can face the future? All you can do is project from the past, even when the past shows that such projections are often wrong. And who really can forget the past? What else is there to know?

Over the last couple of days my mind seems focused on time lines. It seems I am adjusting perspective, while knowing full well that while the day can be assessed, and so a life. One is facing the past as Pirsig did in writing his book. Imagine him actually looking to his past as it recedes to where the words become "a place" and behind, a sun shines. We see where such an adjustment of thinking here helps one to see what Pirsig was doing.

Plato:

So in that case it was not normal experience that suffered, but what came out of the sickness that allowed an "ultimate realization" that you or I do not have to contend with, but sick men who struggle to search and found something, that normal people would not. So this is why the time line is important to be realized.

It can indeed seem quite confusing but it is an interesting idea here, much as one could be unsettle here with the Chicken before the egg scenario. This took me back to some of the things Sean Carroll wrote. This is not about biology or creationism, but about how perspective has been orientated in a historical sense to how we see it today. For Pirsig and Nash, they had to recount their past in order for us to understand their struggle.

Sean Carroll has a interesting set of four entires about the backwardness of the arrow of time and how it would appear. This is an interesting exercise for me on how perception about the current direction of the universe could have represented "the Egg before the chicken" scenarios.

Incompatible Arrows, I: Martin Amis
Incompatible Arrows, II: Kurt Vonnegut
Incompatible Arrows, III: Lewis Carroll
Incompatible Arrows, IV: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Chicken or Egg

Illustration from Tacuina sanitatis, Fourteenth century

Reverse chronology — narrating a story, or parts of one, backwards in time — is a venerable technique in literature, going back at least as far as Virgil’s Aeneid. Much more interesting is a story with incompatible arrows of time: some characters live “backwards” while others experience life normally.

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PHAEDRUS. - Plato, The Dialogues of Plato, vol. 1 [387 AD]Edition used:

The Dialogues of Plato, vol. 1, translated into English with Analyses and Introductions by B. Jowett, M.A. in Five Volumes. 3rd edition revised and corrected (Oxford University Press, 1892).


Phaedr.I think that I understand you; but will you explain yourself?

Soc.When any one speaks of iron and silver, is not the same thing present in the minds of all?

Phaedr.Certainly.

Soc.But when any one speaks of justice and goodness we part company and are at odds with one another and with ourselves?

Phaedr.Precisely.

Soc.Then in some things we agree, but not in others?

Phaedr.That is true.

Soc.In which are we more likely to be deceived, and in which has rhetoric the greater power?

Phaedr.Clearly, in the uncertain class.

Soc.Then the rhetorician ought to make a regular division, and acquire a distinct notion of both classes, as well of that in which the many err, as of that in which they do not err?

Phaedr.He who made such a distinction would have an excellent principle.

Soc.Yes; and in the next place he must have a keen eye for the observation of particulars in speaking, and not make a mistake about the class to which they are to be referred.

Phaedr.Certainly.

Soc.Love belongs to the debatable class.

Now to which class does love belong—to the debatable or to the undisputed class?

Phaedr.To the debatable, clearly; for if not, do you think that love would have allowed you to say as you did, that he is an evil both to the lover and the beloved, and also the greatest possible good?

Soc.Capital. But will you tell me whether I defined love at the beginning of my speech? for, having been in an ecstasy, I cannot well remember.

Phaedr.Yes, indeed; that you did, and no mistake.

Soc.Lysias should have begun, as I did, by defining love.

Then I perceive that the Nymphs of Achelous and Pan the son of Hermes, who inspired me, were far better rhetoricians than Lysias the son of Cephalus. Alas! how inferior to them he is! But perhaps I am mistaken; and Lysias at the commencement of his lover’s speech did insist on our supposing love to be something or other which he fancied him to be, and according to this model he fashioned and framed the remainder of his discourse. Suppose we read his beginning over again:

Phaedr.If you please; but you will not find what you want.

Soc.Read, that I may have his exact words.
Phaedr.‘You know how matters stand with me, and how, as I conceive, they might be arranged for our common interest; and I maintain I ought not to fail in my suit because I am not your lover, for lovers repent of the kindnesses which they have shown, when their love is over.’
Soc.He begins at the end.

Here he appears to have done just the reverse of what he ought; for he has begun at the end, and is swimming on his back through the flood to the place of starting. His address to the fair youth begins where the lover would have ended. Am I not right, sweet Phaedrus?

Phaedr.Yes, indeed, Socrates; he does begin at the end.

Soc.No order or arrangement of parts in his discourse.

Then as to the other topics—are they not thrown down anyhow? Is there any principle in them? Why should the next topic follow next in order, or any other topic? I cannot help fancying in my ignorance that he wrote off boldly just what came into his head, but I dare say that you would recognize a rhetorical necessity in the succession of the several parts of the composition?

Phaedr.You have too good an opinion of me if you think that I have any such insight into his principles of composition.

Soc.At any rate, you will allow that every discourse ought to be a living creature, having a body of its own and a head and feet; there should be a middle, beginning, and end, adapted to one another and to the whole?

Phaedr.Every discourse should be a living creature, having a body, head, and feet.

Certainly.

Soc.Can this be said of the discourse of Lysias? See whether you can find any more connexion in his words than in the epitaph which is said by some to have been inscribed on the grave of Midas the Phrygian.

Phaedr.What is there remarkable in the epitaph?

Soc.It is as follows:—

 * ‘I am a maiden of bronze and lie on the tomb of Midas;
    * So long as water flows and tall trees grow,
    * So long here on this spot by his sad tomb abiding,
    * I shall declare to passers–by that Midas sleeps below.’

The discourse of Lysias had no more arrangement than the silliest of epitaphs.

Now in this rhyme whether a line comes first or comes last, as you will perceive, makes no difference.
Phaedr.You are making fun of that oration of ours.

Soc.Well, I will say no more about your friend’s speech lest I should give offence to you; although I think that it might furnish many other examples of what a man ought rather to avoid. But I will proceed to the other speech, which, as I think, is also suggestive to students of rhetoric.
Phaedr.In what way?

Soc.The two speeches, as you may remember, were unlike; the one argued that the lover and the other that the non–lover ought to be accepted.

Phaedr.And right manfully.

Soc.You should rather say ‘madly;’ and madness was the argument of them, for, as I said, ‘love is a madness.’
Phaedr.Yes.

Soc.And of madness there were two kinds; one produced by human infirmity, the other was a divine release of the soul from the yoke of custom and convention.

Phaedr.True.

Soc.Four subdivisions of madness—prophetic, initiatory, poetic, erotic.

The divine madness was subdivided into four kinds, prophetic, initiatory, poetic, erotic, having four gods presiding over them; the first was the inspiration of Apollo, the second that of Dionysus, the third that of the Muses, the fourth that of Aphrodite and Eros. In the description of the last kind of madness, which was also said to be the best, we spoke of the affection of love in a figure, into which we introduced a tolerably credible and possibly true through partly erring myth, which was also a hymn in honour of Love, who is your lord and also mine, Phaedrus, and the guardian of fair children, and to him we sung the hymn in measured and solemn strain.

Phaedr.I know that I had great pleasure in listening to you.

Soc.Let us take this instance and note how the transition was made from blame to praise.

Phaedr.What do you mean?

Soc.The myth was a creation of fancy, yet true principles were involved in it: (1) unity of particulars in a single note; (2) natural division into species.

I mean to say that the composition was mostly playful. Yet in these chance fancies of the hour were involved two principles of which we should be too glad to have a clearer description if art could give us one.

Phaedr.What are they?

Soc.First, the comprehension of scattered particulars in one idea; as in our definition of love, which whether true or false certainly gave clearness and consistency to the discourse, the speaker should define his several notions and so make his meaning clear.

Phaedr.What is the other principle, Socrates?

Soc.The second principle is that of division into species according to the natural formation, where the joint is, not breaking any part as a bad carver might. Just as our two discourses, alike assumed, first of all, a single form of unreason; and then, as the body which from being one becomes double and may be divided into a left side and right side, each having parts right and left of the same name—after this manner the speaker proceeded to divide the parts of the left side and did not desist until he found in them an evil or lefthanded love which he justly reviled; and the other discourse leading us to the madness which lay on the right side, found another love, also having the same name, but divine, which the speaker held up before us and applauded and affirmed to be the author of the greatest benefits.The dialectician is concerned with the one and many.

Phaedr.Most true.

Soc.I am myself a great lover of these processes of division and generalization; they help me to speak and to think. And if I find any man who is able to see ‘a One and Many’ in nature, him I follow, and ‘walk in his footsteps as if he were a god.’ And those who have this art, I have hitherto been in the habit of calling dialecticians; but God knows whether the name is right or not. And I should like to know what name you would give to your or to Lysias’ disciples, and whether this may not be that famous art of rhetoric which Thrasymachus and others teach and practise? Skilful speakers they are, and impart their skill to any who is willing to make kings of them and to bring gifts to them.


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The idea here is that the argument can be held in objective analysis as a defining relation to perspective about what is real, in the here and now. So any describing from it's source to something more defined topologically in movement from the vacuum, is a move to a finer substrate of the reality? What shape in the valley? Which one?

While scientifically engaged, "what if" internally you face the past as a lesson in history, and look upon the world, as our sun? Change it up, and the world is our past, while internally a sun shines behind us. This asks that the internal world is configured according to this dimensional perspective. Subjective yes, but allegorical to what any state of mind garners as it rests to it's ideological state?

Heaven

In the modern age of science and space flight the idea that Heaven is a physical place in the observable universe has largely been abandoned.[citation needed] Religious views, however, still hold Heaven as having a dual status as a concept of mind or heart, but also possibly still physically existing in some way on another "plane of existence", dimension, or perhaps at a future time.[citation needed] According to science there are unobservable areas of the universe (everywhere beyond earth's Particle horizon), although by their very nature it is not possible to observe them.

In this examination of "position" we are always facing our past. If we are to examine our scientific position, is this then real in how we analyze all of the experiments that are currently being undertaken?

You see, looking to an event in the cosmos, this orientation of looking back is to place "a measure" between the earth we stand on, and the event. The event is receding as we are gazing. While some of this observation is picked out in Pirsig's afterword, the subsequent revelation given by Socrate to Phaedrus raises some perspective in my mind about what I had always believed.

As I look at the world, it is receding, yet, internally connected as if in a Ambigram of continuous rotation. It has to be symmetrical, in that asymmetry is to move into the world, while internally, it has always been where symmetry resides?

Why move into an objective status of scientific belief that what can exist in relation to the values that science call its dimensional, is the realization that such an existence is as if matched internally according to the degrees of freedom that we match according to the nature I had assigned Colour of Gravity.


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See:

Incompatible Arrows

Our Consciousness can "Contain the Future?"

Memories Arise Out of a Equilibrium