Tacit Knowledge

Tacit knowledge (as opposed to formal, codified or explicit knowledge) is the kind of knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. For example, stating to someone that London is in the United Kingdom is a piece of explicit knowledge that can be written down, transmitted, and understood by a recipient. However, the ability to speak a language, use algebra,^[1] or design and use complex equipment requires all sorts of knowledge that is not always known explicitly, even by expert practitioners, and which is difficult or impossible to explicitly transfer to other users.
While tacit knowledge appears to be simple, it has far reaching consequences and is not widely understood.

Contents 1 Definition 2 Differences with explicit knowledge 3 Transmission models for tacit knowledge 4 Examples 5 Knowledge management 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

Definition

The term “tacit knowing” or “tacit knowledge” was first introduced into philosophy by Michael Polanyi in 1958 in his magnum opus Personal Knowledge. He famously introduces the idea in his later work The Tacit Dimension with the assertion that “we can know more than we can tell.”.^[2] According to him, not only is the knowledge that cannot be adequately articulated by verbal means, but also all knowledge is rooted in tacit knowledge in the strong sense of that term.
With tacit knowledge, people are not often aware of the knowledge they possess or how it can be valuable to others. Effective transfer of tacit knowledge generally requires extensive personal contact, regular interaction ^[3] and trust. This kind of knowledge can only be revealed through practice in a particular context and transmitted through social networks.^[4] To some extent it is "captured" when the knowledge holder joins a network or a community of practice.^[5]
Some examples of daily activities and tacit knowledge are: riding a bike, playing the piano, driving a car, and hitting a nail with a hammer.^[6]
The formal knowledge of how to ride a bicycle is that in order to balance, if the bike falls to the left, one steers to the left. To turn right the rider first steers to the left, and then when the bike falls right, the rider steers to the right.^[7] You may know explicitly how turning of the handle bars or steering wheel change the direction of a bike or car, but you cannot simultaneously focus on this and at the same time orientate yourself in traffic.
Similarly, you may know explicitly how to hold the handle of a hammer, but you cannot simultaneously focus on the handle and hit the nail correctly with the hammer. The master pianist can perform brilliantly, but if he begins to concentrate on the movements of his fingers instead of the music, he will not be able to play as a master. Knowing the explicit knowledge, however, is no help in riding a bicycle, doesn’t help in performing well in the tasks since few people are aware of it when performing and few riders are in fact aware of this.
Tacit knowledge is not easily shared. Although it is that which is used by all people, it is not necessarily able to be easily articulated. It consists of beliefs, ideals, values, schemata and mental models which are deeply ingrained in us and which we often take for granted. While difficult to articulate, this cognitive dimension of tacit knowledge shapes the way we perceive the world.
In the field of knowledge management, the concept of tacit knowledge refers to a knowledge possessed only by an individual and difficult to communicate to others via words and symbols. Therefore, an individual can acquire tacit knowledge without language. Apprentices, for example, work with their mentors and learn craftsmanship not through language but by observation, imitation, and practice.
The key to acquiring tacit knowledge is experience. Without some form of shared experience, it is extremely difficult for people to share each other's thinking processes^[8]
Tacit knowledge has been described as “know-how” - as opposed to “know-what” (facts), “know-why” (science), or “know-who” (networking)^{[citation needed]}. It involves learning and skill but not in a way that can be written down. On this account knowing-how or embodied knowledge is characteristic of the expert, who acts, makes judgments, and so forth without explicitly reflecting on the principles or rules involved. The expert works without having a theory of his or her work; he or she just performs skillfully without deliberation or focused attention ^[9]
Tacit knowledge vs. Explicit knowledge:^[10] Although it is possible to distinguish conceptually between explicit and tacit knowledge, they are not separate and discrete in practice. The interaction between these two modes of knowing is vital for the creation of new knowledge.^[11]

Differences with explicit knowledge

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Tacit knowledge can be distinguished from explicit knowledge in three major areas:

• Codifiability and mechanism of transferring knowledge: while explicit knowledge can be codified, and easily transferred without the knowing subject, tacit knowledge is intuitive and unarticulated knowledge cannot be communicated, understood or used without the ‘knowing subject’. Unlike the transfer of explicit knowledge, the transfer of tacit knowledge requires close interaction and the buildup of shared understanding and trust among them.
• Main methods for the acquisition and accumulation: Explicit knowledge can be generated through logical deduction and acquired through practical experience in the relevant context. In contrast, tacit knowledge can only be acquired through practical experience in the relevant context.
• Potential of aggregation and modes of appropriation: Explicit knowledge can be aggregated at a single location, stored in objective forms and appropriated without the participation of the knowing subject. Tacit knowledge in contrast, is personal contextual. It is distributive, and cannot easily be aggregated. The realization of its full potential requires the close involvement and cooperation of the knowing subject.

The process of transforming tacit knowledge into explicit or specifiable knowledge is known as codification, articulation, or specification. The tacit aspects of knowledge are those that cannot be codified, but can only be transmitted via training or gained through personal experience.

Transmission models for tacit knowledge

A chief practice of technological development is the codification of tacit knowledge into explicit programmed operations so that processes previously requiring skilled employees can be automated for greater efficiency and consistency at lower cost. Such codification involves mechanically replicating the performance of persons who possess relevant tacit knowledge; in doing so, however, the ability of the skilled practitioner to innovate and adapt to unforeseen circumstances based on the tacit "feel" of the situation is often lost. The technical remedy is to attempt to substitute brute-force methods capitalizing on the computing power of a system, such as those that enable a supercomputer programmed to "play" chess against a grandmaster whose tacit knowledge of the game is broad and deep.
The conflicts demonstrated in the previous two paragraphs are reflected in Ikujiro Nonaka's model of organizational knowledge creation, in which he proposes that tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge. In that model tacit knowledge is presented variously as uncodifiable ("tacit aspects of knowledge are those that cannot be codified") and codifiable ("transforming tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge is known as codification"). This ambiguity is common in the knowledge management literature.
Nonaka's view may be contrasted with Polanyi's original view of "tacit knowing." Polanyi believed that while declarative knowledge may be needed for acquiring skills, it is unnecessary for using those skills once the novice becomes an expert. And indeed, it does seem to be the case that, as Polanyi argued, when we acquire a skill we acquire a corresponding understanding that defies articulation ^[12]

Examples

• One of the most convincing examples of tacit knowledge is facial recognition. ‘‘We know a person’s face, and can recognize it among a thousand, indeed a million. Yet we usually cannot tell how we recognize a face we know, so most of this cannot be put into words.’’. When you see a face you are not conscious about your knowledge of the individual features (eye, nose, mouth), but you see and recognize the face as a whole ^[13]
• Another example of tacit knowledge is the notion of language itself—it is not possible to learn a language just by being taught the rules of grammar—a native speaker picks it up at a young age almost entirely unaware of the formal grammar which they may be taught later. Other examples are how to ride a bike, how tight to make a bandage, or knowing whether a senior surgeon feels an intern may be ready to learn the intricacies of surgery; this can only be learned through personal experimentation.
• Collins showed ^[14] that a particular laser (The ppTEA laser) was designed in America and the idea, with specific assistance from the designers, was gradually propagated to various other universities world-wide. However, in the early days, even when specific instructions were sent, other labs failed to replicate the laser, it only being made to work in each case following a visit to or from the originating lab or very close contact and dialogue. It became clear that while the originators could clearly make the laser work, they did not know exactly what it was that they were doing to make it work, and so could not articulate or specify it by means of monologue articles and specifications. But a cooperative process of dialogue enabled the tacit knowledge to be transferred.
• Another example is the Bessemer steel process — Bessemer sold a patent for his advanced steel making process and was sued by the purchasers who couldn't get it to work. In the end Bessemer set up his own steel company because he knew how to do it, even though he could not convey it to his patent users. Bessemer's company became one of the largest in the world and changed the face of steel making.^[15]
• As apprentices learn the craft of their masters through observation, imitation, and practice, so do employees of a firm learn new skills through on-the-job training. When Matsushita started developing its automatic home bread-making machine in 1985, an early problem was how to mechanize the dough-kneading process, a process that takes a master baker years of practice to perfect. To learn this tacit knowledge, a member of the software development team, Ikuko Tanaka, decided to volunteer herself as an apprentice to the head baker of the Osaka International Hotel, who was reputed to produce the area’s best bread. After a period of imitation and practice, one day she observed that the baker was not only stretching but also twisting the dough in a particular fashion (“twisting stretch”), which turned out to be the secret for making tasty bread. The Matsushita home bakery team drew together eleven members from completely different specializations and cultures: product planning, mechanical engineering, control systems, and software development. The “twisting stretch” motion was finally materialized in a prototype after a year of iterative experimentation by the engineers and team members working closely together, combining their explicit knowledge. For example, the engineers added ribs to the inside of the dough case in order to hold the dough better as it is being churned. Another team member suggested a method (later patented) to add yeast at a later stage in the process, thereby preventing the yeast from over-fermenting in high temperatures.^[16]

Knowledge management

According to Parsaye, there are three major approaches to the capture of tacit knowledge from groups and individuals. They are:^[17]

• Interviewing experts.
• Learning by being told.
• Learning by observation.

Interviewing experts can be done in the form of structured interviewing or by recording organizational stories. Structured interviewing of experts in a particular subject is the most commonly used technique to capture pertinent, tacit knowledge. An example of a structured interview would be an exit interview. Learning by being told can be done by interviewing or by task analysis. Either way, an expert teaches the novice the processes of a task. Task analysis is the process of determining the actual task or policy by breaking it down and analyzing what needs to be done to complete the task. Learning by observation can be done by presenting the expert with a sample problem, scenario, or case study and then observing the process used to solve the problem.^{[citation needed]}
Some other techniques for capturing tacit knowledge are:^{[citation needed][original research?]}

• Action learning

All of these approaches should be recorded in order to transfer the tacit knowledge into reusable explicit knowledge.
Professor Ikujiro Nonaka has proposed the SECI (Socialization, Externalization, Combination, Internalization) model, one of the most widely cited theories in knowledge management, to present the spiraling knowledge processes of interaction between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995).

• The IRG Solution - hierarchical incompetence and how to overcome it argued that tacit knowledge was essentially a property of social networks and that much tacit knowledge was held in, and communicated by this informal lateral communication between network members.

See also

• Knowledge management
• Knowledge tagging
• Procedural knowledge
• Phronesis
• Explicit knowledge
• Descriptive knowledge
• Dispersed knowledge
• Intuition
• Lateral communication
• Lateral media
• Situated knowledge
• Lateral diffusion
• Hidden curriculum
• Cognitive apprenticeship
• Consensus reality
• Community of practice
• Concept map
• Decision making
• Logical consequence
• Activity theory
• Cultural studies
• Michael Polanyi
• Text and Conversation Theory

References

1. ^ Collins, H.M. "Tacit Knowledge, Trust and the Q of Sapphire" Social Studies of Science' p. 71-85 31(1) 2001.
2. ^ Polanyi, Michael (1966), The Tacit Dimension, University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 4.
3. ^ Goffin, K. & Koners, U. (2011). Tacit Knowledge, Lessons Learnt, and New Product Development. J PROD INNOV MANAG, 28, 300-318.
4. ^ Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1993). Tacit knowledge, practical intelligence, general mental ability, and job knowledge. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 8-9.
5. ^ Goffin, K. & Koners, U. (2011). Tacit Knowledge, Lessons Learnt, and New Product Development. J PROD INNOV MANAG, 28, 300-318.
6. ^ Engel, P. J. H. (2008). Tacit knowledge and Visual Expertise in Medical Diagnostic Reasoning: Implications for medical education. Medical Teacher, 30, e184-e188. DOI: 10.1080/01421590802144260.
7. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_and_motorcycle_dynamics
8. ^ Lam, A. (2000). Tacit Knowledge, Organizational Learning and Societal Institutions: An Integrated Framework. Organization Studies 21(3), 487-513.
9. ^ Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1993). Tacit knowledge, practical intelligence, general mental ability, and job knowledge. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 8-9.
10. ^ Lam, A. (2000). Tacit Knowledge, Organizational Learning and Societal Institutions: An Integrated Framework. Organization Studies 21(3), 487-51.
11. ^ Angioni, G., Fare, dire, sentire: l'identico e il diverso nelle culture, Il Maestrale, 2011, 26-99
12. ^ Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1993). Tacit knowledge, practical intelligence, general mental ability, and job knowledge. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 8-9.
13. ^ Lam, A. (2000). Tacit Knowledge, Organizational Learning and Societal Institutions: An Integrated Framework. Organization Studies 21(3), 487-513.
14. ^ Collins, H.M. "Tacit Knowledge, Trust and the Q of Sapphire" Social Studies of Science' p. 71-85 31(1) 2001
15. ^ J.E. Gordon, "The new science of strong materials", Penguin books.
16. ^ Nonaka, Ikujiro; Takeuchi, Hirotaka (1995), The knowledge creating company: how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 284, ISBN 978-0-19-509269-1.
17. ^ Parsaye, Kamran; Chignell, Mark (1988), Expert systems for experts, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, p. 365, ISBN 978-0-471-60175-3

Further reading

• Angioni G., Doing, Thinkink, Saying, in Sanga & Ortalli (eds.) , Nature Knowledge, Berghahm Books, New York-Oxford 2004, 249-261.
• Angioni, G., Fare, dire, sentire: l'identico e il diverso nelle culture, Il Maestrale, 2011, 26-99
• Bao, Y.; Zhao, S. (2004), "MICRO Contracting for Tacit Knowledge - A Study of Contractual Arrangements in International Technology Transfer", in Problems and Perspectives of Management, 2, 279- 303.
• Brohm, R. Bringing Polanyi onto the theatre stage: a study on Polanyi applied to Knowledge Management, in: Proceedings of the ISMICK Conference, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1999, pp. 57–69.
• Brohm, R. (2005), Polycentric Order in Organizations, Erasmus University Rotterdam: Published dissertation ERIM, hdl:1765/6911
• Collins, H.M. "Tacit Knowledge, Trust and the Q of Sapphire" Social Studies of Science' p. 71-85 31(1) 2001
• Dalkir, Kimiz (2005) "Knowledge Management in Theory and Practice" pp. 82–90
• Gladwell, Malcolm 2005. Blink: the power of thinking without thinking. Little, Brown: New York.
• Gourlay, Stephen, "An Activity Centered Framework for Knowledge Management". In Claire Regina McInerney, Ronald E. Day (2007). Rethinking knowledge management. Springer. ISBN 3-540-71010-8.
• Nonaka, Ikujiro; Takeuchi, Hirotaka (1995), The knowledge creating company: how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation, New York: Oxford University Press, p. 284, ISBN 978-0-19-509269-1
• Patriotta, G. (2004). Studying organizational knowledge. Knowledge Management Research and Practice, 2(1).
• Ploszajski, P.; Saquet, A.; Segalla, M. Le savoir tacite dans un contexte culturel (z: ), Les Echos, Le Quotidien de L’Economie, 18 Novembre 2004, Paris 2004
• Polanyi, Michael. "The Tacit Dimension". First published Doubleday & Co, 1966. Reprinted Peter Smith, Gloucester, Mass, 1983. Chapter 1: "Tacit Knowing".
• Reber, Arthur S. 1993. Implicit learning and tacit knowledge: an essay on the corgnitive unconscious. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510658-X
• Sanders, A. F. (1988). Michael Polanyi's post critical epistemology, a reconstruction of some aspects of 'tacit knowing'. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
• Smith, M. K. (2003) 'Michael Polanyi and tacit knowledge', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/thinkers/polanyi.htm.© 2003 Mark K. Smith
• Tsoukas, H. (2003) ‘Do we really understand tacit knowledge?’ in The Blackwell handbook of organizational learning and knowledge management. Easterby-Smith and Lyles (eds), 411-427. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
• Erik Cambria and Amir Hussain: Sentic Computing: Techniques, Tools, and Applications. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, ISBN: 978-94-007-5069-2, 2012
• Wenger E. Communities of practice: learning, meaning and identity, Cambridge University Press, New York 1998.
• Wilson, Timothy D. 2002. Strangers to ourselves: discovering the adaptive unconscious. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA. 0-674-01382-4

External links

Look up Tacit in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up tacit in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• More on tacit knowledge in organizations
• Dictionary of Philosophy of Mind - tacit knowledge
• Tacit knowledge, tacit knowing or behaving? by Stephen Gourlay (PDF)
• The Duality of Knowledge
• Processes of Knowledge Transformation from the ITtoolbox Wiki
• National Library for Health Knowledge Management Specialist Library - collection of resources about auditing intellectual capital.

Musical Acoustics

A recipe for a violin

Chladni patterns show the geometry of the different types of vibration of violin plates. This site has an introductory explanation of modes of vibration and a library of photographs of the Chladni patterns of the bellies and backplates of two different violins (one mass-produced and one hand-made). It also has photographs of plates with regular geometries which assist in understanding the violin modes. For some related history, see Chladni's law. For some Chladni patterns on metal plates, with sound files, see Acoustics of bell plates. To make your own Chladni patters, try this site.

See Also:

• Modern tests of the vibrational properties of the unassembled topand back plates of a violin reveal something of what violimakers do by "feel" and lead to thr making of consistently good violins by Carleen Maley Hutchins.

Cool horizons for entangled black holes

Schwarzschild wormholes

General relativity contains solutions in which two distant black holes are connected through the interior via a wormhole, or Einstein-Rosen bridge. These solutions can be interpreted as maximally entangled states of two black holes that form a complex EPR pair. We suggest that similar bridges might be present for more general entangled states.
In the case of entangled black holes one can formulate versions of the AMPS(S) paradoxes and resolve them. This suggests possible resolutions of the firewall paradoxes for more general situations.Cool horizons for entangled black holes Juan Maldacena, Leonard Susskind

One of the most enjoyable and inspiring physics papers I have read in recent years is this one by Mark Van Raamsdonk. Building on earlier observations by Maldacena and by Ryu and Takayanagi. Van Raamsdonk proposed that quantum entanglement is the fundamental ingredient underlying spacetime geometry. Since my first encounter with this provocative paper, I have often mused that it might be a Good Thing for someone to take Van Raamsdonk’s idea really seriously. Entanglement=Wormholes preskill

See Also:

• Finding and abandoning incorrect general relativity lore

• Firewalls, Burning Brightly

Time Begins, When Counting Begins?

Like Copernicus' heliocentric theory, Newton's law of gravitation, and Darwin's theory of evolution, non-Euclidean geometry has radically affected science, philosophy, and religion. It is fair to say that no more cataclysmic event has ever taken place in the history of all thought.Saccheri's Flaw while eliminating Euclid's "Flaw" The Evolution of Non-Euclidean Geometry

The basis of any experience has it's counter part in how we have established the lines to which we place all experiencing on? You cannot count backward to zero(what is before zero...ummmmmm nothing), so what takes zero's place? It would be like asking what existed before this universe, so fundamentally they looked at issues around the false vacuum to the true. But cosmologically they call this universe "a box," and anything outside of it not fundamental?

Time has no independent existence apart from the order of events by which we measure it. — Albert Einstein

When does counting begin? Discover Patterns.  Fibonacci Numbers perhaps? How does that apply to the natural world?

Any measure then, serves to activate a counting to begin? So you choose to be discrete. Some how you cannot distance yourself from any operation as to say the location is other then a configuration space, and that you are operating within it?

So the question is, when do you first become aware? What is considered outside of time, if you think that time refers too, when counting begins? So you are in your subjective states, whether these are real or not remains to be seen, so how do you quantify this? Do you have a way of keeping time in the subjective world.


Abstract space(mathematics) are totally outside of time?

I guess it is sort of like asking what first cause is to imply. Yet, theoretical definition is to say that string theory pushes back time much further to such a beginning then Steven Weinberg's first three minutes. The act in itself is related to "microseconds" when pushing back perspective, and not Weinberg's minutes

The background(WMAP) initially is a foundation with which the universe is painted. Then you add in the progressiveness of the parameters with which you use to define the universe?

So theoretically, you start counting when? The abstractness is contained in the mathematical structure of the universe which has been chosen to be perceived by observing in that abstract framework.

When you've chosen virtually reality, you have choose to model the framework(subjective /objectively) as well? We use it to model abstract language. Is that real?

So recap on use of measure of natural units then.

In physics, natural units are physical units of measurement defined in terms of universal physical constants in such a manner that some chosen physical constants take on the numerical value of one when expressed in terms of a particular set of natural units. Natural units are intended to elegantly simplify particular algebraic expressions appearing in physical law or to normalize some chosen physical quantities that are properties of universal elementary particles and that may be reasonably believed to be constant. However, what may be believed and forced to be constant in one system of natural units can very well be allowed or even assumed to vary in another natural unit system. Natural units are natural because the origin of their definition comes only from properties of nature and not from any human construct. Planck units are often, without qualification, called "natural units" but are only one system of natural units among other systems. Planck units might be considered unique in that the set of units are not based on properties of any prototype, object, or particle but are based only on properties of free space.Natural units

 So we have effectively run into a problem.

 

TWO UNIVERSES of different dimension and obeying disparate physical laws are rendered completely equivalent by the holographic principle. Theorists have demonstrated this principle mathematically for a specific type of five-dimensional spacetime ("anti–de Sitter") and its four-dimensional boundary. In effect, the 5-D universe is recorded like a hologram on the 4-D surface at its periphery. Superstring theory rules in the 5-D spacetime, but a so-called conformal field theory of point particles operates on the 4-D hologram. A black hole in the 5-D spacetime is equivalent to hot radiation on the hologram--for example, the hole and the radiation have the same entropy even though the physical origin of the entropy is completely different for each case. Although these two descriptions of the universe seem utterly unalike, no experiment could distinguish between them, even in principle.

When you are looking out toward the universe you are looking for the reasons as to why the universe is doing what it is doing. What is happening in one place in terms of black hole production in the cosmos? Do these have implications, as in other cosmological sources as to imply, the universe is doing what it is doing?
 

See Also:

• Who is the ClockMaker 
• The Old Wise Man
• Getting Perspective on Time

Quantum Biology and the Hidden of Nature

Can the spooky world of quantum physics explain bird navigation, photosynthesis and even our delicate sense of smell? Clues are mounting that the rules governing the subatomic realm may play an unexpectedly pivotal role in the visible world. Join leading thinkers in the emerging field of quantum biology as they explore the hidden hand of quantum physics in everyday life and discuss how these insights may one day revolutionize thinking on everything from the energy crisis to quantum computers.See:Quantum Biology and the Hidden Nature of Nature World Science Festival

Multiverse: One Universe or Many

The inflationary theory of cosmology, an enduring theory about our universe and how it was formed, explains that just after the Big Bang, the universe went through a period of rapid expansion. This theory has been critical to understanding what’s going on in the cosmos today. But now, this long-held notion—which seems to suggest as-yet-unproven and perhaps unprovable features such as the multiverse—is under increasing attack. Through informed debate among architects of the inflationary theory and its prime competitors, this program will explore our best attempts to understand where we came from. See: Multiverse: One Universe or Many

The Genetics of Spacetime

It is interesting to discover a thought process that one can tap into which allows us to think in the way that we do?;) I'll explain a bit more after you read the quote and link supplied.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/h-k-d/4291413264/

If our experience of time and space share similar neural correlates, it begets a fundamental question: are space and time truly distinct in the mind, or are they the product of a generalized neurocognitive system that allows us to understand the world? See:Decoding Space and Time in the Brain

So the question here of genetics as a foundational basis for which the world takes on new meaning and content, is also  to suggest that such an evolution is mind/brain changing. Right?

 

 All-sky map of the CMB, created from 9 years of WMAP data

I have to wait until something appears that is missing so as to show that the current developments in our technologies(WMAP) are based on the spectrum of possibilities in the way we dive deeper into the reality.

  

Comparison of CMB results from COBE, WMAP and Planck – March 21, 2013.

  Cosmologically, it is appealing that we seek to describe the universe optically in so many ways. This allows us to look deeper into the cosmos then we did before. This is a established trade route then with which to accept a sensory derivation of the cosmos. This would have intermingled with the process genetically disposed so as to imbue our sight of. It becomes neurologically appealing as insight is generated?

 B-modes retain their special nature as manifest in the fact that they can possess a handedness that distinguishes left from right. For example here are two polarization fields with the same structure but in the E-mode on the left and the B-mode on the right:

See: Anomalous Alignments in the Cosmic Microwave Background

So I am suggesting that such an evolution and development of consciousness would be to accept that the depth of our seeing is to go much further if we penetrate the cosmos in ways that we have not considered before. Examples already in progress are inherent in how we look at our Sun in terms of the Heliophysics that has been established so as to see expected cosmos rays plummeting to earth and spraying our planet. This view already insights a neurological function of space?

If you sprinkle fine sand uniformly over a drumhead and then make it vibrate, the grains of sand will collect in characteristic spots and figures, called Chladni patterns. These patterns reveal much information about the size and the shape of the drum and the elasticity of its membrane. In particular, the distribution of spots depends not only on the way the drum vibrated initially but also on the global shape of the drum, because the waves will be reflected differently according to whether the edge of the drumhead is a circle, an ellipse, a square, or some other shape.

In cosmology, the early Universe was crossed by real acoustic waves generated soon after Big Bang. Such vibrations left their imprints 300 000 years later as tiny density fluctuations in the primordial plasma. Hot and cold spots in the present-day 2.7 K CMB radiation reveal those density fluctuations. Thus the CMB temperature fluctuations look like Chaldni patterns resulting from a complicated three-dimensional drumhead that.

The Shape of Space after WMAP data

See Also:

• Why do Science?
• All-sky map 
• Hearing Shape of the Drum

Two Paul Steinhardt Projects: "Cyclic Universe" and "Quasicrystals"

Two Paul Steinhardt Projects: "Cyclic Universe" and "Quasicrystals"

Paul Steinhardt

Albert Einstein Professor in Science, Departments of Physics and Astrophysical...

Quasi-elegance....As a young student first reading Weyl's book, crystallography seemed like the "ideal" of what one should be aiming for in science: elegant mathematics that provides a complete understanding of all physical possibilities. Ironically, many years later, I played a role in showing that my "ideal" was seriously flawed. In 1984, Dan Shechtman, Ilan Blech, Denis Gratias and John Cahn reported the discovery of a puzzling manmade alloy of aluminumand manganese with icosahedral symmetry. Icosahedral symmetry, with its six five-fold symmetry axes, is the most famous forbidden crystal symmetry. As luck would have it, Dov Levine (Technion) and I had been developing a hypothetical idea of a new form of solid that we dubbed quasicrystals, short for quasiperiodic crystals. (A quasiperiodic atomic arrangement means the atomic positions can be described by a sum of oscillatory functions whose frequencies have an irrational ratio.) We were inspired by a two-dimensional tiling invented by Sir Roger Penrose known as the Penrose tiling, comprised of two tiles arranged in a five-fold symmetric pattern. We showed that quasicrystals could exist in three dimensions and were not subject to the rules of crystallography. In fact, they could have any of the symmetries forbidden to crystals. Furthermore, we showed that the diffraction patterns predicted for icosahedral quasicrystals matched the Shechtman et al. observations. Since 1984, quasicrystals with other forbidden symmetries have been synthesized in the laboratory. The 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Dan Shechtman for his experimental breakthrough that changed our thinking about possible forms of matter. More recently, colleagues and I have found evidence that quasicrystals may have been among the first minerals to have formed in the solar system.

The crystallography I first encountered in Weyl's book, thought to be complete and immutable, turned out to be woefully incomplete, missing literally an uncountable number of possible symmetries for matter. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned: While elegance and simplicity are often useful criteria for judging theories, they can sometimes mislead us into thinking we are right, when we are actually infinitely wrong. See:
2012 : WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?

See Also:

• Quasicrystal: Prof. Dan Shechtman
• what is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful - Dialogos of Eide
• Cyclic model
• Cycle of Birth, Life, and Death-Origin, Identity, and Destiny by Gabriele Veneziano
• Conformal Cyclic Cosmology....

All-sky map

All-sky map of the CMB, created from 9 years of WMAP data

Comparison of CMB results from COBE, WMAP and Planck – March 21, 2013.

Working out what happened in the moments after the Big Bang is difficult. Scientists can come up with theories, but in the end they are useful only if they can be tested. Nobel prizewinner Robert Laughlin is passionate about experiments. He challenges the students in this film, and laureate David Gross, to come up with ways to test our big ideas about the Universe. The two laureates make a bet. Watch the film to find out more and to decide who wins.See:Betting on the cosmos - with David Gross and Robert Laughlin

See Also:

• http://www.eskesthai.com/2013/03/our-baby-universe-with-ed-copeland.html
• http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/research/gr/public/cs_top.html
• http://www.eskesthai.com/2013/04/hearing-shape-of-drum.html

Hmmmm...Pringles Potato Chip Still?

Solving quantum field theories via curved spacetimes by Igor R. Klebanov and Juan M. Maldacena

IN their figure 2. Hyperbolic space, and their comparative relation to the M.C.Escher's Circle Limit woodcut, Klebanov and Maldacena write, " but we have replaced Escher's interlocking fish with cows to remind readers of the physics joke about the spherical cow as an idealization of a real one. In anti-de Sitter/conformal theory correspondence, theorists have really found a hyperbolic cow."

Does Planck 2013 Data hurt the continuance of geometrical underpinnings?

The recent Planck satellite combined with earlier results eliminate a wide spectrum of more complex inflationary models and favor models with a single scalar field, as reported in the analysis of the collaboration. More important, though, is that all the simplest inflaton models are disfavored by the data while the surviving models -- namely, those with plateau-like potentials -- are problematic. We discuss how the restriction to plateau-like models leads to three independent problems: it exacerbates both the initial conditions problem and the multiverse-unpredictability problem and it creates a new difficulty which we call the inflationary "unlikeliness problem." Finally, we comment on problems reconciling inflation with a standard model Higgs, as suggested by recent LHC results. In sum, we find that recent experimental data disfavors all the best-motivated inflationary scenarios and introduces new, serious difficulties that cut to the core of the inflationary paradigm. Forthcoming searches for B-modes, non-Gaussianity and new particles should be decisive.See: Inflationary paradigm in trouble after Planck2013

 

X-ray: NASA/CXC/UNAM/Ioffe/D.Page,P.Shternin et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

See:

• The Pringles Potato Chip
• Spherical Cows and their X-ray Sources
• Chandra Images by Category: Supernovas & Supernova Remnants