vol VII: Notes

2016

Notes

Sunday 12 June 2016 - Saturday 18 June 2016

[Notebook: DB 80: Cosmic plumbing]

[page 103]

Sunday 12 June 2016

My biggest problem is that I do not understand the Standard Model well enough to criticize it properly, although I feel there is a lot of special pleading and ad hoc inputs of data from observations, but its results are quite firm and so I should be looking for interpretations of what the physicists are doing rather than criticism. I think that the idea that it is describing the statistical products of an invisible computer has value, but is still very tentative. It worries me in a way that I

[page 104]

have spent so much time on this but made so little progress but am heartened by the fact that the physicists themselves spent many years in the dark but pressed on, and their results are very useful, if not an altogether perfect theoretical foundation for what I see as a divine world, although we can in effect construct any theory with a sufficiently well connected tree of binary operations, and I am continually striving to reach a metaphysical height from which I can see it all, but the air is getting a bit thin up here.

Cosmic plumbing: 'In fact dynamics, in a precise mathematical sense, is merely a fluid flow in a phase space. This "phase flow" . . . has a very special property: it is area preserving, that is the areas of two dimensional sheets of fluid remain unchanged as they flow along [laminar?]. Since a fluid flow in a manifold may be viewed as a time-dependent transformation of that manifold, we conclude that dynamics consists of a time-dependent transformation of phase space which preserves areas. And where there are areas, there must be symplectic forms.' Martin J Gotay and James A Isenberg, page 8

Monday 13 June 2016

Tuesday 14 June 2016

Wednesday 15 June 2016

Thursday 16 June 2016

Feynman, Nobel Lecture: 'It always seemed odd to me that the fundamental laws of physics, when discovered, can appear in so many different forms that are not

[page 105]

apparently identical at first, but with a little mathematical fiddling you can show the relationship. An example is the Schrödinger equation and the Heisenberg formulation of quantum mechanics. I don't know why this is—it remains a mystery, but something I learned from experience. There is another way to say the same thing that doesn't look at all like the way you said it before . . . Perhaps a thing is simple if you can describe it fully in several different ways without immediately knowing that you are describing the same thing.' Linguistic frames of reference, different languages. Richard P. Feynman

Feynman: amplitude for a path is e^iS/ℏ, where S is the action for the path [ie the number of 'waves', ie number of computational steps].

So we set out (long ago) to digitize the path integral method.

Feynman: 'I want you to see an interesting point. . . . I never used all that theory I had cooked up to solve a single physical problem, I hadn't even calculated the self energy of the electron up to that moment, and was studying the difficulties of the conservation of probability and so on, without actually doing anything except discussing the general properties of the theory' [maybe electron is a piece of software = algorithm, not a point in continuous space].

'Nevertheless a great deal more truth can be known than can be proven.'

'That is. I believe there is no really satisfactory quantum electrodynamics but I am not sure. . . . Therefore I think that the renormalization theory is simply a way to sweep the difficulties of the divergences of electrodynamics under the rug. I am, of course, not sure of that.'

Friday 17 June 2016

Saturday 18 June 2016

We build a universe from atomic events, 2πℏ

[page 106]

A non-symbol is a continuum. A symbol is a non-continuum, ie a transition from p (0) to not-p (1).

Comment on Robert Mickens Letter from Rome: How does the Vatican Discern Spiritual Gifts.

Politics trumps both science and faith. The science cannot be done nor the faith developed and promulgated unless the politicians holding the purse strings make the necessary resources available. Wooden's summary of Iuvenescit Ecclesia says it all: "The hierarchical gifts—teaching, sanctifying and governing—are those conferred with ordination." In other words, the gifts belong to the hierarchy that confers the ordination that confers the gifts. Francis has the same fight on his hands as the democratizing forces in Communist China: the people seeking modern government must break the power of the dictatorial party. In this he is somewhat hamstrung by the fact that in law (Canon 333) he is officially the dictator, and his curia does not want him to forget this, lest they lose their own power. Robert Mickens

Copyright:

You may copy this material freely provided only that you quote fairly and provide a link (or reference) to your source.

Further reading

Books

Click on the "Amazon" link below each book entry to see details of a book (and possibly buy it!)

Brown, Dan, , St. Martin's Griffin 2000 Review From Booklist 'The National Security Agency (NSA) is one setting for this exciting thriller; the other is Seville, where on page 1 the protagonist, lately dismissed from NSA, drops dead of a supposed heart attack. Though dead, he enjoys a dramaturgical afterlife in the form of his computer program. Digital Fortress creates unbreakable codes, which could render useless NSA's code-cracking supercomputer called TRANSLTR, but the deceased programmer slyly embossed a decryption key on a ring he wore. Pursuit of this ring is the engine of the plot. NSA cryptology boss Trevor Strathmore dispatches linguist Dave Becker to recover the ring, while he and Becker's lover, senior code-cracker Susan Fletcher, ponder the vulnerability of TRANSLTR. In Seville, over-the-top chase scenes abound; meanwhile, the critical events unfold at NSA. In a crescendo of murder, infernos, and explosions, it emerges that Strathmore has as agenda that goes beyond breaching Digital Fortress, and Brown's skill at hinting and concealing Strathmore's deceit will rivet cyber-minded readers.' Gilbert Taylor  Amazon   back

Hofstadter, Douglas R, Goedel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Basic/Harvester 1979 An illustrated essay on the philosophy of mathematics. Formal systems, recursion, self reference and meaning explored with a dazzling array of examples in music, dialogue, text and graphics.  Amazon   back

Jung, Carl G, Psychology and Religion: West and East (The Collected Works of C G Jung, Volume II), Princeton University Press 1975 'Nowhere else than in this study of the interplay of East and West is the point so forcefully made that man's cultural past somehow molds his feelings and thinking as well as his highly contrasting attitudes toward reality.' -- The New York Times Book Review   Amazon   back

Popper, Karl Raimund, The Open Society and its Enemies (volume 1) : The Spell of Plato, Routledge 1966 Introduction: 'This book ...attempts to show that [our civilisation] has not yet fully recovered from the shock of its birth - the transition from tribal or 'closed society', with its submission to magical forces, to the 'open society' which sets free the critical powers of man. ... It further tries to examine the application of the critical and rational methods of science to the problems of the open society.'   Amazon   back

Prigogine, Ilya , From Being to Becoming: Time and Complexity in the Physical Sciences, Freeman 1980 Jacket: 'How has order emerged from chaos? In this book, intended for the general reader with some background in physical chemistry and thermodynamics, Ilya Prigogine shows how systems far from equilibrium evolve elaborate structures: patterns of circulation in the atmosphere, formation and propagation of chemical waves, the aggregation of single-celled animals. In an effort to understand these phenomena, he explores the philosophical implications of the work that won him the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.'  Amazon   back

Prigogine, Ilya, and Isabelle Stengers, Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue with Nature, Bantam 1984 Foreword: 'Order Out of Chaos is a brilliant, demanding, dazzling book -- challenging for all and richly rewarding for the attentive reader. It is a book to study, to savour, to reread -- and to question yet again. It places science and humanity back in a world where ceteris paribus is a myth -- a world in which other things are seldom held steady, equal or unchanging. In short it projects science into today's revolutionary world of instability, disequilibrium and turbulence. In so doing, it serves the highest creative function -- it helps us create fresh order.' Alvin Toffler, xxvi  Amazon   back

Links

Andrew Harvey, Uncapping of university places achieved what it set out to do. So why is it dubbed a policy failure?, 'Paradoxically, the main “failure” of the demand-driven system is its success. University participation has risen spectacularly. The target of 40% participation should be comfortably met by 2025. The nation has quickly moved from an elite to a mass higher education system.' back

Brendan Barrett and Marco Amati, In the orld's niggest city, the past offers lessons for surviving the future, 'Today, the Japanese have an insatiable appetite for all things Edo. This goes deeper than the daily long lines outside the Edo-Tokyo Museum or the very popular historical dramas on TV every Sunday evening. Azby Brown, author of Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan, believes current anxieties about the state of the world are driving interest in the Edo experience.' back

Christopher van der Krogt, Friday essay: The Qur'an, the Bibe and homosexuality in Islam, 'Scriptures and later writers usually referred only to particular sexual acts and did not raise the issue of personal sexual orientation. For religious conservatives, though, both Muslim and Christian, the occasional derogatory reference to same-sex acts is enough to prove their inherent sinfulness in all circumstances. More liberal interpreters point to broader ethical considerations such as compassion and empathy. They argue that the condemnations of scripture do not apply to committed relationships founded on love.' back

Gabriel Arana, Why We Should Politicize the Orlando Massacre, 'But it is only the most privileged among us who have the luxury of divorcing politics from everyday life. Those of us in the L.G.B.T. community know better. Politics is how we won the right to be free from discrimination in government jobs, to have sex without fear of criminal prosecution, to serve in the military, to get married and adopt children. In about 28 states, we are still fighting to outlaw discrimination in employment. And transgender Americans are still fighting for the right to pee in peace.' back

Harriet Sherwood, Orthodox Chrisitan's global gather unravels as five churches pull out, 'After an interlude of more than a millennium, 55 years of careful planning, and within days of its opening, the first global gathering of Orthodox churches since the year 787 is teetering on the brink of collapse amid dissent and power struggles. The historic “holy and great council” of the world’s 14 self-governing Orthodox churches, due to begin in Crete on Sunday, may not go ahead after five pulled out.' back

Jacqueline Maley, Gay rights may be the best weapon in the fight against Islamic State, 'In the wake of the Pulse nightclub tragedy, the Washington Institute published an analysis entitled The Islamic State's Views on Homosexuality, by Aaron Y. Zelin and Jacob Olidort. It notes that homosexuality is criminalised across the Muslim Middle East, with Israel being the only place where LGBTI people can live freely. It says the Koran and the Hadith (reports of the sayings and traditions of Muhammad) "are clear about the moral ruin of the people of Lot" (who engaged in sodomy). Both call for harsh punishments of homosexuality.' back

KJV: Psalm 89, Psalms, from the Holy Bible, King James Version, ' 1: I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. 2: For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. 3: I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, 4: Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. ' back

Martin J Gotay and James A Isenberg, The Symplecticization of Science: Symplectic Geometry Lies at the Very Foundations of Physics and Mathematics, 'Physics is geometry. This dictum is one of the guiding principles of modern physics. It largely originated with Albert Einstein, whose most important contribution–via his General Theory of Relativity–was to view the phenomenon of gravity as a reflection of the curvature of the geometry of spacetime. Einstein’s vision is remarkable in its simplicity, has great conceptual power and is physically compelling. As well, it leads to a theory of gravity which is very accurate in its agreement with experiment and observation. A further triumph of the geometric point of view has been the development, over the past four decades, of the “gauge” or Yang-Mills field theories of fundamental physical processes. Now, not only is gravity a manifestation of geometry, so are electromagnetism and the nuclear forces. Work actively continues towards the ultimate “grand unification,” the marriage of all basic physical interactions with each other and geometry.' back

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes - Wikipedia, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? is a Latin phrase traditionally attributed to the Roman poet Juvenal from his Satires (Satire VI, lines 347–8), which is literally translated as "Who will guard the guards themselves?" Also sometimes rendered as "Who watches the watchmen?", the phrase has other idiomatic translations and adaptations such as "Who will guard the guards?" In modern usage, it is frequently associated with the political philosophy of Plato and the problem of political corruption, but the original source has no known connection to Plato or political theory. The original context deals rather with the problem of ensuring marital fidelity. It has also been questioned whether the text of this particular passage is authentically part of Juvenal's Satires or is a later addition to the manuscript.' back

Richard P. Feynman, Nobel Lecture: The Development of the Space-Time View of Quantum Electrodynamics, Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1965: 'We have a habit in writing articles published in scientific journals to make the work as finished as possible, to cover all the tracks, to not worry about the blind alleys or to describe how you had the wrong idea first, and so on. So there isn't any place to publish, in a dignified manner, what you actually did in order to get to do the work, although, there has been in these days, some interest in this kind of thing. Since winning the prize is a personal thing, I thought I could be excused in this particular situation, if I were to talk personally about my relationship to quantum electrodynamics, rather than to discuss the subject itself in a refined and finished fashion. Furthermore, since there are three people who have won the prize in physics, if they are all going to be talking about quantum electrodynamics itself, one might become bored with the subject. So, what I would like to tell you about today are the sequence of events, really the sequence of ideas, which occurred, and by which I finally came out the other end with an unsolved problem for which I ultimately received a prize.' back

Robert Mickens, Letter from Rome, 'As I have suggested on a number of occasions before, the “healthy decentralization” of the Church and the implementation of greater synodality—especially by strengthening the authority of episcopal conferences—will entail serious growing pains. That’s because it will take another two or three generations to get a worldwide body of bishops that is up to the task. And nowhere is that more agonizingly clear than in the United States, where the loudest voices in the national episcopal conference (USCCB) continue to project signs of pastoral ineptitude, theological illiteracy and insular (non-) thinking.' back

Robert Mickens, Letter from Rome: How does the Vatican Discern Spiritual Gifts, 'But the really disappointing and troubling thing about Iuvenescit Ecclesia is that it contains a long list of eight criteria for recognizing whether a person or group possesses certain “charismatic gifts,” but not a single word about how the Church community discerns the so-called “hierarchical gifts.” That is, how do we select those upon whom the Holy Spirit has bestowed the gifts required for leading the faith community (as deacons, presbyters, and bishops)?' back

Socrates - Wikipedia, Socrates - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Socrates (. . . 470/469 – 399 BC) was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. He is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes. . . . Through his portrayal in Plato's dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method, or elenchus. . . . Plato's Socrates also made important and lasting contributions to the field of epistemology, and his ideologies and approach have proven a strong foundation for much Western philosophy that has followed.' back

Suzanne Goldberg and Helen Bengtsson, Biggest US coal comany funded dozens of groups questioning climate change, 'Peabody Energy, America’s biggest coalmining company, has funded at least two dozen groups that cast doubt on manmade climate change and oppose environment regulations, analysis by the Guardian reveals. The funding spanned trade associations, corporate lobby groups, and industry front groups as well as conservative thinktanks and was exposed in court filings last month.' back

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica: Prima Secundae Partis, 'Since, as Damascene states (De Fide Orthod. ii. 12), man is said to be made to God's image, in so far as the image implies an intelligent being endowed with free-will and self-movement: now that we have treated of the exemplar, i.e., God, and of those things which came forth from the power of God in accordance with His will; it remains for us to treat of His image, i.e., man, inasmuch as he too is the principle of his actions, as having free-will and control of his actions.' back

William G. Most, The Catholic Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, 'Speaking of full membership in the Church, Pius XII, in his Encyclical on the Mystical Body, said it is the society of those who have been baptized, and who profess the faith of Christ, and who are governed by their bishops under the visible head, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. back