Short and sweet. Six extremely brief lessons on six crucial areas of Physics and a final one on where we fit into all of it. Rovelli starts with GenerShort and sweet. Six extremely brief lessons on six crucial areas of Physics and a final one on where we fit into all of it. Rovelli starts with General Relativity and shows us how elegant and simple it is - to re-imagine space as a place that bends, stretches, and interacts with the stars. What a leap of imagination it must have taken to think of emptiness itself as an object which interacts. Rovelli says that that is a key to modern physics, the realization that it is all about interactions and not about absolute properties - maybe all properties arise form interactions and nothing has intrinsic properties?
We move onto quantum mechanics and see how it gradually got muddier - muddy enough that even Einstein, chief-imaginer, couldn’t fathom its weirdness anymore. At this point, the reader would be excused in thinking that each lesson is a bit shorter than warranted… The next lessons takes us to the architecture of the cosmos itself and shows us that unless we figure out a way to reconcile relativity and quantum mechanics, we will never figure out this weird place we find ourselves in. The sixth lesson about thermodynamics, turns the focus to the grandest mystery of modern science - time. Time might just be an illusion, arising out of our sensory limitations and might require science to allow us to look past it - just like how the movement of the stars and the surface of the earth looked different once we substituted the lens of of our senses with the lens of science. We might learn to ignore time, in time. The last chapter gets a bit fuzzy and philosophical, but that is from where we summon the sense of grandeur required to plod on in the face of all the weirdness that modern science is - to keep exploring this strange, multicolored and astonishing world which we inhabit – where space is granular, time does not exist, and things are nowhere....more
If every critical essay was as good, I would be reading only those all the time. Orwell gets into Dickens with such surgical precision, it is a delighIf every critical essay was as good, I would be reading only those all the time. Orwell gets into Dickens with such surgical precision, it is a delight to be on the sidelines and observe....more
Taleb picks a new idea to challenge (after randomness and risk): Resilience. Taleb argues that some things are not just resilient but actually thrive Taleb picks a new idea to challenge (after randomness and risk): Resilience. Taleb argues that some things are not just resilient but actually thrive in chaos and disorder. He calls these things "antifragile" and says they're a crucial part of the natural and man-made world. Taleb's main idea is that randomness and uncertainty can actually be good for us. He gives a lot of examples, but check out "The Coddling of the American Mind" to see how the idea is catching on and being applied by other thinkers.
How to be Anti-fragile? With his ongoing infatuation with the gym, he gives us: the "barbell strategy". It is about combining extreme positions or strategies to get the best of both worlds. For example, a barbell investment strategy might involve holding a lot of safe, low-risk investments and a small amount of high-risk, high-reward investments. This way, you can benefit from the upside potential of the high-risk investments without being too exposed to the downside risks.
"Antifragile" joins the ranks of unconventional and counter-intuitive (easy to do) yet important (not so easy) books out there. Read it if you can....more
In this series of seven easy-going essays Lightman uses musings on the many curious aspects of modern Physics and the way they cha The Amusing Universe
In this series of seven easy-going essays Lightman uses musings on the many curious aspects of modern Physics and the way they change our perspectives - not to discuss Science, but to philosophize on Life. Surprisingly, the most unintuitive parts of Physics are pretty normal when it comes to Life. Perhaps because we expected more order from Science than was there in the first place, more than the Universe was ever willing to give us. We can come away from these musings with the pleasant yet unsettling feeling that most likely all of Science is going to turn out to be as messy as our everyday life of dealing with stuff like ethics and responsibilities. That should be fun.
The musings take unexpected turns, almost Montaigne-like in their capacity for starting in one place and veering sharply off the track:
1. The Accidental Universe: Uses the fact that most of the physical conditions that allowed this universe to sustain life or even exist could be purely accidental (the multiverse conjecture) and thus goes onto to wonder about the beauty and randomness of our lives on this small speck of dust. 2. The Temporary Universe: Looks at the eternal human quest for immortality and permanence in everything in the midst of decay by looking at the radical impermanence of everything in the physical universe. 3. The Spiritual Universe: Understands the human quest to go beyond the natural laws by peeking behind the actual laws of the universe. Perhaps the universe too is beyond mere laws? (Plenty of sharp digs at Dawkins here. Don't miss the fun!) 4. The Symmetrical Universe: Equates the human and the cosmos in their shared appreciation and fascination of symmetry. Maybe the mind is the cosmos… 5. The Gargantuan Universe: The immensity of the universe and the impossibility of grasping it is compared with our inborn tendency to shoot big. But most likely the universe is too big for our comprehension, but then, what is not?
6. The Lawful Universe: The human mind is evolved to seek out laws. Any organism in a lawful corner of the universe has to be born with this tendency to be able to manipulate surroundings or survive, propagate, etc in any meaningful way. But should we really be projecting this tendency onto the entire breadth of the universe? To the Multiverse? To the beginnings and endings?
We spontaneously see people as purposeful, and this is the central act of the practical imagination required for social interaction of any sort. We extended this to the physical world. This was the origin and basis of religion - and that is now considered superstition.
Similarly we accord laws spontaneously to the perceivable physical world, which in fact does behave predictably - at least as far as the physical world of our senses is concerned. This is the origin and basis of science. But to extend that to the rest of the universe, macro and micro, is that also not a form of superstition then?
7. The Disembodied Universe: The universe requires us to think conceptually.Nt a single important fact about the physical universe is immediate anymore. A disembodied universe can only be understood by an imaginative species. ALien intelligent life might be more common than we are brought up to believe, but how common would imaginative intelligence be out there?
In the end though, the essays are too wise to be as much fun as Einstein’s Dreams. And that is the benchmark for Lightman.
I have long suspected that Seth was a Communist-evangelist and that his books propagated the gift economy. Yes. Here is the clincher, and it is the beI have long suspected that Seth was a Communist-evangelist and that his books propagated the gift economy. Yes. Here is the clincher, and it is the best part of the book too.
Seth’s take on:
The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
This book isn’t about what you think it’s about. And it’s certainly not about the USSR. The key argument here is that small experiments in communism don’t work, because they are corrupted by the temptation to defect and engage in trade with neighbors that exploit their workers (so you can benefit). Only worldwide revolution and grabbed power by farmers and factory workers can upend the unfair bargain that kings and capitalists have put in place. At one profound level they are right: as long as the workers don’t own the means of production, the exchange will be inherently unfair. A lot of what they pessimistically predicted has occurred to the workers at the bottom of the ladder....more
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