I’ve cited Nick Lucid’s Science Asylum YouTube channel over the years. His latest video is a wonderful take on all the quantum cat clickbait which I’ve noticed lately – another nostalgic set of pieces on Schrödinger’s legendary thought experiment. Much misunderstood [1]. A favorite of fabulists (and mystics). Well, Nick nails the reality. Yet, I… Continue reading Enough cat in a box! – an isolation setup
The romance of living in space and space travel skyrocketed as I was growing up. Post WWII. Sputnik, Disney’s Man in Space, NASA’s man on the moon, Star Trek, … classic sci-fi books … Maybe back then millionaires dreamed of retiring in space (as a refuge from the Cold War). Now maybe some billionaires dream… Continue reading Senior health in space – longevity in freefall
[Draft 1-6-2025 see comments for updates] Yeah, quantum physics is weird. What might be called Weirdness 1.0 (QM), 1.1 (QED), 1.2 (QCD), etc., as I’ve written about, have embedded frozen tropes in the popular psyche. But can’t we do better? When physicists talk about analogies – use everyday language (terms) to talk about the quantum… Continue reading Advancing QFT visualization – further demystification?
[Draft] The beckoning frontier … the adventure … “not in my lifetime, you say … or for generations” … and live like what? … well, maybe I’ll pass on that Golden Ticket … Faster-than-light travel (FTL) is a common plot device in science fiction, with a long history in books, short stories, drama series, and… Continue reading The romance of FTL, a stark reality
Here’s a possible story which helps demystify quantum field theory. A personal visualization, which stays within the bounds of spacetime and avoids needless paradoxes. There are two key concepts to my sketch: the Grid and a quantum’s tail. This post lays out the second idea, namely, a quantum’s tail.
Here’s a possible story which helps demystify quantum field theory. A personal visualization, which stays within the bounds of spacetime and avoids needless paradoxes. There are two key concepts to my sketch: the Grid and a quantum’s tail. This post lays out the first idea, namely, the Grid.
[Preliminary 11-11-2023] [“Quantum foundations” series] Table of contents Context This post was inspired by Don Lincoln’s latest YouTube video (below). Insights from quantum field theory (QFT) have helped me better understand strange aspects of quantum theory [1]. In particular, leaving behind notions of point particles and wave-particle duality, and just going with fields and wavepackets in… Continue reading Wavepackets and uncertainty principle
Thinking of the latest announcements for Nobel prizes: physics, chemistry, peace … Can the mind-boggling, awe-inspiring scale of the universe improve the odds of our collective survival? An expanding overview effect? “I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the… Continue reading Island universe RIP – impact of awe-inspiring scales?
• “We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon” — Woodstock by Joni Mitchell as performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. • Space.com > “Are we really made of ‘star stuff’ and what does that even mean? (video)” by Robert Lea (August 21, 2023) – These inspiring words from Carl… Continue reading Star stuff within us – we are stardust
INTRODUCTION Remember pet rocks? So, what if someone gave you a gift, claiming it was even better than a Moon rock or Mars pebble. Something almost magical. An expensive novelty item. As advertised on TV: “Tangled Blocks” … go quantum! do Einstein spooky action! each block contains a particle entangled with one in the other… Continue reading The degree of entanglement – quantifying an entangled system
