Quotes

Why String Theory Persists — Despite the Knotty Physics | Space

The author of this article has produced some very entertaining and informative videos that help make the ideas associated with string theory accessible to people like me, people who know very little about astrophysics.  If you watch the first video in the article below, you may be sucked in, just like I was.

via Why string theory persists — despite the knotty physics | Space

You can also view other videos that have been produced as a part of this series.

 

Big Wolf & Little Wolf: A Tender Tale of Loneliness, Belonging, and How Friendship Transforms Us | Brain Pickings

Very sweet!  I am going to have to find this book in the library.

via Big Wolf & Little Wolf: A Tender Tale of Loneliness, Belonging, and How Friendship Transforms Us | Brain Pickings

Against the Slippery Slope of Injustice: Amanda Palmer Reads Wendell Berry’s Stunningly Prescient Poem “Questionnaire” – Brain Pickings

“The road to moral hell is paved with gradual self-permission.”  …Maria Popova

via Against the Slippery Slope of Injustice: Amanda Palmer Reads Wendell Berry’s Stunningly Prescient Poem “Questionnaire” – Brain Pickings

I have maintained for a little while now that we will look back at some of the things that we ourselves did as a part of civilization today, things that we take for granted, and wonder how we ever thought that it was the right thing to do.  And sometimes we will even swallow our nagging sense of injustice so that it will not be disruptive to our own sense of well being. It is true that we can learn through history, but there is never an end to this process, it seems. When will true justice be really served?

Meanwhile, 55 Million Light Years Away

A black hole spins!

Watch the video!  Young people like Katie Bouman are helping us see things that have never been seen in the past.  They have now managed to obtain the first picture of a black hole!  This video is from a couple of years back.

via Katie Bouman: How to take a picture of a black hole | TED Talk

PS.  I got the link for this video from a friend.

Physicists Discover Exotic Patterns of Synchronization | Quanta Magazine

This is fascinating stuff!  There is synchronization happening naturally everywhere, and a lot of it is unexpected and non-intuitive, at least for me.  And there seem to be mathematical ways to characterize these synchronization processes.  There could be ways to harness the power of synchronization.

Caution that the article is a long read.

via Physicists Discover Exotic Patterns of Synchronization | Quanta Magazine

The Universe in Verse: Astrophysicist Natalie Batalha reads “Renascence” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

via The Universe in Verse: Astrophysicist Natalie Batalha reads “Renascence” by Edna St. Vincent Millay on Vimeo

Context and poem text: brainpickings.org/2018/08/03/the-universe-in-verse-natalie-batalha-edna-st-vincent-millay/

Meet Walter Pitts, the Homeless Genius Who Revolutionized Artificial Intelligence

“Thanks to their work, there was a moment in history when neuroscience, psychiatry, computer science, mathematical logic, and artificial intelligence were all one thing, following an idea first glimpsed by Leibniz—that man, machine, number, and mind all use information as a universal currency.”

via Meet Walter Pitts, the Homeless Genius Who Revolutionized Artificial Intelligence