The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is probably one of the most beautiful results in science , yet when stated in its usual form , it sounds so boring. Normally, it is stated us the product of uncertainties in positions and momentum always exceeds h/2*pi . Of course, it does imply that if you try to increase the precision of one of the two the other gets affected. Even though this seems quite easy to be mathematically understood, maybe the extent to which it could affect normal life can never be understood unless its stated differently. The form that appealed most to me was "The closer you try to observe something, the more likely you are to disturb it, hence not be able to observe it in its natural state ! " . This was in a tv show called numbers, which i find awesome cause its how to use math to solve crimes ! Sounds cool ! Anyway, like i was saying, this form of the law makes a lot of sense. In the show, the guy is trying to analyse data of how the robber is robbing banks, then just before they are apprehend the guy, he realises because he has been observing them so closely and because of the law they should be aware that he is observing them ! Of course when he tells the guy in charge, he uses the information that the robber knows that the police know to his advantage ! Anyway, if the law is thought of in this form, it seems to affect more things than just some dumb electrons flying around. For example, observation of animal behaviour in their "natural" habitat. Obviously because of the law, the more closer we observe animals, the more they are affected by us, and hence the purpose is no longer served. Hence we have to find an optimum as to how much we observe and how much we disturb. If we could somehow measure the quantities , maybe we can find a different constant like Planck's for animal behaviour. Giant panda's constant anyone?
Anyway , this kind of gets me thinking on why people insist on making mathematical statements of all these laws of "nature" ( Of course , they need not be actual laws. Again Feynman. He said that all the laws that we know off, are like some guy who doesn't know chess observing people play it. He makes up rules, until they're broken, after which he makes up new rules . ) The non-mathematical statement to me anyway seems to make a lot more sense. Another example would be newton's third law. "In an interaction between two objects, the force applied by one on the other is equal and opposite to the force applied by the second on the first". I prefer "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction" . This is true for so many things and sounds as a better law than the first did . Abstraction is a beautiful thing, though I've grown to hate it thanks to MA 203 . Of course there are subjects like topology which have abstraction at their core , which i still find amazing. KSR (Great mathematician, taught me math for jee . This guy takes geometry using just his hands ! Without a board. ) spoke about topology and I've been amazed by it ever since. Imagine trying to define a point. I have always wondered how to do it. Turns out everything can be defined working downwards. A point is the intersection of two lines, and a line of two planes and so on. But since we can't imagine the 4th spatial dimension, it could be difficult, though mathematically its quite easy. That is probably the greatness of math. When we can't even imagine the question properly, math seems to have an answer for us . Of course , it poses a lot of problems, but then thats another thing.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
The Matrix
Reeves plays the perfect robot ! Ever seen him emote in the movie? Or any movie for that matter? Even in "The lake house" which was supposed to be a "romantic comedy" he did not . Anyway who cares about that!! But the story really made me think. Isn't it an awesome idea? That we are all not really living but imagining ! Yeah sure ! I know I am living ! I can see hear feel ! Really? Can I ? The only reason I "know" I am touching the keyboard is because when I touched it the first time, I got a certain signal in my brain which has been registered as "keyboard touching". But what if the first time signal itself was bogus? But have I not "seen" the keyboard and know that my fingers are touching it? But have I really? Even sight is just some arbitrary signal to the brain ! As soon as we were born , we got some signal and assumed it was sight. How do we know if what we see is the same thing someone else sees? We can always point to the object but what is red to you might not be red to me ! And pain is another thing which is even worse because it can't even be pointed at. Only I can feel it! The movie(s) ! Oh yeah . What action sequences ! What graphics . What awesome "acting" . Keanuexperience my pain. When a doctor asks me to describe the pain, I feel like slapping him ! What the hell am i supposed to say? Yet they diagnose based on the patients description of pain. They must really be brilliant then ! How do we really tell if we are really living and are not imagining? This is really a lot worse than Einstein's box. At least there I couldn't tell if I was moving or at rest . This is infinitely worse ! Maybe we are not really seeing or moving or feeling and are just stuck in a box with wires connected out. Or even worse, what if there are no such things as bodies, but just brains , or just minds ! Maybe we are all just brains who have been punished to live in a "world" where we are forced to believe we have bodies , and there are free brains out there somewhere. Out where? Well anywhere for that matter. Wouldn't this thought at least give some purpose to our aimless existences? I mean what are we existing for? We are born, we live we die and the fortunate ones get remembered for something or the other but then you are dead and for you that is the end. Of course the biologists say the aim of life is to proliferate the species! So, sex is the ultimate aim of life huh? Then why do we have to do so much to get it? And once you've actually done "it" isn't life over? Why continue existing?
This is where I suppose religion steps in. Nearly every religion has a theory of what happens after death. Hindu philosophy is very similar to what I have said, as in our "souls" are trapped in the human form and have to be released by attaining "moksha". What then ? No clue.
Of course another theory I can think of is the "Its turtles all the way down". I read something like this in "Surely you're joking Mr.Feynman". A must read if you ask me. The book is just awesome and is non-technical unlike his lecture series which is obvioulsy brilliant . Anyway, in the book, an old lady tells Feynman that the world is supported by a giant turtle. And when he asks what supports this turtle, she says, "Ah you are clever, but its turtles all the way down". So as an analogue, suppose instead of being attached to some big machine , we are all cells of a huge organism, and we each perform what it wants from us, that time for us begins(the big bang if you will ;) ) at the point of conception. Also each cell in our body is similar, all connected yet have no idea they are, because if a nerve cell looks at a red blood cell, I doubt it would recognise it as another cell! I mean obviously to every cell in the body, the first point in time is conception as it has record of nothing else.
Well right now, these thoughts actually make me feel I might have some other purpose in life than to increase the ever growing population and make the rigours of life that much more tolerable cause I might be helping some big all powerful organism ;)
This is where I suppose religion steps in. Nearly every religion has a theory of what happens after death. Hindu philosophy is very similar to what I have said, as in our "souls" are trapped in the human form and have to be released by attaining "moksha". What then ? No clue.
Of course another theory I can think of is the "Its turtles all the way down". I read something like this in "Surely you're joking Mr.Feynman". A must read if you ask me. The book is just awesome and is non-technical unlike his lecture series which is obvioulsy brilliant . Anyway, in the book, an old lady tells Feynman that the world is supported by a giant turtle. And when he asks what supports this turtle, she says, "Ah you are clever, but its turtles all the way down". So as an analogue, suppose instead of being attached to some big machine , we are all cells of a huge organism, and we each perform what it wants from us, that time for us begins(the big bang if you will ;) ) at the point of conception. Also each cell in our body is similar, all connected yet have no idea they are, because if a nerve cell looks at a red blood cell, I doubt it would recognise it as another cell! I mean obviously to every cell in the body, the first point in time is conception as it has record of nothing else.
Well right now, these thoughts actually make me feel I might have some other purpose in life than to increase the ever growing population and make the rigours of life that much more tolerable cause I might be helping some big all powerful organism ;)
Memory
Well. Long time no see. I really have no idea why I have not posted in such a long time. Guess I forgot about my blog. Memory is such a weird thing. I love this quote "I've had memories for as long as i can remember". I mean , how can one justify the fact that he/she can always remember the exact words that special someone said yet forget where he put the keys. How does that happen? An even worse example- I really don't remember writing what I have written in the past posts! How did i manage to forget? Well that just raises a fundamental question. How does memory work? If we look at the size of the human brain , and the size of the "high-funda" memory devices, and their relative capacities, the difference is phenomenal! But then, does the brain work like conventional storage? Or is it totally different? Remember also that the brain not only stores but processes! How are bits of data connected in the brain? How do chains of thought proceed? How can a smell trigger a memory which triggers another and so on? Another thing to consider, is it really fair to compare the brain to a conventional memory device? Because a conventional device is loss-less. But a brain storage is not. We forget don't we? But do we forget chunks of data or just remember bits of it ? Many a time, something that we seem to have forgotten seems to come back with little effort. Of course, if I really want to remember something I forgot I can guarantee that I just will not remember it and it'll come to mind only a lot later.
So getting back to the point of memory, No one knows how exactly its stored. There are many speculations but nothing concrete. Are there brain cells which can be 1 or 0 ? Or more advanced quantum levels? Hmmm . Why should memory be digitised? Couldn't it be analog? Analog memory? How is that accomplished? How is it used? I can't even begin to imagine the possibilities of what would happen to computations if we had analog memory. But then, nothing in nature is digitised, so why should memory be? Maybe all we really are, are complex video cameras who can add! NO! Wait, that can't be right ! We're much more advanced . We have Emotions! Yet emotions are considered to be a "weakness" and the best is the guy who can "let go" of them and strive to push beyond everything. So the best guy is a robot huh? With digital memory !! So we can never be "The best" if we had an analog memory ! So is that why trying to mime human behaviour is so hard? Cause we are not digitised and everything we use is?
Or is that why robots are one day gonna take over ?? Terminator?? Matrix?? Hmmm.
EEKS. Too many questions ! Where did I start and where am i now? That show how bad memory can be! I forgot about what I was writing about during the post ! Hmmm ! Now if I had a digital memory would I have forgotten? Cause there are only 2 levels. What the topic is and what the topic is not !!!
So getting back to the point of memory, No one knows how exactly its stored. There are many speculations but nothing concrete. Are there brain cells which can be 1 or 0 ? Or more advanced quantum levels? Hmmm . Why should memory be digitised? Couldn't it be analog? Analog memory? How is that accomplished? How is it used? I can't even begin to imagine the possibilities of what would happen to computations if we had analog memory. But then, nothing in nature is digitised, so why should memory be? Maybe all we really are, are complex video cameras who can add! NO! Wait, that can't be right ! We're much more advanced . We have Emotions! Yet emotions are considered to be a "weakness" and the best is the guy who can "let go" of them and strive to push beyond everything. So the best guy is a robot huh? With digital memory !! So we can never be "The best" if we had an analog memory ! So is that why trying to mime human behaviour is so hard? Cause we are not digitised and everything we use is?
Or is that why robots are one day gonna take over ?? Terminator?? Matrix?? Hmmm.
EEKS. Too many questions ! Where did I start and where am i now? That show how bad memory can be! I forgot about what I was writing about during the post ! Hmmm ! Now if I had a digital memory would I have forgotten? Cause there are only 2 levels. What the topic is and what the topic is not !!!
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Death
What happens when one dies? Is there rebirth? Is there a soul? Or is death just another "adventure" like moving into a new place? No one knows for certain. If only we could ask someone dead? Oh, how do we communicate with them? Can we even communicate with them? Hmmm.. assuming we find out how to control brain waves maybe we can. Brain waves? No no.. i don't mean the ideas that suddenly strike us and which would put up a bulb over you head if you were a cartoon. I mean waves that could be transmitted by the brain. Seems outrageous. But its possible. There are so many things the human brain can do. Who knows. Maybe these waves are possible.
Anyway, the reason i started thinking about death is that i saw a music video. One by metallica. Another one of the awesome covers from metallica. I always wonder how they can take an awesome song, add their own touch and make it sound so much better. Anyway, the video is basically about a guy who was in war , and looses his arms, legs, eyes, ears and nearly everything else. He can only communicate through morse code. Isn't he as good as dead? But they don't kill him, but keep him alive, though he wants to die. I feel so sorry for the guy, and i'm nearly in tears thinking about it. Its just so pathetic. What if real death is like that? What if you just loose the ability to communicate in any way, ie if one can just feel everything, and are aware of everything, but just can't react? What if one can feel an autopsy, or know that he's been put into a casket, and mud put all over him? Think of the helplessness! Just the thought scares the hell outta me. There's actually another interesting story. Apparently, theres this guy who is allergic to a certain kind of fish, causing his throat to swell , making him choke and also make him go into a coma. People think he's choked to death so he's taken for an autopsy. Slowly the person regains his ability to feel but can't yet react. They're gonna autopsy him. He tries to move his mouth, finger, or even his throat to release some sorta signal. He is almost cut open. This is just as scary since he's still "alive"!! I really can't imagine any other feeling that could be worse. This is what i'm most scared about. Not being in control of my destiny. Not being in control of some situations is fine, but not being able to control life? Well, thats a totally different story!
Oh and the way the story I spoke about ends? Well , apparently its a female examiner, and when she strips him and is about to cut him open, he has an erection and she realises that he's alive!!
Anyway, the reason i started thinking about death is that i saw a music video. One by metallica. Another one of the awesome covers from metallica. I always wonder how they can take an awesome song, add their own touch and make it sound so much better. Anyway, the video is basically about a guy who was in war , and looses his arms, legs, eyes, ears and nearly everything else. He can only communicate through morse code. Isn't he as good as dead? But they don't kill him, but keep him alive, though he wants to die. I feel so sorry for the guy, and i'm nearly in tears thinking about it. Its just so pathetic. What if real death is like that? What if you just loose the ability to communicate in any way, ie if one can just feel everything, and are aware of everything, but just can't react? What if one can feel an autopsy, or know that he's been put into a casket, and mud put all over him? Think of the helplessness! Just the thought scares the hell outta me. There's actually another interesting story. Apparently, theres this guy who is allergic to a certain kind of fish, causing his throat to swell , making him choke and also make him go into a coma. People think he's choked to death so he's taken for an autopsy. Slowly the person regains his ability to feel but can't yet react. They're gonna autopsy him. He tries to move his mouth, finger, or even his throat to release some sorta signal. He is almost cut open. This is just as scary since he's still "alive"!! I really can't imagine any other feeling that could be worse. This is what i'm most scared about. Not being in control of my destiny. Not being in control of some situations is fine, but not being able to control life? Well, thats a totally different story!
Oh and the way the story I spoke about ends? Well , apparently its a female examiner, and when she strips him and is about to cut him open, he has an erection and she realises that he's alive!!
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Thermodynamics!!
Well, whoever said thermodynamics is only applicable for engineering?
Of course its applicable to many fields in engineering like mechanics,
chemical, materials even biotech!!Of course its all the same 3 laws
but i suppose the profs apply them in different ways!
I've actually done the same course under three different names
each as useless as the previous though getting progressively tougher.
Well here i've some really wierd proofs for stuff having nothing to do
with engineering.I've been unable to disprove them !
And the consequences of these proofs being true is mind boggling!!
The first. This actually came to me in the middle of a phone conversation
with a friend.Very spontanious but though i've thought about it for hours
later i still can't disprove it.See there's been so much debate on whether
the universe is infinite or is it finite. Now what is the definition of infinity??
A number n is defined to have a limit infinity if for
all x e N , n > x. So is the universe infinite or not? Well , there are so many
bodies in the universe, each having mass and hence entropy. If the
universe were infinite, the entropy of the universe would also be infinite.
But by the second law del s>0 for the universe! But by definition of infinity
it can't exsist!! So obviously our assumption that the universe is infinte is
not valid.So what does this imply?? That the universe has an end,
a boundary. What lies beyond it?? Well no one knows for certain,
but i suppose many theories could be evolved.Just like when we thought
the earth was flat! Which reminds me. There are some people who
extinguish this exciting thought of an universe with a boundary by saying it
has more than 3 spacial dimensions and hence loops around itself, just like
the earth is for 2d. Finite, yet boundary less!
The other proof involves death and ghosts ( more on that later). Now i suppose its
safe to assume that ghosts have more entropy than living beings given that they can
fly and scare people. And just living beings have more entropy then inactive dead
things. Now, in case of "spontanious" death, del g< 0. But i've never
heard of death being exothermic, so obviously it must be a rection with positive
entropy change. Hence ghosts (or something like them) should exsist!!!
Spooky huh???
Of course its applicable to many fields in engineering like mechanics,
chemical, materials even biotech!!Of course its all the same 3 laws
but i suppose the profs apply them in different ways!
I've actually done the same course under three different names
each as useless as the previous though getting progressively tougher.
Well here i've some really wierd proofs for stuff having nothing to do
with engineering.I've been unable to disprove them !
And the consequences of these proofs being true is mind boggling!!
The first. This actually came to me in the middle of a phone conversation
with a friend.Very spontanious but though i've thought about it for hours
later i still can't disprove it.See there's been so much debate on whether
the universe is infinite or is it finite. Now what is the definition of infinity??
A number n is defined to have a limit infinity if for
all x e N , n > x. So is the universe infinite or not? Well , there are so many
bodies in the universe, each having mass and hence entropy. If the
universe were infinite, the entropy of the universe would also be infinite.
But by the second law del s>0 for the universe! But by definition of infinity
it can't exsist!! So obviously our assumption that the universe is infinte is
not valid.So what does this imply?? That the universe has an end,
a boundary. What lies beyond it?? Well no one knows for certain,
but i suppose many theories could be evolved.Just like when we thought
the earth was flat! Which reminds me. There are some people who
extinguish this exciting thought of an universe with a boundary by saying it
has more than 3 spacial dimensions and hence loops around itself, just like
the earth is for 2d. Finite, yet boundary less!
The other proof involves death and ghosts ( more on that later). Now i suppose its
safe to assume that ghosts have more entropy than living beings given that they can
fly and scare people. And just living beings have more entropy then inactive dead
things. Now, in case of "spontanious" death, del g< 0. But i've never
heard of death being exothermic, so obviously it must be a rection with positive
entropy change. Hence ghosts (or something like them) should exsist!!!
Spooky huh???
Friday, December 22, 2006
Shady
Well. I've finally got my own blog. More like the freedom to write whatever crap comes into my mind. Of course I really don't expect people to read it, but its more like an outlet for all the weird and sometimes scary thoughts that run in my head. Maybe actually writing into words would help me rationalize these thoughts. Sometimes i wonder why i wonder . Its a really vicious cycle. I loose sleep over wondering such things! Sad huh??? I know. But i really can't help it. Its just that nowadays i've so much free time that my brain ( or is it my mind??? more on that later :D) is forever roaming, never in the same topic for more than a few minutes. And considering i've been in this state for more than a year, i've a large number of shady thoughts to write out . But its not just thoughts i've had in the past year. I've had such thoughts my entire life. What started out as innocent common daydreams as a child have reached such a state that i sometimes seem to be performing one action while thinking something else entirely. Its like my brain is parallel processing. ( Is my brain really a computer?? ! :O .more later) There have been so many times when i've been driving and i've missed a turn and had to roam to get back on track. But my reflexes don't seem to be affected! (wonder why!) cause i've never caused concern for my fellow motorist. Its like the part of my brain that is in use for driving continues to do so and another part is in deep thought that the part to remember turns is temporarily turned off! Anyway, I think this was a shady enough introduction to shady thoughts! So au revoir blog, for now anyway.
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