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Open thread 5/4/24 — 54 Comments

  1. ex·pe·ri·ence noun

    practical contact with and observation of facts or events:
    “he had already learned his lesson by painful experience” · “he spoke from experience”

    So, “Do photons experience time?” Only for a veryvery pedantic definition of “experience”. Basically, no, they don’t observe (notice or perceive something and register it as being significant) anything.

    I hate the way physicists are anthropomorphizing the language of physics.

  2. And thank you for linking to Don Lincoln. He is my single favorite explainer of scientific phenomena, and as a working scientist at fermilab you never have to worry about him drifting off into crackpot territory. He pretty much gives you the current best understanding of things, with just enough math to make it clear. Allow me one more link because it deals with much of what he discusses above. The best thing you’ll see on why you can’t go faster than light.

    https://youtu.be/A2JCoIGyGxc?si=fNQGgVet5-F-nJaW

  3. The mass conversion ratio would be prohibitive unless alcubierre drive or some such

  4. now do tachyons exist, are they just a theoretical construct, what would their duration be,

  5. Something FUN from the world of comedy film! Mike Myers “Austin Powers 4” is Coming. (My Millennial friend says he re-watches the first ones yearly.)

    Apparently, it’s been in the works for a year, already.
    “Jay Roach would be back to direct the sequel.” — ReelWorld.con

    Perceptive comment on the possible plot lines? Two comments posted:

    Scott:
    Logline: After being put in a deep sleep for 20 years by Dr. Evil, Austin Powers must adjust to a strangely puritanical world where being offensive is not allowed.

    KT:
    I read an interview with [Mike Myers] last year where he said he’s considering the idea of killing off Austin early and focusing on Dr. Evil and the other characters. That could work. It could be like PCU with Dr. Evil being the normal guy. [LOL! —me]
    _______
    BONUS: Michael Mann’s “Heat 2” — reprising the Al Pacino role from 1995 — is shooting Oct/Nov. Mann is a major influence on “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan.
    The plot is based on Mann’s NYTimes bestselling novel in 2022.

  6. Oligoncella: I hate the way physicists are anthropomorphizing the language of physics.
    ______
    Agreed. And they are very much full of themselves. Note the last line above, “physics is everything.” That’s only half in jest. They really don’t get the criticisms thrown at them.

  7. it is a significant aspect, but not everything,
    particles are inanimate objects, one might say they record time in their travails,

  8. I wondered how they would pull off some of the scenes, in the sequel, since it’s been 30 years since the original, val kilmer has really gone down hill since then,

    I guess they could get younger characters to play pacino’s character,

  9. more in the blind squirrel vein, finds out what others figured out two months ago,

  10. Austin Powers 4” is Coming. (My Millennial friend says he re-watches the first ones yearly.)

    Not directing this at the author of the passage himself, but it seems some people can never get their knee-slapping braying fill of fellatio, flatulence and feces references. And not in the Beavis and Butthead meta-humor style. But in the creepy “we together” manner.

    And some, will happily own it.

  11. “I hate the way physicists are anthropomorphizing the language of physics”

    And,

    ” Agreed. And they are very much full of themselves. Note the last line above, “physics is everything.” That’s only half in jest. They really don’t get the criticisms thrown at them.”

    Yes to both. 1, A refusal to obey the anti teleology interpretive and conseptual rules which they have laid down as the only valid worldview as applying to their own use of explanatory language, and 2, a smug “And you can’t make me stop, because I find it convenient and you should simply adjust your expectations and do as I say should be done, and not as I do”

    So, meaning and purpose and inherent value are illusions. Free will does not exist under any formulation, strict determinism reigns, mind reduces to brain, brain is a meat computer, and consciousness and self don’t exist. But let’s pretend anyway because otherwise if you are stronger you might decide it is easier for you to kill me than tolerate me. And we cannot have that because … transcendentally important reasons and pragmatism both. Except transcendentals don’t exist, and neither do we, much less inevitable slippery slopes.

  12. Fortunately for mankind photons haven’t yet attained consciousness or even figured out if they are particles or waves, so the answer is no.

  13. DNW

    ..consciousness and self don’t exist.

    I usually skip comments/posts/news,etc requiring more than one trip to a dictionary, so I probably missed your point here. 🙂

    You have never experienced the ego and Self? As in broken down to the basics:

    ‘Like two golden birds perched on the selfsame tree,
    intimate friends, the ego and the Self dwell in the same body.
    The former eats the sweet and sour fruits of the tree of life,
    while the latter looks on in detachment.’ – The Mundaka Upanishad

  14. Moi, I’m looking forward to Austin Powers 4.

    I’m not keen on Myers’ more than occasional crudity — fingers crossed there is no Fat Bastard in 4 — but I find great comedy, goofy dance scenes, and even lyrical beauty in Austin Powers. For the latter I cite the romantic scene with the Burt Bacharach/Elvis Costtello cameo:

    –“Austin Powers 2 — I’ll never fall in love again”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK2ABpZ4F3s

  15. Austin Powers is worn out at this point. As with so much else in comedy, much of the appeal was the novelty. Fortunately for Mike Myers and the studio there’s probably some secondary nostalgic appeal that will make some people watch. I wonder though: is it really a cherished part of anyone’s memories? Surely not as much as Wayne’s World.
    __________

    The internet is telling me that 5/4 is Dave Brubeck Day.

  16. No matter how large Trump’s polling lead gets, will it ever be too big to rig?

    Speaking of Peggy Noonan, 10% of Republicans in the Rasmussen poll support Biden. Clueless and bitter RINOs will be with us for a generation.

  17. I could see the resonances between and the dark knight series not as much with oppenheimer

    There is a cohort of untrainable chimps

    Hugh everett came up with the multiverse because he considered the multiplicity of possible outcomes with choice

  18. Peggy Noonan reminds me of a certain type of Irish Catholic girl I experienced all too frequently in my younger days.

    The experiences were never positive.

  19. It does seem like groundhog day she realizes things we already knew before and promptly forgets them again

  20. ..consciousness and self don’t exist.

    I usually skip comments/posts/news,etc requiring more than one trip to a dictionary, so I probably missed your point here. ?”

    Yeah, so I kind of forgot where I was in a sense. The phrase you quote and take issue with is a partial recapitulation of the target landscape or the adversary’s viewpoint, and not an affirmation of it.

    In contexts where the author’s voice, mine, might be misunderstood as being in accordance with the descriptive constellation of contestable assumptions or premisses, I would usually use bracketing or offsetting to make the “antagonist voice” clear as in ” They say, …” or the use of a passage in ‘single quotes and italics’. The propositions in that paragraph are meant to present as ironically redounding.

    But, I get your point. It used to frustrate me as a kid in school, when a supposedly more or less objective narrator would launch into a description of some position and I could not tell if the scholar was merely describing the view, or embracing it as well. Etienne Gilson comes prominently to mind as do the narrations of a number of historians of Medieval or Scholastic philosophy.

    Speaking of which, if you wish to sample the controversies over eliminative materialism, scientism, and the the impact of materialist triumphalism on our social lives and values, you might sample some of the postings available through the link below.

    If you watched Neo’s recent Closer to Truth YouTube embed, you probably already are aware of the situation.

    https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2013/08/eliminativism-without-truth-part-i.html

  21. The internet is telling me that 5/4 is Dave Brubeck Day.

    Abraxas:

    Ooo … I missed that! Perfect.

    If you don’t know you already know it:

    –Dave Brubeck, “Take Five ( Original Video)”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHdU5sHigYQ

    It’s in 5/4 time, natch. Brilliant.

    Rick Beato took some flack in his Greatest Odd Time Signature Songs video for forgetting Brubeck’s triumph.

    PS. Brubeck is the piano guy. The whole band is great. Fifties jazz is so amazing.

  22. Spent the morning hanging with my aviation buds, then a bunch of yard work. Must be ‘bash the physicist’ day. Pretty amusing.

  23. Of course marvel has made a hash of it as with many things if its not broke…

  24. What was *not* in Peggy Noonan’s column: Any mention of the harassment and intimidation of Jewish students nor any condemnation of the rampant antisemitism of the depraved Hamas toadies. She did manage to take a cheap shot at Netanyahu though so there’s that.

  25. physicisguy:

    Well it is a sequel (or prequel, uncertain?) to the Schrodinger’s Cat comments about physicists and quantum mechanics. Physicists being the pinata.

  26. physicsguy on May 4, 2024 at 3:00 pm said:
    Spent the morning hanging with my aviation buds, then a bunch of yard work. Must be ‘bash the physicist’ day. Pretty amusing.”

    I think if you reread the remarks with a little distance you will see that no one is bashing physicists doing physics, nor the field.

    The annoyances mentioned pertain to those engaging in popular explanatory exercises, which as framed, are inconsistent with their fundamental operating assumptions. This includes the employment of various “folk psychology” and naive realism type concepts which they may heatedly decry otherwise.

    People want to see them try and live out their own principles radically, especially if they are attempting to leverage scientific data in an ideologically polemical way.

    I think that this probably applies to mostly certain populizers, and scientistically oriented philosopher types, as was evidenced in the old logical positivism movement.

  27. Geez. Did I type “conceptual” with an “s”?

    Constantly keying in “tge” for “the”, is bad enough. But wgrn iy gdtd thod bsd ….

  28. miguel, I bet that ad was taken down by someone who closely resembles the woman in it.

  29. FOAF:

    Ms. Circle Back?

    With great power comes great responsability (not so much, FJB and BHO).

  30. Tonight I was dining with a friend at a popular Italian place a few doors down from an indie theater showing “The Return of the Jedi”. On the marquee it read “May the Fourth be with you.” In front were a bunch of costumed Star Wars fans.

    I didn’t realize it but the 5/4 date has informally become Star Wars Day (as well as Dave Brubeck Day).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Day

    It’s good to know that Disney hasn’t totally killed off Star Wars fandom. But they’re trying.

  31. Xristos Anesti to Phillip Sells, Niketas Chroniatis, Telemachus and all those celebrating Orthodox Easter!

  32. Open Thread Sunday: Something different.

    Competing for the Arctic – Claims, Icebreakers & the Race for the Far North – Perun

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGLZTgkIse8

    Timestamps:
    00:00:00 — Opening Words
    00:01:09 — What Am I Talking About?
    00:02:08 — Welcome To The Arctic
    00:04:34 — How Do You Claim The Arctic?
    00:12:01 — Why Do You Claim The Arctic?
    00:17:26 — The Arctic States & Organisations
    00:22:25 — Claims And Disputes
    00:26:44 — Arctic Operations & Security
    00:32:32 — The Players & Assets
    00:46:09 — Russia, Breakers & Missed Chances
    01:01:41 — Channel Update/block

  33. Twofer: H/T Power Line

    1) Biden sits on ammo for Israel – dig the snippet:

    The Biden team’s moves to shelter Hamas are best understood in the context of a revolutionary program of domestic initiatives that aim to reconstitute American society on a new basis, and which in turn require the outright rejection of the country’s history and culture, its existing social arrangements, and constitutional order. The current regime has weaponized the security state, labeled its opponents “domestic terrorists,” and waged a third-world-style campaign against the opposition candidate because it’s a revisionist faction. Its political and cultural manifesto is a program for remaking America, whether through social pressure, or censorship, or bureaucratic fiat, or threats of violence, or actual violence. Among other devices to transform America, the Biden administration has opened the border to at least 7 million illegal aliens (and counting), many from places in the Middle East where Hamas is revered, and for whom political violence means steady, well-paid work.

    2) U.S. put a hold on an ammunition shipment to Israel

    Netanyahu hinted at tensions with the Biden administration in a statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day issued Sunday.

    “In the terrible Holocaust, there were great world leaders who stood by idly; therefore, the first lesson of the Holocaust is: If we do not defend ourselves, nobody will defend us. And if we need to stand alone, we will stand alone,” he said.

  34. So which officials see raviv comes from haaretz which is the worst paper next to maariv for self hatred

  35. Alithos Anesti, Xylourgos and Niketas Choniates and Telemachus and Richard Cook and others! 🙂 <3

  36. Senator Cotton didn’t let that progressive douche turn the “Little Gazas” into Gaza by quoting Hamashite propaganda.

    Bravo!

    So will the Hamashites in the Universities now claim their encampments are little apartheid states blockaded by the evil genocidal blue governments, cities, and university administrations? Will the college Hamashites start launching home made anti-personnel rockets ans suicide drones at the surrounding country (USA)?

    Don’t rule it out, Bill Ayers is one of their heroes after all.

    “Say you want a revolution (insurrection)?” What was that song?

    Rule 303. It’s one way to eliminate your student debt.

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