Science and Faith

This NY Times article is an interesting look at the basic assumption of science: that the universe is governed by rational laws. This in and of itself is an assumption - or a belief - that we are not yet capable of proving. The author alludes to the fine-tuning of universal constants and the anthropic principle, but in the end challenges science to not only find the laws, but find the ultimate reason behind those laws, and find them within our own universe - or else we are taking things on Faith.

Hey baby, wanna determine the spring constant of my mattress?

Inspired by this list of physicists' pickup lines and a comment by Allison, here's a few of my own.

• Physicists are Phun!
  
• Physicists do it with simple harmonic motion.
  
• Hey baby, what's your resonance frequency?
  
• Aw man, I wanna integrate those curves of yours...
  
• Astronomers do it in the dark, under the stars, all night long.
  
• Stargazing's so cold; let's keep warm together.
  
• Bigger is better - my tube's 6" around and 2 ft long.
  

More if I come up with more - or if you add some!

Why to Take Action

Summary: We can't ever know for sure what the future holds. What we can know is the worst case scenario. If that scenario is bad enough, then we MUST take action to reduce that risk, regardless of what the chances are.



Let's say you're handed a gun with six chambers. You have no clue how many bullets are in the chambers. You are told we have to put the gun to your head and pull the trigger. You have the choice to either (A) do it now, or (B) first pull the trigger once while pointing at the wall, then spin the chamber and point the gun at your head. Which do you do? Of course you should fire at the wall first - if it was an empty chamber you spin it and then point it at yourself, losing nothing; if it was a full chamber you have emptied it, spin it, and then point it at yourself and have gained one additional empty chamber.

What if you were told you could either (A) pull the trigger now, or (B) take 10 lashes, empty one chamber, and then point it at your head? I would still take choice (B). 10 lashes will not kill me. I have no clue how many bullets are in those six chambers, it could be that they're ALL full and my only chance of survival is emptying one of them in exchange for the lashes. It's not worth that risk of my life, so long as the cost (10 lashes) is not enough to kill me either.

That's what this guy is arguing about climate change - even if we had no clue about whether it was happening, the cost of trying to reduce it just in case is so much less than the potential consequences, that we must take that choice.

And there's his various replies here.

On airplanes...

I keep telling people this, and they never believe me: If I'm on an airplane and the guy next to me starts talking, if I want to keep talking I tell him I'm an astronomer, and if I want to sleep I tell him I'm a physicist. Well, now I have independent proof!



Seriously, all astrophysicists discover this independently. The first time we hear someone else say it we're not at all surprised to find out that someone else came to the same conclusion on their own. It's like gravity - lots of people discovered it. I can't wait till someone comes up with So-And-So's Laws of Airplane Boredom that describe WHY. ;)

(And of course, I usually then have to go and spoil things by telling the other person that astronomy doesn't involve looking through telescopes at stars, but instead looking at computers and programming.)

Reading level...

Ouch, that hurts! :-P

Thanksgiving Turkey

For a T-day alternative, consider buying an organic turkey. The Eat Well Guide will help you find organic farms and grocery stores near you where you can find one.

Technorati

I'm just jumping onboard with this Technorati thing. Check out my profile below.

Technorati Profile

Anyone want to give me pointers on how to use it?