| words from "the most important intellectual alive" |
[Dec. 9th, 2007|03:53 pm] |
What if Iran had invaded and occupied Canada and Mexico and was arresting U.S. government representatives there on the grounds that they were resisting the Iranian occupation (called "liberation," of course). Imagine as well that Iran was deploying massive naval forces in the Caribbean and issuing credible threats to launch a wave of attacks against a vast range of sites -- nuclear and otherwise -- in the United States, if the U.S. government did not immediately terminate all its nuclear energy programs (and, naturally, dismantle all its nuclear weapons). Suppose that all of this happened after Iran had overthrown the government of the U.S. and installed a vicious tyrant (as the US did to Iran in 1953), then later supported a Russian invasion of the U.S. that killed millions of people (just as the U.S. supported Saddam Hussein's invasion of Iran in 1980, killing hundreds of thousands of Iranians, a figure comparable to millions of Americans). Would we watch quietly?
This is the kind of question we should be asking.
It would also do americans some good to realize that the most effective barrier to a White House decision to launch a war is the kind of organized popular opposition that frightened the political-military leadership enough in 1968 that they were reluctant to send more troops to Vietnam -- fearing, we learned from the Pentagon Papers, that they might need them for civil-disorder control. |
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| I like not knowing where they're headed |
[Jul. 11th, 2007|12:46 am] |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 24th, 2007|03:28 am] |
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For the past year or more (I cant remember how long exactly), I've felt something like a void looking at the world through human eyes. Not in a bad way. I feel, actually I know, that this is the most natural, most lucid state for a mind to be in. The only thing that distinguishes this mindset from that of any other person is the absence of the onion-skin structure of concentric lies about what my "identity" is supposed to consist of. Or maybe if they aren't completely absent at least to me they're now transparent. The qualities that distinguish one person from another come first from heredity, and then from the environment and the probabilistic fractal-evolution of the human mind. There is no "you" or "me", just as there is no electron A or electron B; there is only one electron field that exists everywhere in spacetime. The fact that something as far-removed as knowledge isn't intrinsically shared between us has no bearing on the fact that the mechanism at the root of consciousness is everywhere and is infinite. This mechanism is the only part of the entire conscious process that could be regarded as sacred and spiritual. Everything else, although real, is chemistry and is understood. That is the major contradiction in many spiritual viewpoints: the soul is regarded as the fundamental distinction between individual minds. But on the contrary, the miraculous self-assertion of consciousness occurs at a level that is more fundamental than anything that divides us. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 4th, 2007|10:54 pm] |
Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended now supports MATLAB.
THIS IS SO AWESOME. |
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| This is going to be a mess (dont have time...) |
[Apr. 19th, 2007|10:50 pm] |
Not ashamed to say it... D-term is giving me a run for my money.
But at least I'm continuing to figure things, and myself, out. As I've stumbled out of my sort of local hole here and talked to more physics majors, I've learned that my GPA is really even less impressive than I thought. But it probably wont matter in the end because I'll get into grad school somewhere, and regardless I'm still going to be one of the best prepared for the things I want to do.
I'm deciphering the patterns of my procrastination. Besides this. The more I break down why I dont want to work or why I don't think I can solve some specific problem, the more I seem to overtake the limitation. I'm really not ashamed to admit that this is also the first term I've ever experimented with using Adderall to medicate my ADD. I was never quite sure if I agreed with my diagnosis over the years, but I guess its probably correct. Actually, I can definitely see why this drug is prescribed to people with this condition. It really is helpful, but still I'm really thankful that this wasn't shoved down my throat as a child.
I finally have a LaTeX package working on my computer. I'm really pumped about this, and it makes me reallllly want to do cool physics research even more because I know whatever equations I write are going to look completely awesome. The prospect of that cool something being Bose-Einstein condensate is seeming better by the minute...
But speaking of physics, I really honestly think I might know what this revolution everyone's been waiting for might entail.
Give it some time.
Now I have to go decide what music to play loud so I can spare my roomates' ears what they don't want to hear. |
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| BEC |
[Apr. 12th, 2007|01:20 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | bec, physics | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Do Make Say Think - Goodbye Enemy Airship | ] |
I wanted to pause here for a minute to give a shout out to one of my (grad student) friends. I'm honestly starting to really consider theoretical Bose-Einstein Condensate as maybe the right path for me, if I ever get into grad school. Anyway, anyone who's able should definitely go to this thing...
_____________________________________________
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Physics Department Colloquium
Jim Stickney
Title: Atomoptics and atomtronics
Monday April 16, 4:00 pm, Olin 107
The invention of the laser in the early 1960s caused a revolution in
modern optics. Lasers found applications in medicine,
telecommunications, information storage, and, perhaps most importantly,
precision measurements. The state of matter known as Bose-Einstein
condensate (BEC) is the matter-wave equivalent of laser light. Because
they are much more sensitive, it is believed that BEC-based
"atomoptical" devices will eventually replace many current laser-based
devices used in precision measurements. BEC based devices that are
analogous to electronic devices may also be possible. In an
"atomtronic" device, the atoms in the BEC play the role of the electrons
in an electronic circuit. In this presentation, the current state of
BEC-based devices will be discussed, with particular emphasis how
atom-atom interactions affect their operation.
_____________________________________________
This guy has helped me understand the subtleties of quantum physics more than probably anyone in the department, including faculty. And his views on reality and consciousness are pretty awesome(ly similar to my own).
Anyway yeah, go to this thing. If you want to understand how reality works on the small scale, Jim is the guy to ask. Or me, duh.. |
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| token break update thing |
[Mar. 11th, 2007|01:13 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | physics, wpi | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Portugal, the man - chicago | ] |
It was tough for me to let go of the lost notebook I spent so much energy filling in over the past year. Thankfully most of the drawings live on in some secondary digital form. I filled in my first page of a new Moleskin this week. Im trying to blend smooth polynomial (differentiable) lines with fractal (scale-invariant, non-differentiable) components. I'm creating noise and then challenging myself to find new ways of interpolating coherent images from it.
I should be happy with the way this past quarter went overall, but I'm also a little disappointed because it was so, so close to being much better.
QM 2 - B
Relativity - A
grad QM - B
That last B...was bullshit.
Ive made it into the clear, academically. Its nothing but the deep, interesting coursework I want from here on in (except two social science classes). I've already accomplished my goal for this year to deeply understand quantum mechanics. I'm hoping over the next school year I'll take some big strides towards understanding quantum field theory, even though that will undoubtedly take more than just one year, with everything I'm going to have on my plate.
I'm going to be doing my sufficiency (final humanities project for you non-wpiers) next quarter...we'll see how well this coexists with grad QM, partial differential equations and statistical mechanics. |
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| overdue updating, co2 |
[Feb. 19th, 2007|07:07 pm] |
Duck showed up last week with solid C02 from his lab. Everyone present made sure to fill every glass and cup and pan available with water and tossed big chunks of the stuff in to make lots of spooky sciencey fog. Then we made "dry ice and tonic" mixed drinks. Man what a fun time... I still love the fact that I go to a nerd school. I know I definitely would not be able to have the kinds of conversations that I do, probably wouldn't be able to have the same kind of friends or girlfriend that I do.
Popular science expressed an interest in the 3D mouse Jeff is making for his MQP. I think he said the odds were currently about 1/3 that he would make it into the magazine. I'm proud and pumped on his behalf and I'm sure the odds are actually much better than that.
This term is without a doubt the most demanding I've ever had. That would be true even if you just consider the workload I'm carrying, but in addition I've been going crazy getting REU applications together. In general, undergraduate summer research programs for physics are extremely competitive and I tried to promise myself that I wouldn't get my hopes up at all, so that I wouldn't feel bad if I didn't get into ANY of them, but I've already failed at this. I haven't heard back from any of them, but getting to participate in pretty much ANY of them would be so awesome, and if I actually got into my top choice I would probably literally pass out or throw up or pretty much go insane. It would completely redefine all notions I currently have about how much of a "scientist" I actually am right now. It would easily be the best thing Ive ever done.
I'm not even going to say anything else (yet) in fear that I'll jinx it.
But at least I really hope I end up doing something cool this summer. I would hate for all the letter-writing thats happened on my behalf to be in vain.
Its hard to balance all my hopes and dreams and all the work its taken to apply to these things, and simultaneously the most demanding, important classes I'll ever take at WPI. I feel like Ive really done a lousy job not being a hermit this term. I've lost touch with many. The workload shows no sign of letting up, now or ever, but I'm hoping that now that I at least have most of my applications done that I'll be able to say hi to a few folks I haven't seen in far too long.
Work is my very legitimate excuse, but sometimes I'm afraid to leave my small bubble. I'm promising myself that Im not going to be this much of a ghost anymore. |
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| Hot damn |
[Dec. 27th, 2006|08:06 pm] |
I saw this posted on surfstation and I just had to pass it along.
Charlie Rose interview with Barack Obama
If this man ran for president I would feel sooo much more hopeful about living life in this country. |
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| WoooOOOOooo! |
[Dec. 19th, 2006|08:21 pm] |
Academically, this was all that really mattered to me this term:
My grades are still generally all over the place, but at least Im making a habit of excelling in the deepest theoretical physics courses. Its a little bit backwards; I cant seem to stay as focused on the easier stuff and I cant memorize huge amounts of formulas or random facts very well at all, but with all the "harder" classes I cant help but get sucked in. There are only a few fundamental postulates to remember and everything else flows naturally from the math.
I've spoken to a couple people who think Im being a little bit of a masochist after I tell them my schedule for C-term, but the truth is my GPA is probably going to thank me. Seriously...
PH 3402 - Quantum mechanics 2
PH 3501 - Relativity
PH 441X - Quantum mechanics 1 (the graduate-level/"okay we're being serious now" version) |
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| and distance lays her heavy head beside me |
[May. 9th, 2006|12:16 am] |
Where did the first half of my undergrad years go? Im thankful to be back home and relieved at the end of the term but I am still stressing. There's one design I have to finish before my own personal summer agenda can be brought to the foreground. And then theres the already constant pressure from my mom to get a job.
Nevertheless, I am pumped about the fact that my grades for this last quarter were A, A, B (electromagnetic fields, computers & synths in music, atomic force microscopy) which is pretty much the best Ive ever done in any of the schools Ive attended. Ive never been a straight-As kind of dude. It was a good way to celebrate the one-year anniversary of me failing my first college course.
So Im back home...
I've already seen a bunch of the people Ive missed, gone on a few crazy adventures. Found and used a really sweet rope swing near my house. Found some even more crazy stuff with my friends that would be impossible to describe...
I really should have basically nothing but good things to say about everything right now, but still for some reason I have this bad feeling. Im just so so neutral, and I have this strange creeping frustration thats makes me want to disassociate myself from the internet in every way, and live completely alone. Its a feeling that is futilely familiar to me.
But time alone is happening either way this summer. I have plans that are going to require it. And then theres work.
We shall see, we shall see |
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