Reflections, Ideas, and Dreams

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Tribbilations
2007-05-08 05:59:00
David Gerrold seemed to know a thing or two about population dynamics when he wrote the famous episode.McCoy: Do you know what you get when you feed a tribble too much?Kirk: A fat tribble?McCoy: No, you get a whole bunch of hungry little tribbles.

The Incredible Theory of Evolution
2007-05-04 16:50:00
Done with the semester and finally getting back to exploring some Big Ideas in science.The specific criticisms of evolutionary theory by opponents has changed over the years, but the basic premise for the opposition has not. The debate is often separated into the "science vs. religion" groups, but--especially when Darwin published his ideas--this opposition is more fundamental than a religious objection.The discovery of fossils caused people to realize that organisms were not permanent players in the arena of life; life has remained present on Earth, but organisms have come and gone. The idea of extinction shook a basic premise of a prevailing worldview, but Darwin's idea took this realization to a new level.With the Origin of Species, Darwin did more than provide a mechanism for speciation: linking together all organisms on the planet led to the conclusion that humans are animals as well! We are the member of a species, subject to the same selection effects as any other living cre...
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XOR
2007-05-03 23:55:00
Why is xor not part of everyday speech? It would make certain situations much less ambiguous:A) Would you like cream or sugar?B) Would you like soup or salad?In case A, it is generally acceptable to take cream, sugar, or both cream and sugar. In case B, though, the chose is exclusionary between soup and salad. But with xor in the lexicon, we can remove the degeneracy:A') Would you like cream or sugar? (inclusive or)B') Would you like soup xor salad? (exclusive or)See how much easier this would be?

Citations
2007-05-01 19:13:00
I saw this quote today on bash.org:<CtrlAltDestroy> Here is my impression of Wikipedia.<CtrlAltDestroy> "There are five fingers on the human hand [citation needed]"This raises an interesting question: at what point is knowledge considered common enough that it no longer requires citation? For writing in academia, the general rule is to cite ideas that are not your own, thereby leaving u-ncited statements as your own thoughts. But if I were to observe that "there are five fingers on the human hand", I certainly could not claim to be the discoverer of this information. It would not be difficult to find a source to cite, but would there be any purpose to it? Most people (and publications) are fine with allowing a statement like this to remain un-cited, but at what point is knowledge considered general enough that it can stand alone without a referenced authority?
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The Age of Life
2007-04-30 21:09:00
Life did not take ~4 billion years to evolve on Earth.This statement often appears in conversation and print, but it grossly misrepresents the evolutionary mechanism. Current estimates suggest life originated between 3.9 and 4.1 billion years ago, which means life took between 400 and 600 million years to evolve. The origin of eukaryotic cells is estimated to be 1.6 to 2.1 billion years ago, corresponding to an evolutionary time of 2.4 to 2.9 billion years to develop.The 4 billion year number comes from the Cambrian explosion, which took place around 542 million years ago. Thus, the statement people actually mean to make is: "Complex animal life took ~4 billion years to evolve on Earth." And, of course, when people are talking about the development of complex animal life, they often have the appearance of humans in mind. But life is far more persistent than that. Without the Cambrian explosion, Earth would still be a vibrant planet thriving with life.
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First Round Pop Draft
2007-04-29 23:12:00
If drafts work for sports, then why not for music? I think this could be an interesting concept: an organized pop music association whose members shuffle around every few years--where pop music refers to the most cheezy, made-for-radio music that generates up to one memorable song per album.Each band would be a franchise not owned by any of the musicians. The musicians would each sign contracts, and new musicians would be recruited through a draft system. Every year the lineup of each band would change by a small or large amount, thereby reducing the stagnancy of the pop music.And, as an added bonus, the end of every band season could culminate with a national battle of the bands playoff series.
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Remember the Clue (21) - Zappa
2007-04-28 01:32:00
I can't stop listening to Frank Zapp a, and I have no idea why.
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Sustainability and the Fermi Paradox
2007-04-27 05:56:00
I keep meaning to get to some posts on evolution, but I keep getting distracted by end-of-the-semester work (and winning money at poker). This is the concluding paragraph from a paper I just finished on the Fermi Para dox for a class. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I'm interested to see what my advisor thinks of it.The Fermi Paradox cannot logically conclude that humans are the only advanced intelligence in the galaxy, but the absence of evidence for ETI colonization of the galaxy is uggestive that no ETI has successfully formed a galactic civilization. This is not because no sufficiently advanced intelligence has developed technology, but it is because civilization itself is an unsustainable mechanism. SETI assumptions often imply that civilization is a necessary consequence of intelligence—but even if this were true, the ecological instability of civilization would render any galactic civilization short-lived. A galactic civilization may arise in the Milky Wa...
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OotSSoERaAAP
2007-04-25 05:11:00
...otherwise known as the Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique. And, following the official guidelines, I am awarding myself the following badges:Talking science - If you've ever met me or read this blog, then you know it applies.I blog about science - Recursively: see this post.Has frozen stuff just to see what happens (level III) - Level III of this badge is for liquid nitrogen. I have never been overly fascinated with the kitchen freezer, but I have certainly used LN in recreation every chance I've had--I've frozen bananas, rubber bands, racquetballs, pencils, gloves, balloons, and chocolate, among other things.I bet I know more about computer languages than you, and I'm not afraid to talk about it - I know people who are better candidates for this badge than myself, but I think my posts on BrainF*** and Fugue help me qualify. (+++++++++[>++++++++<-]>++.<+ ++++[>++++<-]>+++.++.<+++[> ;++++<-]>.<+++[>---...

The Effects of Global Change
2007-04-23 20:51:00
My brother sent me this in an email yesterday.I was reading Economics: A Very Short Introduction, and I found a part that made me think about global warming. I was watching CNN, and they were saying that the biggest producers of CO2 etc. are the ones who feel the ramifications the least. Coupled with that I found this quote: "In contrast to poor countries, agricultural output is a small fraction of national income in the rich world. The share of agriculture in GDP is about 25% in the poor world; less than 5% in rich countries. Less than 10% of the population in rich countries live in rural areas. In contrast, more than 70% of people in poor countries live in villages; which gives rise to the thought that people in poor countries mostly work in economies that draw their production inputs directly from Nature--they are 'biomass-based' economies. Ecology is of direct concern to the world's poor, in a way it isn't to the world's rich.''
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A Friday Afternoon
2007-04-20 22:48:00
I was going to make a blog entry, but instead I played my vibraphone. I think it was a good decision. I discovered two things as well: 1) It is much easier to sing and play than I thought it would be.2) I accompanied myself on a song I wrote several years ago. My feelings at the time were different than they are now, and singing the song was a nice reflection on how time can change things.
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Fossils: Dust to Dust
2007-04-19 22:22:00
The discovery of fossils on a large scale gave rise to the idea of extinction. Somehow, the imprints of non-existent creatures were in the geologic record. Barring supernatural influence, it soon became clear that these creatures lived long ago--before humans, even! This is not surprising news today, but at the time it was a revolutionary discovery. The prevailing worldview assumed human civilization had always existed in some form; this idea was present in the Christian theology of the time, but non-Christian views of the world also shared similar assumptions.Look backward, there was a thriving community of life long before humans ever appeared on the planet. And looking forward, the discovery of fossils foreshadowed the eerie possibility of human extinction. Humans were thought of as different from the rest of life, though, so the ramifications of this conclusion did not fully set in until the ideas of Charles Darwin.
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Religious Origins
2007-04-18 21:19:00
Let's take a look at the CIA World Factbook for the population of religious groups. I have also included the region of origin for the religions in the table below. Christianity33.03%Middle East Islam20.12%Middle East Hinduism13.34%India Buddhism5.89%India Sikhism0.39%India Judiaism0.23%Middle East Other Religions12.61%- Non-Religious 12.03%- Atheist2.36%-It is interesting to note the geographical monopoly of the popular religions: the ones with definite regions are either from the Fertile Crescent area or the Indus Valley. And if we break down "other religions" into components, Shintoism, Taoism, and Confucianism (among others) have Asian origins. In other words, a vast majority of the religions on this table are Eurasian.All of these religions developed after people were distributed across the globe. How likely is it that Eurasia had a monopoly on the development of desirable religions? Why is the religion of the Maya, for example, nearly forgotten in practice today? Certainly the ...
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Fossils: The Lying Stones of Johann Beringer
2007-04-17 22:09:00
In 1725 in Würzburg, Germany, Dr. Johann Beringer made a startling discovery. Occasional fossils had been found earlier, but only now were geologists and natural scientists locating large quantities of fossils that questioned their view of the world. Organisms were not known to go extinct, but scientists were finding organisms in rocks that were not observed in the present.Beringer believed that a perfect Creator could not make an imperfect creation, so it was impossible for fossils to be the remains of extinct life. Fossils, he reasoned, must have been placed by God in order to test mankind's faith. Unfortunately for Beringer, not everyone shared his opinion. He soon became the victim of a famous geologic hoax, where he came into possession of a vast number of fossils such as those pictured below.For about a year, Beringer collected these fabricated fossils and wrote a book describing his findings. Soon the fossils took more esoteric shapes, such as shooting stars and Hebrew ...
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The Copernican Revolution
2007-04-16 20:44:00
The realization that the Earth is not at the center of the Solar System or the Universe is known to modern minds, but when Cope rnicus published his ideas they were not received with enthusiasm by everyone. Historically, the Catholic Church was the primary antagonist against a heliocentric view of the Solar System. Some of the basis for the Church's opposition is the literal interpretation of certain Biblical passages to infer a physical cosmology. Religious doctrine only provided a vehicle for expressing distaste for the idea, however; if Biblical influences had not been present, other oppositions would have arisen. The problem is not religious but cultural.Around 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, a group of people began practicing totalitarian agriculture. That is, they farmed and created surpluses, and they used the land to the exclusion of other organisms. With the food surpluses came rapid population growth that led to expansion--expansion not only of people, but also o...
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Remember the Clue (20) - Images
2007-04-15 22:06:00
Always be sure you like what you see in the mirror.
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Trees of Eden
2007-04-14 07:04:00
I just noticed this today in the classic Genesis story:Then the Lord God said, ?See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever?? therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden , to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 6:22-24The way to the tree of life is guarded, but the tree of knowledge is still unguarded. Adam and Hava are the only mortals who could desire to eat from the tree of life, and none of the other living creatures have any want to eat from the tree of knowledge. The guard is only for Adam and Hava--and their offspring.
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Big Ideas
2007-04-12 23:58:00
Certain ideas are unpalatable to some people. Criticism of these ideas is often attempted in a logical or scientific framework, but opposition to the idea is often more fundamental than a disagreement in methods. Over the next week or so, I will devote separate entries to each of the four ideas listed below. Some of these ideas carry more modern dissenters than others, but the collective significance of these four ideas is important in understanding our place as part of the community of life.1) Copernican Revolution - we are not the center of the Universe2) Discovery of Fossils - extinctions happen3) Theory of Evolution - we share ancestors with other creatures4) Global Climate Change - we are capable of altering our environment
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Quantum Tunneling & Solar Fusion
2007-04-11 21:20:00
I like this story because it is an interesting example of how a scientific idea forms. Scientific theories may have gaps, but it is rarely prudent to discard an entire theory. Sometimes a better idea comes along, but sometimes you just learn to think in new ways.Astronomers have long known that "the Sun is a mass of incandescent gas", but until relatively recent times it was not known to be "a gigantic nuclear furnace". Early views of the Sun assumed it was chemically powered--but this could only last for ~1000 years. Gravitational potential energy is sufficient to sustain the Sun for ~30 million years; but once it became apparent that the Solar System was billions of years old, astronomers realized they had a problem.Nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium was a good solution, but there was one flaw in this theory. Any elementary school student who has played with magnets can tell you that like charges repel and opposite charges attract. The same is true for protons. But if protons ...
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Album Suggestions
2007-04-10 23:35:00
Here's everyone's chance to add to my music library. The best way for me to discover new books and music is personal recommendation. Everyone can suggest five of their favorite albums they think I should hear. I have pretty eclectic tastes, so I usually end up with some good finds after doing something like this.To start things off, here's five suggestions from my music collection:Arturo Sandoval - Hot HouseBelle and Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab StrapBlue Man Group - AudioFatboy Slim - Better Living Through ChemistryTower of Power - T.O.P.
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Paper-to-Presentation
2007-04-09 18:50:00
Many times it is necessary to transform the content of a written document into a presentation. Wouldn't it be nice if this process could be automated? After all, most of the work already went into writing the document--why perform any unnecessary work? There are a few possible approaches to this. Here's an outline of one process that assumes Microsoft Office:1) Use the auto-summarize in MS Word to condense the content of a document2) Write a macro to create bulleted Powerpoint slides from the summary3) Write a macro to import figures (if any) from the original Word document4) Give the presentationAnyone out there who loves writing macros?
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Alien Religion
2007-04-06 04:13:00
Awhile back I asked myself a question: millions of years from now, when dolphins, whales, chimpanzees, gorillas, or other creatures develop further in intelligence, will they have any form of spirituality or religion? Alternatively, will an extraterrestrial intelligence have any form of spirituality or religion?I think I finally know how to begin answering this question.
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Tattoo Design
2007-04-04 21:18:00
More on tattoos.I think I finally know the design I would use if I ever decided to get a tattoo: the phrase community of life written in Linear B. Of course, this does not mean I will be getting a tattoo, since there are at least two still unresolved issues:1) Bodily location of the tattoo2) Translation into Linear BI chose Linear B since it is a dead language with only loose ties to the rest of the world's writing systems, but this also has the disadvantage of making translation a difficult (or impossible) task.
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Live and Direct
2007-04-04 00:46:00
Related to my entry on the Album.Listening to 3 hours of shuffled multi-artist music (such as a digital music collection) is an emulation of the radio experience--but with a personalized playlist.Listening to 3 consecutive albums is an emulation of the concert experience--but with a personalized band lineup.
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Divergence is a Feeling
2007-04-03 20:45:00
Some of the difficulties in teaching math and science come from the way we grasp knowledge in general. A textbook or lecturer can present many observations, theories, and conjectures, but a novice student (even one who is interested in the material) will initially have difficulty in creating a coherent framework. Even if students are able to remember everything they are taught, application to real-world problems will still be difficult because they have not fully synthesized the material. A student might know the mathematical and physical definition of a concept, such as divergence, but this does not ensure the ability to identify or process similar information in a textbook-deviant setting. Mathematics is a feeling, and true application only follows when practice and repetition lead to a deeper understanding.
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Music Listening
2007-04-02 23:52:00
Some people listen to music for the words. Others listen for a particular instrument, such as the guitar.I usually find myself focusing on the rhythms and chord progressions. It is interesting to compare musical observations with others to see the differences in musical perception.
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Beverage Logic
2007-04-01 02:39:00
From a brief discussion on KarpAcrossAmerica.com.The terms pop, soda, Coke, and other names for carbonated beverages are a source of great conflict among people of different regions. Soft drink is arguably the most neutral and politically correct term for these beverages, particularly because it fits into a nice beverage trifecta:1) The Soft Drink2) The Mixed Drink3) The Hard DrinkWith these three drink types, we can define some basic mixing relations (assume addition is commutative):Soft + Soft == SoftSoft + Mixed == MixedSoft + Hard == MixedMixed + Mixed == MixedMixed + Hard == MixedHard + Hard == HardIf a friendly game of Kings involves a community cup containing a Jack & Coke, wine, and water, the beverage can be expressed as: Soft + (Hard + (Hard + Soft)) = Soft + (Hard + Mixed) = Soft + Mixed = Mixed. For some reason, I think my 9th grade algebra teacher should be proud of this.
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Remember the Clue (19) - Right Here, Right Now
2007-03-31 04:11:00
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.Matthew 6:25-6
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Sample Size of One
2007-03-30 16:15:00
Somewhere in the Universe, creatures on a planet orbiting an M star are debating whether or not life can exist around a G star.
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Soul with a Capital 'S'
2007-03-29 23:31:00
The notion of the individual soul has persisted since the Greek philosophers and is taken for granted by many (most?) people of our culture. From an individualistic salvationist point of view, this makes sense: each person has a unique spiritual entity that can be saved or damned.If human beings are in fact gifted with a separate spiritual entity, we arrive at a question: at what point in evolutionary history did the soul become part of an organism? Perhaps we could extend the notion of a soul to all living creatures, so as not to be anthropogenic. This brings us further along the line of questioning: what constitutes an individual organism? Plants, animals, and fungi all share a recent ancestor when comparing to the biological tree of life. Are individual bacterial cells considered individual organisms capable of possessing a soul? Can a bacteria collective contain a soul? At which point in the evolutionary tree did it become possible for an organism to have a soul?We may like to t...
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