• Is there a culture war in the US right now?
    Are the statues of Confederate generals put up around 1900 important historical artifacts to you? — Echarmion

    I grew up in the deep south before the civil rights era, and as I recall neither I nor any of my classmates paid any attention to the statues of confederate soldiers. But those monuments pale when compared with . . .
    Stone_Mountain%2C_the_carving%2C_and_the_Train.jpeg

    In the mid 1950s Stone Mountain was a sort of miniature wilderness, owned by the Venable Brothers. The carving had been half done and left to the elements. Rusty girders swayed and creaked in the wind. I actually did some rock climbing on the lower half of the images. Then, in1958, the state took over and later the area became a kind of Disney world with cheap attractions. I returned briefly in the early 1990s and heard the theme from Star Wars blasting from giant speakers below the completed carving.

    It appears the carving will remain intact for the immediate future because of a state law and unresolved controversies about its existence. Some local climbers would like it blasted away and the face opened to climbing. Won't happen.
  • Is there a culture war in the US right now?
    Buddhas of Bamyan: The Taliban were good at cancel culture

    Taller_Buddha_of_Bamiyan_before_and_after_destruction.jpg

    (Wikipedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taller_Buddha_of_Bamiyan_before_and_after_destruction.jpg)
  • If the Universe is infinite, can there be a galaxy made of computers?
    Some of that dust gets into my computer at times!

    Or, my computer gets into some of that dust at times!

    Very confusing . . . :worry:
  • Is there a culture war in the US right now?
    This giant statue on top Gellért-hegy in Budapest was a Soviet icon representing the close alliance of Hungary and the USSR. After the Soviets abandoned Hungary thirty years ago there were pleas to tear it down, as it represented oppression by a foreign power. However, cooler heads prevailed and instead of removing it, it was reinterpreted as "Goodbye to Russia!". It remains a beautiful tourist attraction.

    Gellert_Hill.jpg
  • Infinite casual chains and the beginning of time?
    What does a theoretical physicist even do if he's not doing experiments? To my mind he could only be doing philosophy — Gregory

    It would be good to hear from an actual physicist regarding these comments. We can all speculate. :chin:
  • Culture wars and Military Industrial Complex
    The USAF even funded one of my minor research projects that had no military applications. — jgill


    ↪jgill

    Could you please provide more information? What was that research about?     — Athena


    Could you please provide more information? What was that research about? — Athena

    Infinite compositions of linear fractional transformations. Pretty much pure mathematics. :cool:     — jgill

    It looks like that is being discussed in other threads, but how does it apply here? I am very open to explanations. — Athena

    It's not part of an argument. You asked a question and I answered it. It simply illustrates the support the military gave (gives) to scientific research having no immediate military application. I don't consider that a bad thing. But, then again, I served in the military so I guess that makes me a part of the dreaded MIC.
  • Is there a culture war in the US right now?
    A major force behind the racism in the US was Southern Bells who used media and education to assure their elitist position in the south would be culturally protected at the expense of people of color. — Athena

    My mother was a "Southern Belle" and I can assure you she was anything but what you describe. In her later years she helped "women of color" as best she could.

    Did you grow up in the deep south? I did.
  • Causality, Determination and such stuff.
    Wrote a post trying to explain some chaos concepts a while ago. Since you're a meteorologist I'd guess you probably already know it and are making a point regarding chaos being a buzzword most of the time, but just in case — fdrake

    I was a meteorologist sixty years ago. A math prof 1971 - 2000. My interest stems from pure mathematics and I've written about extending the iterative process to infinite compositions, mostly in the complex plane. Chaotic behavior crops up, but my main interest is in behavior around fixed points and obtaining striking imagery (not fractals). Indifferent fixed points tend to be the most complicated - even the word suggests thumbing its nose at the mathematician! Thanks. :smile:
  • Culture wars and Military Industrial Complex
    Could you please provide more information? What was that research about? — Athena

    Infinite compositions of linear fractional transformations. Pretty much pure mathematics. :cool:
  • Evolution & Growing Awareness
    Many modern scientists embrace pan-psychism — turkeyMan


    How many? — jgill


    123 or possibly 159. Not sure which but its definitely one of those. lol.     — turkeyMan

    :smile: Even one in the hard sciences would impress me. There are probably a few out there.
  • Causality, Determination and such stuff.
    nonlinear meaning that a small change in the input can yield a huge change in the output. — Kenosha Kid

    Roughly speaking, but needs elaboration. Not a definition of nonlinear in the strictly mathematical sense. And what is "small"?. For example:

    Linear:



    Nonlinear:
  • Infinite casual chains and the beginning of time?
    Thinking of it in terms of one observation causing the other to change isn't quite accurate though — Pfhorrest

    Yes, that's what I was getting at. Thanks for your comments. :cool:
  • Culture wars and Military Industrial Complex
    ↪Athena
    You make a good point about the humanities being pushed aside after Sputnik. I'm surprised this thread is languishing. :chin:
  • Infinite casual chains and the beginning of time?
    Yes it's the case, and yes, it's more complicated than that. It's not mysticism, it's confirmed physics. — Relativist

    OK. I take it you are a physicist.
  • Infinite casual chains and the beginning of time?
    When quantum objects are entangled, measuring the properties of one changes those of the other — Relativist

    Is this exactly the case? I thought it was a bit more complicated than that, but I am not a physicist and could be mistaken. Kenosha Kid? :chin:

    It's easy to drift into quantum mysticism with topics like this.
  • 0.999... = 1
    Yeah, the comments here (one sub-thread in particular) have run their course — jorndoe

    Oh no! And we are so close to half a millennium! Don't stop now. This may be a record for total nonsense. :scream:
  • Culture wars and Military Industrial Complex
    Right-wing students were encouraged to spy on the classes of progressive professors (Henry Giroux) — Athena

    I never heard of this in my many years as a prof. But it may have happened at more prestigious institutions. On the other hand there have been numerous publicized attempts by various student and faculty groups to keep conservative speakers from expressing their opinions on campus.

    My argument is the Military-Industrial Complex, through educations, and the 1958 National Defense Education Act have had huge social, economic, and political ramifications — Athena

    No argument there. The USAF even funded one of my minor research projects that had no military applications. The Cold War has had a profound effect on society.
  • Infinite casual chains and the beginning of time?
    Think of going back in time one year, then from there back 1/2 a year, then from there back 1/3 a year, etc. At each stage there is "causation" before that point in time. However, the sum 1+ 1/2 + 1/3 +.... tends very slowly to infinity (the first six million terms add up to less than 21, if I recall correctly). So, we have an infinite chain of causation that has no starting point, no beginning of time.

    Just idle chatter . . . pay no attention to that men behind the curtain. :nerd:

    The first has it, almost as a trick of our need to find patterns in the world, that a series of events would still occur even if one entity in the series was erased. — substantivalism

    This more or less coincides with Stanislaw Lem's Ergodic theory of history. Some movements in society are so powerful that changing bits here and there have no appreciable effect. On the other end of the spectrum is the Butterfly effect.
  • If the Universe is infinite, can there be a galaxy made of computers?
    If I were to say, yes,there may be such a galaxy, would I be indulging in metaphysics? :chin:
  • If the Universe is infinite, can there be a galaxy made of computers?
    Unless you can establish that it is impossible...of course it is possible — Frank Apisa

    https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Proving-Non-Existence

    :cool:
  • New here- i need my brain to stop racing. Any thoughts on slowing down?
    The practice of Zen might help. It's possible to reach a point where the mind still races, but one is able to stand apart and observe.
  • If the Universe is infinite, can there be a galaxy made of computers?
    The old monkeys and Shakespeare thing. If the probability of something happening is 10^-20 does that mean it could happen? But who or what assigns even that probability?

    The universe is a jungle, folks. :gasp:
  • Metaphysics Defined
    Mathematics proofs are empirical, of course, but mathematical constructions to be proven, are not empirical at all. — Mww

    empirical: "based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic."

    A mathematical proof of a theorem is a chain of logic.
  • Evolution & Growing Awareness
    Many modern scientists embrace pan-psychism — turkeyMan

    How many?
  • 0.999... = 1
    It’s not that one is a product of zero, it’s that one is the empty product. — Pfhorrest

    "Multiplicative identity" is more appropriate. But whatever. It appears this thread will go to infinity without ever leaving the starting point. Paradox?
  • Is there a culture war in the US right now?
    Why the year 1958? — ssu

    The impact of Sputnik.

    We replaced our liberal education that was addressing political and social problems through education from the first day a child entered school, — Athena

    I graduated high school in 1954 and college in 1958, but I don't remember that kind of instruction. In the 1960s the civil rights movement affected school curricula in that way.
  • Metaphysics Defined
    No transcendental object is susceptible to phenomenal predicates — Mww

    Are you saying human consciousness is not dependent on the brain?

    I don't think one can categorize or pin down a succinct definition of metaphysics. I see metaphysics in parts of mathematics.
  • 0.999... = 1
    And I consider infinitesimals as poor metaphysics — Metaphysician Undercover

    And I consider it the best of metaphysics, existing solely in the mind but useful in developing the mathematics describing physical phenomena.

    Carson Chow (Scientific Clearing House, 2012):

    "While metaphysics as science is a dead-end for me, metaphysics as mathematics is ripe for very interesting insights. Instead of asking directly about “our” reality, we should be asking about hypothetical realities."

    But, then, I am not a philosopher and must bow to your competence in this area, as I have to your competence in mathematics. :cool:

    (Refer to Metaphysics Defined in this forum)
  • 0.999... = 1
    What is important to apprehend, is that in the general sense, understanding follows from acting — Metaphysician Undercover

    Once apprehended, it should be incarcerated and prosecuted to the fullest extent. Understanding abets acting and is equally guilty.

    You might say that I believe in metaphysics, and modern math demonstrates a poverty of metaphysics — Metaphysician Undercover

    Perhaps. But there are instances where it arises, like non-standard analysis which incorporates Leibniz's infinitesimals - which I claim are metaphysical actualities. And from my perspective, modern transfinite set theory seems somewhat metaphysical (others will probably disagree). The higher one goes into the thin air of mathematical abstraction the more likely one will encounter metaphysics - in my opinion. For example, one new developing area is that of "magnitude" in abstract spaces. Although the groundwork has been laid, this concept seems to me metaphysical. :cool:
  • Random Equation
    Learn Mathjax in the tutorial on this forum. Or use MathType or some similar program. Few if any will try to unravel what you have posted.
  • 0.999... = 1
    Clearly you haven't got a clue what a number is, yet you keep insisting that such figures represent numbers. — Metaphysician Undercover

    Still attacking those windmills with your insightful lance, eh? I have to admit, you've got gumption! :nerd:
  • I would like to talk about abstraction
    If I understand it correctly, I can't jump on board with this third point — Tommy

    Feynman, not me. But he had a point about the set theory. I taught college algebra in the era of the New Math, and the first chapter in the book we used was axiomatic structure. No matter who taught the course, the students were not happy.
  • I would like to talk about abstraction
    How about abstract art, people? :chin:
  • I would like to talk about abstraction
    Here's a good description of abstraction in mathematics:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction_(mathematics)

    It's an ongoing process, moving further and further away from specific, focused areas of math to "higher" levels of mathematical thought in which conceptual umbrellas are cast over seemingly different subjects, showing common features. Sometimes this results in solutions of long-standing problems, but being more distant from the nitty-gritty of specific areas of thought, like looking at Earth from the space station and not being able to distinguish details, problems, or even opportunities for exploration in those disciplines don't show up.

    Higher levels of abstraction are difficult for most students to comprehend. When I entered college in the 1950s I took a course in analytic geometry (AG), drawing figure after figure in the Cartesian plane. With this background, calculus was easier to understand, whereas AG was dropped from most curricula several years later and the subject was quickly and somewhat breezily covered in the first few weeks of calculus. Then, later I came across an introductory calculus text that began with elementary linear algebra in n-dimensional Euclidean space. This coincided roughly with the "New Math" movement.

    Richard Feynman (1965):

    "If we would like to, we can and do say, 'The answer is a whole number less than 9 and bigger than 6,' but we do not have to say, 'The answer is a member of the set which is the intersection of the set of those numbers which are larger than 6 and the set of numbers which are smaller than 9' ... In the 'new' mathematics, then, first there must be freedom of thought; second, we do not want to teach just words; and third, subjects should not be introduced without explaining the purpose or reason, or without giving any way in which the material could be really used to discover something interesting. I don't think it is worthwhile teaching such material."

    Abstraction and generalization in mathematics also have the effect of opening up potential areas of thought and research topics when the lower levels of mathematics have been pretty much "mined out". So, PhD programs are influential in pushing in these directions. :cool:
  • 0.999... = 1
    Maybe a professional will have better luck getting through. — Michael
    :rofl:
  • Math ability and intelligence
    I've been a mathematician for almost sixty years and have known good mathematicians with poor language skills and others with high language skills, colleagues who could write brilliantly and others who did poorly expressing themselves. Some had artistic talents, like sculpturing and carving lovely and exotic figures, and others lacked such talents. Some were accomplished musicians and others couldn't carry a tune. Some who were musicians could only play what others had created, while some could compose as well.

    There is certainly a talent for mathematics, as there is for music, and, more often than one might suspect, mathematicians can have both. I don't. :sad:

    Years ago I knew a professor who was recognized for his contributions in calculus of variations, but, to the amusement of his students, consistently made mistakes at the blackboard doing elementary fractions. The ability to mentally compute - what idiot savants excel at - is not essential for producing interesting mathematics. What is essential, beyond a native talent in the subject, is a desire and ability to explore and discover, to use one's imagination to create.

    I was a rock climber for over sixty years, and have had a number of climbing friends who were mathematicians. That may seem odd, but both activities are exploratory and creative. The Brits in the 1880s used the word "problem" to describe unclimbed but appealing sections of rock, like questions in a text that required "solutions". Mathematicians and climbers are problem solvers. :cool:
  • 0.999... = 1
    Great, now we're making some progress — Metaphysician Undercover

    Oh boy, made it to 400 posts!! That's progress! :nerd:
  • At the speed of light I lose my grasp on everything. The speed of absurdity.
    ↪Kenosha Kid
    Being an expert is something of a challenge in this forum. :roll:
  • At the speed of light I lose my grasp on everything. The speed of absurdity.
    ↪Kenosha Kid
    I appreciate your knowledgeable commentaries. Thanks. :cool:
  • 0.999... = 1
    Can you imagine how offended they would be if I addressed something of more importance? — Metaphysician Undercover

    I know, I know. You'd be driven from your castle in the dead of night by an angry mob of mathematicians waving their torches and holding their frothing mastiffs on chains. They are an uncivilized and ignorant bunch, so it serves them right you are withholding precious knowledge. :scream:
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