tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post3648387543506596668..comments2024-03-28T17:30:34.605-05:00Comments on Althouse: “Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives."Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-51665913108033563832008-10-22T15:06:00.000-05:002008-10-22T15:06:00.000-05:00Paul, have you read The Quark and The Jaguar by Mu...Paul, have you read <I>The Quark and The Jaguar</I> by Murray Gell-Mann? It clarified a lot of things for me when I first read it, but it was written almost 15 years ago and I've always wondered if has become outdated in any signficant way.Henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14520113896946845614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-45276869122512734862008-10-22T14:57:00.000-05:002008-10-22T14:57:00.000-05:00Dr. Althouse: if you want a non-scientist's introd...Dr. Althouse: if you want a non-scientist's introduction to the quantum mechanics, I can mostly recommend <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Quantum-Leap-Physics-Nonscientists/dp/0060963107/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224705031&sr=1-1" REL="nofollow">Taking the Quantum Leap: The New Physics for Nonscientists</A>. Fred Alan Wolf gives a reasonable introduction, but ignore the philosophical mumbo-jumbo that he attaches to it--the Many Histories Interpretation of the quantum mechanics doesn't at all imply what some popularizers, Wolf regrettably included, claim that it does. If you're interested in a very scientifically grounded look at what the quantum mechanics as it relates to several other fields implies, I recommend <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Immortality-Modern-Cosmology-Resurrection/dp/0385467990/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224705420&sr=1-1" REL="nofollow">The Physics of Immortality</A> instead.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-46601893775805200492008-10-22T12:58:00.000-05:002008-10-22T12:58:00.000-05:00Thanks for the tag, Professor Althouse.Thanks for the tag, Professor Althouse.Ernesto Ariel Suárezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01958402720156270521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-44723436259329709652008-10-22T12:44:00.000-05:002008-10-22T12:44:00.000-05:00I got my own tag! Weee...!I got my own tag! Weee...!Ernesto Ariel Suárezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01958402720156270521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-69992791222447782452008-10-22T09:16:00.000-05:002008-10-22T09:16:00.000-05:00I saw that Nova show too. I thought it interesting...I saw that Nova show too. I thought it interesting. I am glad his dad got some recognition before he died. <BR/><BR/>What was also interesting is how the family has a history of mental illness and depression that seems (or at least strongly suggests) to be linked to genius. We see this time and time again. There is also statistical evidence to suggest more autistic children are born to those with high IQs. <BR/><BR/>Is it the brains that cause it or the ambition? Is it a combination of both?Fred4Preshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01574159710712259945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-18394344395139870092008-10-22T08:30:00.000-05:002008-10-22T08:30:00.000-05:00Or it might be they were just interested.Or it might be they were just interested.rhhardinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901742898653890646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-46912320031926513292008-10-22T08:27:00.000-05:002008-10-22T08:27:00.000-05:00IMHO, the problem is that certain endeavors--the i...IMHO, the problem is that certain endeavors--the inner reaches of pure mathematics, the crazy-quilt of the quantum mechanics, the maddeningly just-so rules that cannot be violated in order to build a working piece of software--essentially require that one be somewhere on the autism spectrum to master, with the human toll that's described here. I can sympathize with E.--a lot. I'm an adoptee who writes software for a living. I was found by my birth family. Turns out my birth-father's father was an economist at the World Bank. My birth mother suffered from clinical depression. I had a half-brother who was a suicide. There's no question in my mind, whatsoever, that I'm a high-functioning autistic--luckily able to have a good career and even to be married, but that's only because my wife has the patience of several saints.<BR/><BR/>Georg Cantor (set theory and transfinite arithmetic), Kurt Gödel (the limits of formal logic), John Nash (the Nash equilibrium, "A Beautiful Mind"), Paul Erdös (too much math to count), Alan Turing (the "Turing test," cracking the Enigma cipher with very early computers in WWII), Nikola Tesla (alternating-current power distribution and much more)—all either institutionalized, suicides, or both. The price for their genius was, in some vital way, too high.<BR/><BR/>Being that close to such deep truths—that close to God, perhaps—distances you from the rest of humanity. Sometimes irrevocably so.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-50989704511475990982008-10-22T08:26:00.000-05:002008-10-22T08:26:00.000-05:00Sounds like an all around disengaged type of famil...<I>Sounds like an all around disengaged type of family. How many kids don't know what their parents do for a living?</I><BR/><BR/>My dad was a solid-state physicist. He took me to work with him once and I still didn't know what he did. We did put on lead aprons at one point. Then he stopped in to see the computer science guys on his floor and they were playing space invaders. That I understood.<BR/><BR/>As far as the music goes, it's clever enough. But I really want to give a shout out to Joe M. for linking <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KehwyWmXr3U" REL="nofollow">The National</A> on the pumpkin thread. I was listening to them all afternoon yesterday.Henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14520113896946845614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-91691214784549219812008-10-22T08:18:00.001-05:002008-10-22T08:18:00.001-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Ernesto Ariel Suárezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01958402720156270521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-61624950058589037712008-10-22T08:18:00.000-05:002008-10-22T08:18:00.000-05:00I really wanted to kill this whiney idiot. He can'...I really wanted to kill this whiney idiot. He can't speak in plain English ("behold my metaphor!" again), and he obviously didn't care about his father. He has no idea about science, in fact he very obviously rejected it all "because daddy didn't hug me!"...ugh. I wanted to refresh my quantum mechanics and the history of it, but this bearded fool was in the middle of it, and irritated me to no end. I had to turn the TV off.<BR/><BR/>Good morning to allErnesto Ariel Suárezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01958402720156270521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-39865475233316588672008-10-22T07:56:00.000-05:002008-10-22T07:56:00.000-05:00Intersecting universes Barthelme.<A HREF="http://books.google.com/books?id=hmsq3D2EAXgC&pg=PA50&dq=dear.mr.quistgaard" REL="nofollow">Intersecting universes</A> Barthelme.rhhardinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901742898653890646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-68734345586646427642008-10-22T07:36:00.000-05:002008-10-22T07:36:00.000-05:00""Can we all agree that that is the BEST performan...<I>""Can we all agree that that is the BEST performance ever from a carrot in a music video?""</I><BR/><BR/>Gee, I don't know... there are so many to choose from (*rolls eyes*)...Tiborehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07360541843865827271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-28066589273166270682008-10-22T07:13:00.000-05:002008-10-22T07:13:00.000-05:00Whining can be quite profitable.Whining can be quite profitable.Bob Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08678321545012311414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-82052664840742816432008-10-22T07:04:00.000-05:002008-10-22T07:04:00.000-05:00Hackneyed, cliched video images. Not impressed. Mu...Hackneyed, cliched video images. Not impressed. Music - well, there's 3 minutes of my life I won't get back.<BR/><BR/>Sorry about your upbringing, dude, but if your father gives you intelligence, it is up to you to use it. No whining.bleeperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15289440149118438141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-26504677822053889112008-10-22T06:43:00.000-05:002008-10-22T06:43:00.000-05:00True. The intelligence is shown in what arises fro...True. The intelligence is shown in what arises from that interest.<BR/><BR/>Some create unparalled music and art, others create parallel worlds.<BR/><BR/>Others make nothing at all, content to be entertained by watching TV every single day without interruption.<BR/><BR/>These are not all the same thing.KCFleminghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00124201866124646626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-23235625303486506532008-10-22T06:29:00.000-05:002008-10-22T06:29:00.000-05:00It takes no special intelligence to care about som...It takes no special intelligence to care about some things more than others.Bissagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04439910009646381418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-27873495710708913372008-10-22T06:27:00.000-05:002008-10-22T06:27:00.000-05:00It's nice he wanted to connect with his father, ev...It's nice he wanted to connect with his father, even after death. That's the central idea in the movies <I>Elizabethtown</I> and <I>Field of Dreams</I>. <BR/><BR/>Sons and their fathers, who seem as absent in life as in death.<BR/><BR/>A tale told well about that search can make a grown man cry.KCFleminghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00124201866124646626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-61727402647756329152008-10-22T05:55:00.000-05:002008-10-22T05:55:00.000-05:00“I didn’t really know he was a famous quantum phys...<I>“I didn’t really know he was a famous quantum physicist,” Mr. Everett, 45, said.... “It wasn’t something anyone talked about around the house. He barely spoke at all.”</I><BR/><BR/>Sounds like an all around disengaged type of family. How many kids don't know what their parents do for a living?Sydneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17038514318463662024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-18054014490959876812008-10-22T04:49:00.000-05:002008-10-22T04:49:00.000-05:00It's all about the grief the dad gave the son, eh?...It's all about the grief the dad gave the son, eh? <BR/><BR/>What about the reverse?ricpichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01321511130788764861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-73612517694265287512008-10-22T02:43:00.000-05:002008-10-22T02:43:00.000-05:00JL,Interesting comments.JL,<BR/><BR/>Interesting comments.Donnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05298949062773413795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-66071346392893327022008-10-22T02:00:00.001-05:002008-10-22T02:00:00.001-05:00What a post a comment this would be. I have nothi...What a post a comment this would be. I have nothing ... Althouse wins with her "generation extreme" It's fall now, so we should all be ashamed ... given the likilyhod we find ourselves "pressing" the steroetypes of our adventure... lets make sure that our feinds don't think we see them in vain. ....jkraft12https://www.blogger.com/profile/15682549297493344077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-82482363602496048572008-10-22T02:00:00.000-05:002008-10-22T02:00:00.000-05:00Smart people are weird! Ok? How can one act norm...Smart people are weird! Ok? <BR/><BR/>How can one act normal if you're not seeing the same reality as most people? I think that scarily high intelligence changes the nature of the world as it's experienced. <BR/><BR/>Music and drugs do the same thing.NotWhoIUsedtoBehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14568355742926021406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-41926440939955219012008-10-22T00:15:00.000-05:002008-10-22T00:15:00.000-05:00awesome music, fascinating dudeDaisies of the Gala...awesome music, fascinating dude<BR/><BR/>Daisies of the Galaxy and Electroshock blues are great albums<BR/><BR/>he puts on a good show tooBoazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12337449567894409927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-89493806272464248412008-10-21T23:55:00.000-05:002008-10-21T23:55:00.000-05:00This album was made after E.'s sister committed su...This album was made after E.'s sister committed suicide and his mother died of cancer. His father previously died of a heart attack, E. finding the body. It's a very sad, sad album.Janahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17699904881644356367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-2898071190215527262008-10-21T22:55:00.000-05:002008-10-21T22:55:00.000-05:00Music is very mathematical.Music is very mathematical.Chip Ahoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12597726289890879627noreply@blogger.com