Category Archives: Physics

Those Who Believe Things that Are Not True, and Those Who Try Not To

There’s a spectrum of people from those who settle into narratives, believing things that are not true, and those who try to escape those narratives and try to perceive the real world; Paul Krugman on how MAGA is not grounded … Continue reading

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People Prefer a Softened Reality

A Big Think piece about over-hyped science and astronomy claims from this past year; Adam Lee on Benjamin Franklin’s “noble lie”: that people need religion in order to behave; And an Endpiece about current holiday activities. I’ve mentioned before that … Continue reading

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Christmas Presents and Consumerism; Beauty in the Universe

Christmas presents, consumerism, and Adam Lee’s take on minimalism; The idea of ‘beauty’ in the universe, as another component of science fiction’s “consilience”; First take on the new Peter Gabriel album. Like many people as we get older, when Christmas … Continue reading

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Last Questions and Possible Answers, 3

This is my third post, following this one in March and this one in June, in which I consider the John Brockman book The Last Unknowns, in which he gathers deep unanswered questions about “the universe, the mind, the future … Continue reading

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Sapolsky’s New Book and the Idea of Free Will

Five items about Robert M. Sapolsky and his new book, Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will. Which I haven’t read yet. ——   Robert M. Sapolsky, who published a big meaty book six years ago called Behave: The … Continue reading

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A Crisis in Cosmology?

NY Times, Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser, 2 Sep 2023: The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel This is a piece about some of the fall-out of the photos from the James Webb Space Telescope, and the … Continue reading

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Intuitive TV and Movie Physics

Remember this? Remind you of anything? This is the logo that would appear at the end of a Universe Pictures movie in the 1930s.

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The Latest on Quantum Mechanics and Gravity?

Frederik Pohl, the SF writer and editor who wrote Gateway and many other novels, once wrote a book called Chasing Science: Science as a Spectator Sport, which was about him not being a scientist, but interesting in following new scientific … Continue reading

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George Gamow: One Two Three… Infinity

Here’s an oldie, not just for first being published in 1947 (see Wikipedia) but also for being one of the first science nonfiction books I ever read, back when I bought this copy in 1969. (Seen here is the Bantam … Continue reading

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Michio Kaku: THE GOD EQUATION, 2

I’ve spent my blogging time this afternoon refining yesterday’s post about Michio Kaku’s book THE GOD EQUATION. I’m not sure reducing 20 bullets about each chapter to 10 bullets will make much difference, in terms of my goal to pass … Continue reading

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