Blogs: March 2006

On Physics(03/20/2006)

ADHD Summary: Physics is beginning to captivate / annoy me

 Right now, I'm doing this blog in place of my physics homework, however unwise that may be. In any case, in the middle of doing an equation I realized that I really enjoy physics sometimes, despite how obtuse and detatched it can be. Sometimes I'm forced to just sit back and marvel at how cool it is that the real life actions of things can be predicted in many cases by scribbling down these obtuse numbers and drawing similarly obtuse graphs, at how awesome the very prospect of that is, and at how far humanity has come since the most complex doctrine for any physical occurance was "God did it and we can never understand his ways." At the same time however, I tend to feel a twinge of regret in that sentiment. Is this grand attempt to systemize all the mystery and discovery out of the world really necessary? In our attempt to discover the workings of the universe, mankind has begun to chip away at its ignorance as to the workings of the world around it, but also at the boundaries that traditionally kept us in line, and the curiosity that fueled our progress. No longer can one stare into the blue sky content to philosophize about why it should be so; if one has a lick of sense they can look it up and google and find complex and deep sounding answers about the refractions of light and atmospheric elements to their hearts content. If you ask anybody on the street what holds their feet to the earth they'll answer "gravity" without a second thought - not even to consider what gravity is, what causes it, or to question the ready made explanations they have been fed by the rational but exhausting explanations of their science teachers since middle school. In this way, science is both enlightening and dumbing people down in my view - it gives them logical answers, which they proceed to accept blindly and dumbly as ever, never questioning the decision making process and evidence which led them to the conclusions that they accept as unassailable fact. I suppose it was always this way throughout history in some regard, and science has done nothing but change the nature of the answers you'll get when you ask people on the street what makes their shoes look black and what defines said color; afterall nobody has time to think about every single facet of their lives and the operation of the world surrounding them. Nobody has the capacity for that sort of inquiry; even the most acclaimed scientists are forced to specialize their focus to avoid being overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of it all. And that in essence is my complaint; what happened to all the world's simple but satisfying mysteries? In the end I believe there was more wonder and joy in the asking of the question than the answer, and as soon as the answer is known the creativity and passion inspired by its arrival is instantly squelched in favor of quadratic equations, trigonometry, hypothises and conclusions, and the everpresent threat of a rational explanation encroaching on what used to be a solid and inspiring mystery; and such mysteries have been the driving force behind creativity and some of the world's greatest classics in literature, music, and art in general. What happens when science achieves its aim of systemizing the world and its workings completely? Can "Star Wars" be written in a world where the general population is so informed as to be unable to suspend their disbelief about the possibility of lightsabers terminating so cleanly at the desired lengh and blackholes leading to alternate dimensions filled with random inverted colors? What would the art and literature in such a world be about if all the quandries of man are resolved? Is this why english, music, and art majors are beginning to be regarded as pointless wastes of money that could be better used studying one of the all-mighty sciences? And if so, what are we going to do about it?

Unexpectedly, the blogging continues at 2AM in the morning!(03/19/2006)

ADHD Summary: OMGWTFBBQSaucetimestendividedbythreeplussthesquarerootoftwo

Basically this is a placeholder. I'm too tired to write anything coherent right now, but if I don't do something this page will proabably sink into obscurity and not be updated again until summer. With that said I'm going to offer readers a disturbing glimpse into my sleep deprived stream of consiousness thoughts: "geez, now i have to think of something interesting to think about or everyone will just lose interest right here. Hmmmm... what would the Thundercats do in this sort of situation? In fact, who or what ARE the Thundercats, I've never even watched that cartoon. Are they like cats made out of electricity? But wait, thunder is only the sound of the lightning not the electricity itself. So I guess the thundercats must logically cease to exist once the lightning storm ends, which is probably a burden off the shoulders of goldfish everywhere cause thunder is really fast. They wouldn't stand a chance if cats composed entirely of thunder were allowed to remain in the world for long periods of time... unless there were also THUNDERFISH... but they would have a hard time surviving a lightning storm with no water... unless it was a thunderstorm over the ocean... I wonder if lightning ever hits the ocean and electrocutes fish, leaving only thunderfish in it's wake. Hmm since sound can coexist in the same place at once I wonder what would happen if a thundercat tried to eat a thunderfish. Would they cancel out or produce 'beats', or reinforce each other? Only time and the invention of thundercats/fish can really tell though. More speculation is useless at this point I suppose. Theoretical physics can only go so far. Geez there ends that thought... what am I going to write now? Even I can only think of so many things to put down on paper (or i guess in this case screen) before I start to run dry... I wonder where that figure of speech came from? I guess probably wells... but you know, the figure of speech 'figure of speech' is really weird. Anybody from a non english speaking country would probably be going 'OMGWTFBBQSaucetimestendividedbythreeplussthesquarerootoftwo' at that, and their heads would explode just from reading the preceeding figure of speech. Thats it. I'm tired. ...you know tired is a weird word too. What did somebody go to bed and say 'you know, lying down reminds me of hit in the face with tires, like a medieval stoning except far more rubbery. I think I'm gonna call it being tired.' Aghhh dang it need... sleep... must... stop... writing... yet... I continue... for some reason... putting '...' inbetween... thoughts for some... reason... must... stop... now..." ...I think if I were to treat you to any more thoughts the world would warp from sheer irrationality, so I'll leave it at that for the night.
Thats all for now!
-Adam

What's New: