sagamore Sagan

Entropy, the 2nd law, and that pesky lil arrow

It appears that we have touched on the significance of the the three subjects titling this post previously, however, I do feel its now time to really get into it.


Let us all agree that, according to everyday experience, an egg that has broken into the tiniest of pieces (a state of high entropy) can not.. or will not, at any point, un-break-gather its pieces, yolk and white up-making a whole egg once again (a state of low entropy). In addition to our "fool-proof" common experience, the second law of thermodynamics says that in an isolated, complex system, entropy always increases in forward time motion. Entropy, again, is the measure of disorder in a system. An egg with all its bits strewn about the floor is exceptionally more disordered than a whole egg, conveniently containing all its molecules in a tight, and orderly fashion.

Strung ouuut on string theory :/

String theory is controversial because certain stringent physicists believe, that as this theory is yet untestable, it should be considered rather as a philosophy.

However!

Certain progressive thinkers might fancy this way of understanding the structure of the universe as an opportunity to capitalize on a more unified and harmonious approach to untangling the mysteries of existence. In fact, it may even turn out to be that the physics of the universe can not be understood alone as a theory of everything and for this, it must be paired and fleshed out with philosophy.

Without further ado, let me unravel a bit of string theory...

Quantum mechanics explains the world of the extremely small, obv. No words or pictures could describe how small. But for fokkus purposes, string theory details that which is 1 billion billion times smaller than an atom. An atom consists of a nucleus containing two types of particles, neutrons and protons, surrounded by electrons (negatively charged particles) orbiting the nucleus. The protons and neutrons are made of quarks which are really raaandom bits with all types of arbitrarily-named properties. Quarks, then, are thought to be made of (or rather are) the tiny crumbs of vibrating strings that make up string theory.

In the way that an actual vibrating string on a cello or other stringed instrument can produce various notes, the vibrating strings of the universe can vibrate at different frequencies and produce different forces and types of matter-the stuff that is us and the universe at large. Which makes sense, if you think about how many different frequencies of vibrating strings and air it takes to create a symphony. And, when you hear the unparalleled beauty of the music... this can be like looking out across the planet and beholding the majesty and the undoubted harmony in nature.


But... really random things start happening if we begin solving equations according to string theory:

Oye, 11-dimensional M-theory: This version of string theory posits that spacetime has in fact 11 dimensions, rather than the four we experience. These dimensions are not apparent to us as they may or may not be tightly rolled up... like a scroll! But M theory also describes universes very much like ours with our four observable spacetime dimensions (3 in space and 1 in time), 'as well as universes with up to 10 flat space dimensions, and also cases where the position in some of the dimensions is not described by a real number, but by a completely different type of mathematical quantity.'

Branes or p-branes (short for membranes hence M theory) are included in string theory and describe 'spatially extended mathematical concepts'... er, for example- (the p variable stands for the number of spatial dimensions of the brane) 0-brane = a zero-dimensional pointlike particle, 1-brane = string, 2-brane = membrane, etc. etc.

until 2010

NYMag Intel
Jez -a surprisingly insightful analysis

notes*

The fish that Jacob cooks/eats is a red herring.

Ben quips that he is a Pisces (a red herring?) but he is a Sagittarius (from the epi Deceptions and Cons).

Richard responds to the question of "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" with "Ille qui nos omnes servabit" or "He who will protect/save us all."

Jacob's tapestry contains phrases written in ancient Greek from Homer's Odyssey 6:180 and 8:413:
"ΘΕΟΙ ΤΟΣΑ ΔΟΙΕΝ ΟΣΑ ΦΡΕΣΙ ΣΗΣΙ ΜΕΝΟΙΝΑΣ", or, "may the gods grant thee all that thy heart desires." And,
"[ΘΕΟΙ ΔΕ] ΤΟΙ ΟΛΒΙΑ ΔΟΙΕΝ", or, "may the gods give you happiness."

The opening scene of Jacob spinning is a reference to The Fates; three Greek mythological women who were the spinners of destiny. The first fate spun the thread of life; she determined the time of a person's birth. The second fate measured the thread of life; she determined a person's life span. The third fate was the cutter of the thread of life; she determined the time of a person's death.

Ben's relationship with Jacob bears similarity to the story of Job, a pious man who's faith is tested by tragedy in order to settle a bet between God and Satan (except that Job remains faithful).

Jacob's enemy knows he can't kill Jacob, just as Ben says to Widmore "We both know I can't do that" according to The Rules when Widmore asks if Ben had come to kill him (from the epi The Shape of Things to Come).

An open letter to Benjamin Linus:

Dear Benjamin Linus,

Everything about you irks me the right way-your voice, your mannerisms, even the awkward, aggressive influxes in your voice. Your eyes have a special glow and your short stature appeals to me on multiple levels. If there is any way for us to be together, I will do whatever it takes. I love you.

-Alexandra Hamile

Dark Energy

I mentioned dark energy in a previous post, fortunately, Sci Am dedicated its April cover to the topic. As it pertains to singularities and all that, I thought it might be pertinent to hint at what the most up to date theorists are theorizing:

As the discovery of an accelerating universe became invaluable to the makeup of the cosmos, it became clear that there was a mass of missing information. A fat 70% of the universes substance was sheathed in mystery, with the exception that it was undoubtedly pushing along the expansion of the universe-instead of holding it back...this is dark energy.
It is theorized that the big bang gave everything an outward push, but gravity should be slowing down that push... so, its only logical to consider some kind of force/energy working against gravity... Dark Energy? Its possible that this is the energy associated with empty space that Einstein had suggested in 1917 when he introduced his cosmological constant (which he in fact considered his 'greatest blunder') and if that turns out to be the case, well then this is yet another act of remarkable foresight on his part.

So whats the news? As long as there has been the idea of dark energy, there has been a strict grip on the Copernican Principle-that Earth is not in a central or otherwise special position in the universe, and this extending into the cosmological principle-at any moment in time all points and directions in space look the same. But! A small collection of physicists are considering dark energy sans the principles. Meaning there might be no such thing as dark energy at all. Meaning, we might exist in a very unique spot in the universe-the center of a giant cosmic void.
So, what are the alternative explanations?
1. Rather than expanding evenly, like a balloon might, the universe is expanding unevenly, like a big amoebic blob. How? I will tell you-in the previous view of our location in the universe, the decelerating expansion rate was explained by the effects of dense matter tugging at the fabric of spacetime and slowing down the rate of expansion (this coming from the outward push of the big bang) BUT if one were to put us at the center of the aforementioned cosmic void, where matters density is conceivably much less than anywhere else in the universe, we would find less slow down (less matter), faster expansion (especially at the center of the void, slowing down as it moves outward towards the edge and creeps up on the surrounding high density space). At any given time different parts of space will expand at different rates.

As you might imagine, this change in design is an upset of massive proportions, for in general astronomy, the larger a structure is, the rarer it should be and the probability of a void big enough to mimc dark energy is less than one part in 10 to the 100th power (or a googol tahaha). Now to bring us round to singularities-for a void to mimic dark energy, the expansion rate would have a significant decrease away from us and in all directions, meaning the density of matter and energy must increase sharply away from us and in all directions... this would make the shape of an upside down witches hat, the tip of which, points out us, our place in the void. Ugh, but this goes against the assumed smoothness of structures in the universe. AND, my favorite part, Vanderveld and Flanagan of Cornell showed that the tip, us, would have to be a singularity-wild.

epi 11 and the Cassandra Complex

Cassandra's story finds its origin in Greek mythology... She was the impeccably beautiful daughter of the the King of Troy. Merely upon seeing her, Apollo was struck with a desire to have her, wholly... he offered her gifts, bestowing upon her the unique quality of prophecy. However, when his love went unrequited he cursed her causing her prophecies, or warnings, to go unbelieved. Ah, in 1949 the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, who influenced Derrida to Foucault, coined the term to refer to a belief that things could be known in advance.

He attempted to formulate a scientific philosophy that takes both rationalism and empiricism into account, incorporating this into the study of literature. In La Poétique de l'espace he offered a phenomenology of poetic image as inner and outer space. He considered the image in terms of the “reverberations” it inspired within him. And in La Poétique de la rêverie he theorized that since reality is fashioned by imagination, the state of day dreaming, or reverie, is the highest state of mind. In The Psychoanalysis of Fire, Bachelard introduced his theory that the four elements—earth, water, fire, and air—embody the creative temperament as well as the basic forms of life. He went on to explore the meanings of these symbols throughout time in world literature.

'It is not a question of observation which propels mankind forward as if toward a looking glass of great magnitude; it is an instance of aggrandized reflection that insinuates the human psyche to the inhuman.'