tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907216.post9170639246032550127..comments2024-03-22T22:39:49.773-05:00Comments on I don't know, but . . .: The Animate and the Inanimate by William James Sidisjameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907216.post-8020552446847688832018-03-09T03:19:26.120-06:002018-03-09T03:19:26.120-06:00Maybe the book was intended for the general reader...Maybe the book was intended for the general reader. He wasnt a physicist but a brilliant mathematician. To say any math would be out of his league is just plain wrong. He was probably the smartest man in recorded history. Please learn more here.<br /><br />https://youtu.be/Bl_3ZxceeLE<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17223723347628591042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907216.post-43547039436308030382018-03-09T03:11:12.049-06:002018-03-09T03:11:12.049-06:00He wasnt a physicist but a brilliant mathematician...He wasnt a physicist but a brilliant mathematician. Probably the smartest man in recorded history. To say he wouldnt have the chops is laughable. The book may have also been intended for a more general reader. Please learn more here.<br /><br />https://youtu.be/Bl_3ZxceeLEAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17223723347628591042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907216.post-85194964526385704022014-05-01T21:12:45.531-05:002014-05-01T21:12:45.531-05:00I don't quite know what Sidis means in general...I don't quite know what Sidis means in general. Since what we generally measure is energy differences, the absolute scale for "how much energy" is in a system is somewhat arbitrary, and if it amuses you you can set it to be 0. For example, you know how much energy was involved in compressing a spring. You can say that the system has that much stored energy. But consider a bigger picture, in which the spring is at the Earth's surface, vs orbiting at the height of the Moon. Now there's gravitational potential energy to consider. Which distance do you want to consider the 0=gravitational energy position? Infinitely far away is the natural answer, but it is a little hard to use in practice, so you can pick something else: sea level, for instance. Since all you really work with is differences, it doesn't matter what you pick. But suppose you pick sea-level as the 0 point. Now lower that compressed spring down a mine shaft. It loses gravitational potential energy--after a while it will lose as much energy as was used in compressing the spring, and so the system would have E=0.<br /><br />That's what a physicist would mean by E=0: just a humorous way of pointing out the arbitrary nature of total energy, and trying to get the student to pay attention to energy differences instead.jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907216.post-38211493726783629402014-05-01T17:37:51.460-05:002014-05-01T17:37:51.460-05:00Isn't the "total energy of the Universe&q...Isn't the "total energy of the Universe" equal to 0? Or what does Sidis mean by this?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13158199433621847043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907216.post-35236699551918324302011-12-31T18:21:51.414-06:002011-12-31T18:21:51.414-06:00I didn't mean the kind of string theory (out o...I didn't mean the kind of string theory (out of my league as well) that would involve working the higher math. I meant the sort that makes a lot of untestable theories about the nature of reality, the more metaphysical the better: the kind that shows up in popularized science writing and undergraduate bars.<br /><br />The novella is "Elsewhen," written in 1941, which can be found in "Assignment in Eternity." (Search engines are great. All I had to do was remember some catch phrases and a few plot points like "professor," "student," and "hypnosis.")Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907216.post-77583116901366876822011-12-31T16:14:28.538-06:002011-12-31T16:14:28.538-06:00No, I haven't. I thought I'd ready pretty...No, I haven't. I thought I'd ready pretty much all of Heinlein's stuff, but that doesn't ring a bell. I'll have to look that up when I get back home.<br /><br />Actually, given the absence of math in his book, I wonder if he'd have had the math chops to work in string theory. There doesn't seem to be a lot of physics content in string theory, unfortunately, but there's some cutting edge math involved. A bit out of my league.jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907216.post-79618890328383062922011-12-31T10:44:37.866-06:002011-12-31T10:44:37.866-06:00He would have done great with string theory, would...He would have done great with string theory, wouldn't he?<br /><br />Did you ever read Heinlein's early novelette about a professor who shows his students how to strike out across a timescape in untraditional ways? The idea was that the universe of possibilities is like a landscape of hills and valleys, and that most of us take the path of least resistance, like water running down a hill. One of his students takes off cross-country, encountering wildly improbable events. Another reverses time's arrow. Very entertaining story.Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907216.post-10625932707719993902011-12-20T18:49:13.661-06:002011-12-20T18:49:13.661-06:00Thanks and blessings. I asked you to skim and you...Thanks and blessings. I asked you to skim and you read in detail instead. I hope my ongoing discussion Sidis is of interest to you.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.com