A portrait of reality

How does science work? And what's all this about quantum mechanics?

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Dubious
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by Dubious »

Nick_A wrote: Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:06 pm Arising wrote:

“Modern logic… has the effect of enlarging our abstract imagination, and providing an infinite number of possible hypotheses to be applied in the analysis of any complex fact. In this respect it is the exact opposite of the logic practised by the classical tradition. In that logic, hypotheses which seem prima facie possible are professedly proved impossible, and it is decreed in advance that reality must have a certain character. In modern logic, on the contrary, while the prima facie hypotheses as a rule remain admissible, others, which only logic would have suggested, are added to our stock, and are very often found indispensable if a right analysis of the facts is to be obtained. The old logic put thought in fetters, while the new logic gives it wings.” B. Russell.

This reads like a text on how to make a porno flick that will sell as art.
That's only because you didn't understand a word of it. Best to go back to Simone and her Kindergarten philosophy easily digestible by the likes of you.
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Greta
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by Greta »

Excellent achievement, William! You have worked like a beaver on this for some time, a labour of love and a distillation of many years of learning. I agree with AUK that there is lack of closure, although that may be a clever metaphysical statement :)

For me, the most valuable concept I picked up from your blog is the idea of "big bang stuff" and that everything is basically a fluctuation in the stuff of reality. Like many good ideas it's so obvious that it's often missed. I like the idea philosophically too for the sense of unity it promotes.
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Arising_uk
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by Arising_uk »

Nick_A wrote: Arising wrote: ...
I wish I wrote that but you'll find it was B.Russell.
seeds
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by seeds »

uwot wrote: Sat Jul 15, 2017 4:16 pm Right; I know I keep saying it, but this really is very close to the final product. It has been extensively revised to conform to a portrait format, so it'll be more like a Beano annual.
Any help weeding out typos and glitches, or any suggestions will be gratefully received.
Cheers
Will
http://willijbouwman.blogspot.co.uk
You don't call grandma or reply to her posts, but she said to go ahead and help you anyway. :P

In the middle right panel in the link below...

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pak5BwZP6Fs/ ... B.003.jpeg

...it reads: “...Proxima Centauri [……]

It’s light takes 2.4 years to reach us...”

It’s should be Its.

It’s just my opinion, but the wording in the lower left panel in the link below where it speaks of 600kmph being half the speed of sound, seems to have come from out of left field, so to speak, relative to what preceded it.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2tmwlkKW6d4/ ... B.009.jpeg

The fourth panel in the link below reads: “...The Higgs Boson is a bit like a a photon...”

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xsjIu8Hogs4/ ... B.028.jpeg

In the middle panel in the link below...

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1vEi1k42YVE/ ... B.030.jpeg

There is something awkward about how the following underlined part reads: “...It’s a bit like the brakes being applied, since it is the bottom of the car, the wheels, that slow down before the rest of the car.

In the link below, the second panel on top reads: “...Even the the atoms...”

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D5_ggovoeNE/ ... B.043.jpeg

Also, in the lower left panel of the same grouping, wouldn’t everything on the ship be frozen from the perspective of a stationary observer, while all would appear to be normal to Einstein?

Finally, if what you have us looking at is “all of it,” then I agree with Arising_uk and Greta, in that it seems to leave the reader wondering if we are missing some pages.
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uwot
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by uwot »

Thank you, seeds. Those are exactly the sort of typos that I could look at a dozen times and see straight through.
And thanks to Arising and Greta for your interest and kind words. Point taken about modern logic, but we don't all have an MSc in that stuff.
The three of you are absolutely right, the ending is just not an ending. It's exhausting and I've got 10 000 words on William of Conches and Bernardus Silvestus to cobble together by September, so I might take a break and do it right. I'm planning to use some stills from Professor Leinweber's animations. ( Check 'em out, if you haven't already: http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/theo ... index.html ) He was good enough to let me use them before, so I reckon he'll be cool. (If not, I'll knock up something similar and credit him with 'inspiration'. Or something.) Still, it's all waaaaay better than it used to be.
Cheers.
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Greta
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by Greta »

Yes, nice proofing, Seeds. Like uwot I saw straight through the mistakes but, unlike uwot, I don't have the excuse of re-reading for the nth time :)
seeds
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by seeds »

Greta wrote: Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:23 am Yes, nice proofing, Seeds. Like uwot I saw straight through the mistakes but, unlike uwot, I don't have the excuse of re-reading for the nth time :)
Thanks Greta.

It’s amazing how those little suckers can slip by (even past the spell and grammar checkers of the software we use).

I don’t know if uwot is going to put this out in a digital format or in book form (or both), but trust me, there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth if he discovers even more typos in his finished (published) product. :D
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Greta
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by Greta »

seeds wrote: Tue Jul 18, 2017 8:15 pmI don’t know if uwot is going to put this out in a digital format or in book form (or both), but trust me, there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth if he discovers even more typos in his finished (published) product. :D
Definitely. I used to produce annual reports and had to ask as many people as possible to proof my proofing. It's eye-opening how person after person will miss the trees for the forest. Sentences after very strong insights or statements are especially prone to be missed because the tempo of reading picks up.
seeds
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by seeds »

Greta wrote: Wed Jul 19, 2017 12:11 am
seeds wrote: Tue Jul 18, 2017 8:15 pmI don’t know if uwot is going to put this out in a digital format or in book form (or both), but trust me, there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth if he discovers even more typos in his finished (published) product. :D
Definitely. I used to produce annual reports and had to ask as many people as possible to proof my proofing. It's eye-opening how person after person will miss the trees for the forest. Sentences after very strong insights or statements are especially prone to be missed because the tempo of reading picks up.
I think it also has a lot to do with how the mind knows what words are supposed to follow or precede other words in order to make a proper sentence and simply subconsciously edits what we read to fit our expectations.

I’m just speculating here, but I think that authors are particularly vulnerable to proofing problems because the original and correct wordings are so strongly embedded in their memory that it causes them to see (and read) a projection of their memory rather than what’s actually on the page.
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Greta
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by Greta »

seeds wrote: Wed Jul 19, 2017 3:26 am... authors are particularly vulnerable to proofing problems because the original and correct wordings are so strongly embedded in their memory that it causes them to see (and read) a projection of their memory rather than what’s actually on the page.
Definitely. Any serious and sensible author uses an editor. There are many instances of authors getting big egos and refusing editing. Afterwards they tend to get a bollocking from critics for sloppiness :)
uwot
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by uwot »

Ok. So I was going to take break from this, but the ending really was a stinker. So, I've had a go at tarting it up, and hopefully, there is a sense of closure. Thanks again for the help.
Cheers
Will
http://willijbouwman.blogspot.co.uk
uwot
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by uwot »

I've just tarted up the resolution, so it should be a bit easier to read: http://willijbouwman.blogspot.co.uk (Well, a little bit.)
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Arising_uk
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by Arising_uk »

That's better.

You going to do well with this I think uwot. Nice job.
uwot
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by uwot »

Arising_uk wrote: Sat Jul 22, 2017 6:06 pm That's better.

You going to do well with this I think uwot. Nice job.
Ta very much. I'm still not happy with the ending. It would be nice to do well out of it, but frankly explaining gravity, relativity, QM, dark energy and wotnot, is a piece of piss compared to typesetting.
uwot
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Re: A portrait of reality

Post by uwot »

Here's the latest: http://willijbouwman.blogspot.lu/2017/10/blog-post.html
I'm still fiddling about with resolution issues, so publication is some time after that's all sorted. Anyway, lots of improvements, particularly in the quantum mechanics/field theory bit-what are particles and why are they so different to proper stuff? Easy-peasy.
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