Scientific Concepts That Will Help You Understand The World

What is intelligence??
Sometimes smart people do stupid stuff. - Why Smart People Are Not Always Rational
People have many unrealistic expections and illusions of it.
Here's an exerpt of a comment I made in another thread.

That being said, just because your IQ is high, you have many certs or degrees...or you have book smarts,
doesn't mean that you have the knack to do the voodoo...to create, to analyze, to find the new perspective...and one that actually gets used.

Nor does it mean that you will not fail, do something stupid, be unbiased, be mentally stable, politically & socially aware...and so on.
It is not magic...and your ability and skills will not be complete or consistent through-out your life.
What you see in the media...is a simple plot, with everything "just so"...and all the speed-bumps and dead-ends and duldrums written out.

So ask yourself...can you do the "thing"
And can you do it despite yourself, other people and reality getting in the way...day in, day out.
Sometimes you can do it by intent.
Sometimes it just "happens"

Just keep being fascinated by it all...
And to what you can with it.
IHMO, That's what I think really intelligent people are.

 

Scientists Are Not That Smart

I've said this for a long time...
Not that they aren't smart or talented...but really no more than any other skilled role.
It is a job.
A career that they went into, fell into or found that they had a knack with. (something that caught their interest...and someone pays a paycheck or grant to)

There are smart people all over...MANY smart people.
And intelligence and skill is relative.
Many don't give themselves credit...and even more are VERY skeptical ...unless they have the right credentials. (a title...or hell, even a labcoat)

And their career is just as varied and haphazard as any other.
(have you ever had to suck up to the head administrator?? hustle for grant money?? Go on a job interview where those inside already are quizzing you or are even territorial or biased??)
It happens to scientists too.

Yet, people & society puts them often up on a pedestal. (just like they do with Medical Doctors, Lawyers and Politicians)
Raises them above even themselves.
Thinking they are somehow better.

Let's put it this way...they happen to do something "interesting"...science. (like Law, or High Business, or Acting...Or...)
But they have to do day after day gig, just like you.
And they often don't do it on things they want...just like you.
And they have to get results...just like you.

Why do you think some often put out "not so hot" results?
They want to keep their job.

So, next time you note a scientist.
Remember they're just like you.
Intelligent, but not off the scale.

As Einstein said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
BTW...even many of Einstein's science associates thought he was "out of date" and not up to snuff.

In the end, it's "What have you done for me lately?"
For everyone, even those "smart" people.

 

It may be gross...but it's fascinating.
We are just a body...but something more while we're alive.

Cold comfort farm
Not all bodies left to science end up in medical schools...Forensic pathology

REAL CSI

So what happens after we are gone??
A piece of meat, that's it...at least here on Earth. (if your mind thinks that way)

Knowing that we're all going helps understand what to do while we're still here.
Denial is just sticking your head in the sand.

 

No, it's not 42


Awesome answer.
And I still have that wonder to this day...

 

Thank you for the insight on his ability and personality...it shows past the illusion of very intelligent people portrayed by the media...and what unrealistic expectations others have of them.
Genius is a "click" ...it goes beyond pure IQ and goes into just making those spontaneous leaps that create invention.

But those same people, often don't get credit. (Einstein is the exception in notoriety, not the rule.)
And they all have failings as any other person, as well as the inability to do many things others take for granted. They're not all like the fictional McGyver.
They just do what they do, whenever they do it.

But he was a very real part of your life
and he had one where he did something of interest and use.
Isn't that simply what we all should be in this short timespan here?

May he rest in peace.
Thanks again Chris, I appreciate it.

 

This is inspired by my reply to @Baraku_Guru in the Pi thread...
Everything depends on your definition.
What are you basing it on?
How are you examining it?

Debunking Media's Particle Physics Hype

One of the best quotes in the article is this...

We've had a lot of "news" or "discoveries" coming out of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
But articles don't say...they are all statistical finds, if anything at all...it's a clue, that's it.
It's like trying to figure out how a car works from examining it after it crashed violent against another car as 100 mph. (and what it was doing at the time...and why)

And if you didn't know what a car looked like in the first place...much less the road itself.

How you're defining your terms.
How you're defining your question.
How you're defining your baseline (is this right even??)
How you're defining your tools.
How you're defining your perspective.
and so on...

The media like to romance things.
And the administrators love the advertisement.
And the scientists like being the heroes.

Be a good scientist...trust, but verify.
And don't take every announcement as "truth"

They're just letting you know about another clue (a great clue, an interesting clue...something to followup on)
for the most part.

But this is not Murder She Wrote, they're not going to have a nice bow-wrapped ending and reveal.
And there's not "music" to indicate the right clue either.

 

Your brain is NOT a computer
We are organisms, not computers. Get over it. (BTW...not a light read...fairly deep)

This concept is basically saying that we aren't simple machines...or even complex ones.
We're chemical, biological...something completely different.

Again, it's not the easy answer. Why do people, even brilliant scientists, try for the quick solution?

Our thoughts and memories are like we see Time.
While it is one big flow...we only know portions.
Like snapshots of the whole.

Boo-hoo...Hey, it's a paycheck.

And just like there are infinite probabilities...there are infinite brains with their related individual selves.
Remember each thought is your own.
It may be similar, it may be unoriginal, it may be wrong...but it is still yours.

Me...I'm still trying to figure out how to "defrag" my head.
This just made it more difficult...dammit.

 

Dimensions
Or what we live within... (what **everything** exists in)

This is not what we are...that's different.

We're talking about
HERE
NOW
ALL SCALES

Now even scientists get this confused
Because we use the same word for different things...

We're not talking about other dimensions...like parallel universes or planes.
We're not talking about outside universe or multiverses.
We're not talking about even extra or higher spatial dimensions like the 4th.

It cannot travel away - because it has to describe HERE
It cannot be in the past - because it has to describe NOW
It cannot be *only* very small or very large - because it has to work no matter what the size. (within our own universe, outside is irrelevant)

We're talking about what WE live within, work within, act within - our reality.

No science-fiction here...just fact.
And believe it or not...it affects us (down to our atoms)
BUT we actually affect it. (just by existing)
No bullshit.
For real.

Now...currently, the Standard says, we live within
3 spatial
Up/down, left/right, backwards/forwards.
1 with Time. (what you do within that space)

There *may* be more...
We just haven't figured them out yet.
Defined them...and everything depends on your definitions.
These are our rules & categories.
Reality doesn't care...it just is.
But how we see it and work with it matters to us.

Wouldn't you say, knowing how big your house is important??
House doesn't care...but it does affect you and how you live.
Make sense??

--------

When I said it confuses even the best scientists or they have a challenge grasping it, I meant it.

For example, last night...I went to this big science gathering. (a speech on Mars to Multiverses by an International Professor Emeritas for APS)
I asked a question on if we are limiting ourselves on the definition or categories for dimensions...
distinctly for THIS universe and HERE & NOW and what we live within...and NOT in the context of Space...but more like Time.

He answered by referring to 2 ideas:
1 saying that it might work different at very small scales
2 that we may be in a higher 4th dimension

Now, IMHO...he punted or referred back to the same old saw.
To give him the benefit of the doubt...it was a very big public event and a fairly quick question with no back & forth (plus I didn't want to be rude or be indiscreet)
If it had been non-public with discretion, a smaller group...and some back & forth to dive into the idea...then he may have worked the answer a bit more deeply and out of bounds.

Why did I say he punted??
Not because he wasn't intelligent or *wrong*...it's speculative & abstract.
But because he gave an answer many noted scientists give to "explain" why it's not quite working.
Here, he said...it works only on a smaller scale...or it's in a higher plane.
It's actually quite common (for talking about alternatives on the physical dimensions, that is...yes, a very exotic topic)

----

IF we're going to talk about what we live in.
You *have to* say it is about HERE, NOW and ALL scales, including our own
No exceptions
No punting

I mean, to use the analogy above of the house...
If you were going to say what you were doing in it
you wouldn't say that your activity was FAR outside of the house...or FAR in the past before you were there...or in some HIGHER plane you didn't know about...or on some SMALL scale you couldn't deal with???
No, you'd say...I did it here...at this time.
True??

Think about it.
Not about what you are...
But what do you live, work and act within???

Dimensions.

 

New Space Telescope, 40 Times The Power Of Hubble, To Unlock Astronomy's Future

One step beyond... (good song)
But this is MORE than one step, this is some steps into the future ~ 2030

A better view of the Universe...thus a better view of the world and in turn ourselves.

This not the Hubble...or even the upcoming James Webb...this is longer reaching.

But I will say this...this is NOT the end
We will continue to improve our capabilities unendingly.
Each step, each tweak
This improves our perspective...our ability...the details...the dynamics

It will not just be one at a time...but we will develop grids or sets of these...all interacting, all coordinating to see even more...Trianglate.
And it will become not just "snapshots" or static
But it become more "real-time" noting it all in motion

So think of these like becoming seriously like our eyes...but BETTER.
Like the intials mean LUVOIR is Large UltraViolet, Optical, and InfraRed
Which means is not just visual as our eyes but other parts of the spectrum...bringing it all together

Future ones may even have things we haven't even discovered or considered yet.

Also there's the exciting aspect of "entangled particles" which will likely allow us to transfer info and data instantly over great distances (maybe ANY distance, as long as we can get a target out there in the first place)
But these could not only get information back to us over LIGHT YEARS
But also coordinate between each in a massive arrays.

It's a fascinating idea that we may be able to REALISTICALLY accomplish.
But it's our imagination that provokes the vision.

What is out there???
What's next?

Perhaps even OUTSIDE the Universe??
Maybe??

Anyways...it's exciting to know about our next steps...bit by bit.

 

Why rejecting the modern world is a privileged fantasy

Mother Nature doesn't coddle
It is ruthless.
You survive or you don't, period.
Do or die.

Modern society buffers people from a great amount of need and suffering (even in the poorest contexts)
Many are like rich kids, oblivious to the burdens.

Is your world view a fantasy?
Are you in denial?
Reality would like a word with you...it's beating on your "secured" door...