In 1937 mathematician Lother Collatz made a conjecture after playing with a simple arithmetic calculation, which goes like this: start with any positive integer, if it is even divide by 2, if it is odd multiply by 3 and add one. Then repeat. Let’s try a couple. 5, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 11, 34, […]
Collatz Conjecture Read More »
Another of president Biden’s orders that caught my eye is: Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking. The premise would seem to be that lack of trust rests on prior use of science in ways that lacked integrity. The memo doesn’t explain the lack or why such lack has led
I think the two biggest gaps in science are a) reconciling quantum physics and gravity (unsolved after 100 years), and b) explaining consciousness as a function of brain activity (unsolved since at least Descartes). I have been following the recent work of Stephen Wolfram (https://www.wolframphysics.org/) He seems to be closing in on a) using a
Is Reality Simple? Read More »
Efforts to prove the existence of God have a long history. Michael Behe, of the ID crowd, claims that some facets of organisms are irreducibly complex. Therefore there must be ID. Stephen Wolfram, however, has demonstrated that the complexity of the whole universe likely is the result of the foliation of a few simple rules.
Intelligent Design (ID) Read More »
Stepen Wolfram explains Computational Irreducibility in his book, A New Kind of Science. The basic notion is that some calculations have no short cuts. Short cut approximations, maybe. Could the universe be like that — no way to know, exactly, until we get there?
Computational Irreducibility Read More »
For the past century there have been two unreconciled main branches of Physics: General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. Albert Einstein had a significant role in each. He spent much of his life trying to reconcile them. In recent years a variety of approaches have been put forward, such as string theory — none fully successful.
Fundamental Physics Read More »