Comments on: On “Do-Overs”

By: Plato

Plato — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:36:28 +0000

I said,”But as to the “extra journey” through the airport, that book store is not as exceptional as you say. Must be my writing.

Thanks Stevem for further elaborating.

Clifford:There may be ways in which their existence could be meaningful even without having some means of ever visiting another one and returning to tell the story in some reproducible way.

I think there is Clifford, “as of natural consequence” we do relive the events we create, and we do assess what we have done. Now of course, as to the physics?

quadrupole pattern of statistical anisotropy

If we are to see such patterns that establish themselves in this pictorial sense above, what would have been it’s motivation? Does this give us a geometry and inclination to the physics, as this universe is expressed?

By: stevem

stevem — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:50:06 +0000

I hear airlines are doing all they can to strip weight of their planes to combat rising fuel costs which are hurting them badly. Airport book stores=cheap or trashy paperbacks usually. I think if you were in an ep of Twilight Zone you would see a creature sitting on the wing of the plane and no-one else would;)

The Godel solution is globaly non-hyperbolic so has closed timelike curves and is probably physically unrealistic. Godel was featured at length in a recent bbc quality documentary called “Dangerous Knowledge” about the life and work of some mathematicians who went insane or committed suicide (Cantor, Godel, Boltzmann and Turing).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeJmWF7tBfY

And yes, I do spend too much time on youtube;)

By: Supernova

Supernova — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:09:35 +0000

The Denver airport is not bad as airports go, though I agree with you that the bookstores could be vastly improved. Best food I’ve found is at Chef Jimmy’s in Concourse A — they make a very good chicken salad/noodle bowls with lots of fresh greens and red peppers. Perfect for long flights when you know you’re not going to meet another vegetable for hours.

By: Jonathan Lubin

Jonathan Lubin — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:05:48 +0000

Mister Pompous Language Pedant says: You can’t disembark from a plane because it’s not a bark. He continues in the same vein, saying that the words should be emplane and disemplane, however.

By: linda

linda — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:36:54 +0000

i see
i think condensed matter theorists work with ensembles more often than anybody else, and since they are closer to string theorists than particle phenomenologists techniques-wise, collaborations between string and condensed matter theorists will be fruitful, may be that is what we need for another revolution

By: Clifford

Clifford — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:59:38 +0000

HI,

Thanks. Well, if I had a really good idea I’d have written it up by now, but all I’m saying (and this is an idea that’s been around in one shape or form for a long time now) is that there are possibly quantities that cannot be intrinsically computed from first principles using only theories that refer to one universe. The cosmological constant is one example of a parameter of the universe we have no clue as to why its value is one number or another. All we can do is measure it and use it as input into our theories. There’s actually nothing wrong with that…. we’ve been doing that process in science for many centuries and probably always will. On the other hand, maybe one day we’ll figure out a smart theory that can do it, or maybe it cannot be computed without a theory that takes into account other universes. There may be other such numbers/parameters. Maybe the coincidence problem will be cast into such a framework one day.

-cvj

By: linda

linda — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:50:12 +0000

hi, nice post
just wondering,
could you give an example of a physical quantity which would be explainable only if one assume the existance of ensembles?!

By: Clifford

Clifford — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:47:31 +0000

Huh? I did not say it was exceptional, but exactly the opposite. A single tiny bookstore for an entire huge terminal, with a poor selection of books.

The Godel metric is cute, but nobody knows if it has anything to do with physics.

Best,

-cvj

By: Plato

Plato — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:20:08 +0000

I was thinking more of the time travel scenarios.

Kurt Godel

In the late 1940s, Gödel demonstrated the existence of paradoxical solutions to Albert Einstein’s field equations in general relativity. These “rotating universes” would allow time travel and caused Einstein to have doubts about his own theory. His solutions are known as the Gödel metric.

But as to the “extra journey” through the airport, that book store is not as exceptional as you say.

Did you get a chance to visit with Moshe?

By: Clifford

Clifford — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:34:32 +0000

Yes, good ‘ol Twilight Zone. Pity there’s nothing quite like that being made any more (as far as I know). Maybe we’re all to sophisticated now. Some of them were so simple, but clever… no super effects, a bit clunky, but so effective.

Cheers,

-cvj

By: Jude

Jude — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:51:53 +0000

A Twilight Zone episode would have you disembarking from plane after plane, with subtle differences in the boarding order, and none of the planes ever managing to take off.