Friday 31 October 2008

The mass media of (very soon) yesteryear fighting back tooth and nail to keep their spoils

Irritated me, offended my sensibilities, I felt anger when I read the article Thinking is so over, in Times Online, attributed to 'net entrepreneur' Andrew Keen. When I started to write a comment I came up against a barrier, a count of words, unable to fully express myself. Demeaning readers contributions from the start, indicative of how much they value their readership opinions.

Even that little space would not have been there, if it was for them, alas, now, they can not ignore it, as the norms put forth by blogs demand it. Blogs that not only invite but rely upon their readers contribution. And thanks to the blogging medium, the forums where individuals can express their views without the need to comply to worthless rules. The omniscient mass media is in peril.

The views expressed by Andrew Keen, a blatant attempt to discredit and eventually kill what threatens and undermines their position. Trying hard to nurture and spread a trend, a 'bad-hair-day' sort of fad, against blogging. They must be cornered, loosing a long established grip, in human affairs, as how can otherwise explain their vehement attack. Playing their trump cards, offending individuals. Assaulting with a two-pronged attack, first branding blogs as monkey's business and trying to sway the public away from blogs. Pour scorn and ridicule for the already established scene and hoping to discourage any one else from following that path.

Ignoring that it is the system, that breeds monkeys, as they want monkeys, since only monkeys can digest, the monkey food they serve. A system, that they themselves are a big part of. If individuals behave like monkeys, it is because they are victims of a system with a horde of socially prescribed norms, of what is trendy or not, that the mass media faithfully implement. Stuffing into the people's minds that what is the goal in the individual in life, is to be in the spotlight, to rub shoulders with or become a celebrity, to be seen on TV or news tabloids, or the 20-second fame, or make money or be recognised in the streets.

All these things, that not only, do not contribute, but rob the individual, erode its potential. Behave like monkeys if they persist working along these guidelines the system prescribes, awaiting for recognition from the likes of the author and journalist.

Instead of concentrating and develop what is meaningful for them. Individuals that have aspirations ideas, that guide them in their pursuits, provide the framework, streamline their efforts towards succeeding in their goals. Put their viewpoint as a guide, not anybody's else, no matter how expert they profess to be. It is not left to pure chance.

Your quote states

"if you provide an infinite number of monkeys with typewriters one of them will eventually come up with a masterpiece."

playing dice, bets, that everything in life is down to pure chance, ignoring the powerful influence of chaos, that everything that exists in nature, in our minds, in our societies are down to the initial conditions, and these initial conditions carefully picked and chosen, sway away chance elements, greatly diminishes pure chance. It is not just monkeys and typewriters, but meanings that develop in individuals, left free to choose for the themselves, shape their initial conditions and by the sensitive dependence upon these initial conditions, that chaos prescribes, create new meanings, make life meaningful to them.

These initial conditions, which you try so blatantly to manipulate but you will fail, if judging by the fervour in your attack you have already failed.

"net entrepreneur Andrew Keen"

One and foremost, for what your kind of experts say, are hard to swallow since always, in the back of my mind I know that whatever is said, has no value as their opinions are biased, as they are out there to make a buck, and whatever they say or do, it depends on how much monies they will make out of it, and don't give a dime for the individual. Out there protecting the spoils of their employers.

I want you the journalist and the fellow that expressed these views, to be ashamed, to have second thoughts ever use and revere in the sound of these words.

I had enough of best minds. Why should you think of a dictatorship at all, be that fools or yours. And all you woes about

"killing our culture, assaulting our economy and destroying time-honoured codes of conduct."

Individuals do not need that kind of culture, there is nothing there worth preserving, and don't get me going on the time-honoured codes of conduct. Codes that include and guided your current outburst, codes that make you feel it is right to offend, mine and others, sensibilities. Do you think it is appropriate to honour your codes of conduct? I think not.

We had enough of entrepreneurs.

I will be damned, if I swallow the meaning of any expert without first crunch it through my brain, scrutinize it to the hilt, before I bring it forth and use it. Making it mine, my meaning, not anybody else, not even the expert as such.

Thinking is over? You are so right, since certainly your way of thinking is over, whereas the thinking that serves the individual, by the individual and for the individual is strong and it will continue unabated.

And as for the mass media accept the rules the blogs have brought forth and comply with them, instead of being a reactionary force be a contributory power, in the thinking rush that has overtaken our societies.

There is more in life than making money.

The mass media of (very soon) yesteryear fighting back tooth and nail to keep their spoils.

Friday 24 October 2008

Chaos in quantum systems, could provide new solutions to problems, not yet known?

The threads responsible for these thoughts
Quantum Chaos Unveiled?,
Chaos in my mind. Channels tapped
Raw ideas, grab them as they come
Moving the consciousness subject too far ...
Quantum tunneling? Access is denied.

I stopped there. I found something profound mentioned. Brian Saam, physicist from Utah University explores the relationship between chaos theory and modern quantum physics and states:

"When you look at all the technology governed by quantum physics, it's not unreasonable to assume that if one can apply chaos theory in a meaningful way to quantum systems, that will provide new insights, new technology, new solutions to problems not yet known."

What to say? That I agree with this approach? Certainly I do? So what? Yes, it is something that was always in my mind and as yet I have not found anything relevant to corroborate towards it. Does that make any sense? Probably not. Maybe not, not even to my myself. So why do I go on writing about it? Is it not, what I always do? Nagging my brain for a lead to the next thread to follow? A thread which eventually will or could lead me to meaning? Meaning for my own sake to say the least?

One thing for sure. Chaos is going to give an answer to a lot of problems or questions, and not only in quantum mechanics but in almost (why almost?) all matters, that fall under the umbrella which we call knowledge.

Monday 20 October 2008

Quantum tunneling? Access is denied.

The link I followed, brought me into the article 'Chaos-assisted tunneling in microlasers with partially chaotic resonators', by Podolskiy, V.A. and Narimanov, E.E.. Chaos involvement implied?

"Summary: We demonstrate that in lasers with non-integrable resonators, chaos-assisted tunneling leads to dramatic changes in the emission spectrum, removing the near-degeneracy of symmetry-related doublets and changing the lifetimes of high-Q modes by several orders of magnitude. Our theory is in quantitative agreement with numerical simulations."

Chaos-assisted tunneling? Quantum tunneling? Quantum events? In the quantum realm, a process which implicates chaos? It would be interesting to know the viewpoints of the authors, but unfortunately access is denied. A monetary induced prohibition. Payment is required.

Wednesday 8 October 2008

Amassing wealth. A crime against humanity.

Western societies have accumulated wealth, which could cover the needs of their citizens and not only. It could cover the needs of the citizens the world over.

But instead what do they do? Squeeze individuals in an incessant struggle to work all their lives away to sustain themselves and when they manage this they push them further to work even more, to possess things that they do not need, that they would never use. On top of this, they make everything possible, that whatever is left of their mental capacity, is drained down, in a useless endeavour for the most trivial details ever imagined.

An endeavour that suits the current established order of the few individuals that benefit heavily from such an arrangement and whereas they have everything anybody could ever imagine, they push themselves to have even more and as there are no more things to be had, they accumulate the medium for having the things they desire, in the first place.

Millionaires, billionaires and may be multimillionaires is not enough and who knows may be in their minds the idea of trillionaires or quadrillionaires is brewing up. They accumulate money, and they get more and more and since the drive never looses momentum, they try to make even more. They speculate, they perpetuate a false state of growth, in states economies. They are allowed to amass so much money that even states fall prey into their clutches. Idolized and revered incessantly by the media which they possess and control. Even by the media that are supposedly in the service of the public.

Instead of being despised for the sinister role they play, they are made role models for everyone to aspire to, a useless dream of becoming a millionaire as if the possession of things, will make anyone better than anyone else.

Amassing wealth should be taken as a crime against humanity and the biggest perps, who ever these might be, cases for the Hague tribunal to be tried and punished severely.

Friday 3 October 2008

Understanding observation and why Schrödinger's cat is dead?

Understanding observation. What is there that really matters when we consider the impact observation has in quantum phenomena and not only? Interactions. I read in 'What is reality' website, in 'Quantum decoherence' chapter

"What happens in the real world is that a particle is not perfectly isolated: a particle inevitably interacts with the environment. These interactions have the effect of the particle "being observed" by the environment"

... particles, quantum entities, in isolation? And while, or more likely, if in isolation, exist in a superposition of states? However, isolation is a situation hard to come by. Particles everywhere, interactions ensue. Interactions which have the effect of particles 'being observed'. Observation being one way to trigger interactions. And as in the example cited

"when you take the temperature of an object using a thermometer, you have to remove a very small sample of heat from the object."

even by seeing an object we take in, no matter how imperceptible, an amount of the electromagnetic energy inherent in an object, carried by the photons that hit our retina. And, as it is further mentioned

"The measuring device has altered the object-"

The measuring device, our retina, alters the object? The observing human individual, the measuring device, measurement a form of interaction, interactions ongoing since the birth of the universe or even earlier, eliminating any anthropic principle notions? The universe does not need us?

And even though in the macroscopic world that amount, amounts to nothing, it is not the case for the microscopic, the quantum world. Each photon that enters our retina hits first the object. Trillions or zillions of particles in the object are hit. Zillions of electrons in the outer orbits of the object's surface atoms excited by the incoming photons, jumped to higher orbits. Their superposition of states decoheres. Zillions of decohered electrons combine into the object? The object altered, collectively? Collective decoherence?

But the object was already decohered, being a part of a massively populated, by objects, environment. Where interactions are constant. And have being going on for eons. So the world is there. A mass of objects, (decohered? Yes.) of every size possible, living or non-living where observation does little, in its day-to-day rigmarole. It is already decohered, it does not alter further.

Where observation plays a role is where state superposition still exists, in remote and safe isolation, as it is in the deep recesses of atoms, where Planck scales considered, quantum entities are thousands of miles away from other particles or where it is artificially induced, in physics lab as it is mentioned

"... recent experiments have managed to delay decoherence by decoupling quantum particles from their environment."

where decoupling quantum particles from their environment effectively isolates them. But not in a hermetically sealed box, where the poor Schrödinger's cat is dead, long before any benevolent soul opens the hatch. The interactions already established, the decohered poison kills the cat instantly and observation or not, amounts to nothing.

Wednesday 1 October 2008

Unraveling thoughts on decoherence.

The ideas brought forth in this website got me going and I felt, I let my own thoughts unravel, unrestricted.

I read in the text, under the title 'How the environment eliminates interference effects',

"In the page on The Quantum Casino we have seen that when a measurement of an observable is performed, the quantum state appears to "jump" to a particular eigenstate (with the observable taking the associated eigenvalue). This apparent jumping puzzled physicists for many years because it was not understood how and why the usually linear time-evolution of the Schrödinger equation should suddenly decide to make a sudden jump."

A measurement of an observable been performed? Eigenstates and eigenvalues, as referring to states being part of a superposition? Simultaneously, with regard to the element of time, existing states? Superposed states? Or, would it make any difference if these superposed states are thought with regard to the element of space? States that occupy, in a sense overlapping, the same space? So, their simultaneous existence in the superposition can be attributed to the element of time? Existing or co-existing in the same space but at different times? Or, that thought can be turned around and assume the superposed states as existing at the same time but differ in the space that each superposed state occupies? A sort of time-like space and space-like time? Connected with the many worlds and many histories quantum interpretations? Quantum entities simultaneously existing in all worlds possible and at all times possible and by the measurement of an observable one of the superposed states decoheres? A particular eigenstate with its associated eigenvalue instantiates into a world state? unravelling

But what about the Schrödinger equation? Is that so significant? Bringing forth the thought that entered my mind often enough, that maths is a tool to stretch the human mind imagination. To break through a deadlock. And once this is done, to stay aside and let the imagination create. It is not the Schrödinger equation that decides to make a sudden jump. Its job is to set the stage for further thoughts to unravel. Trying to explain how the tool works would not provide new insights, new ways to conceive a phenomenon, new concepts. You can not explain a phenomenon with a tool. This over-reliance in maths and equations and rigorous solutions bears unyielding fruits. Moreover, as it is contained in the phrase 'the usually linear time-evolution', usually and not at all cases point towards the end of its usefulness in unraveling further the phenomenon.