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Symmetry
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
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And to ensure I sleep tonight I'll muse for a bit upon symmetry. Symmetry refers the ability of an object to be bisected or divided in such a manner that each half (or fraction) represents a mirror image of the other half (or portion). Nature abounds with examples of symmetry, think leaves, pine trees, fish, animals, people. Most of these living examples demonstrate a bilateral symmetry - which means that symmetry exists on only one axis. IE There is only one way to cut me in half and have the two halves resemble one another.
Curious note, we are evolutionarily designed to seek out people with a high degree of symmetry. Biologists use symmetry to assess the attractiveness of animals. People unconsciously are drawn to partners with more symmetrical features. Symmetry can often be an indicator of good or bad health (higher symmetry indicates better health). But not TOO symmetrical, a person who's left half was perfectly symmetrical with his right would look odd.
But there are other types of symmetry as well. For example, think rock crystals - they exhibit symmetry, but on several axis. This is referred to as Multi-lateral symmetry. Or think of music, where the symmetry isn't in space, but in time. Artists, Architects and Painters will use symmetry to create spaces beyond what they're working on - the mind will fill in the rest, provided the composition has lead it in the right direction. And there is supersymmetry as well. In fact, this entire blog could be filled with examples of symmetries in nature, mathematics, physics, every branch of science, art and understanding.
And symmetry is observed to the farthest reaches of the universe in the structure of the galaxies, and to the minutest observed particles and quarks. It characterizes the "spooky action at a distance " by which quantum particles demonstrate their entanglement.
So, what then would be the general rule? What would an assymetrical universe look like? And when is assymetry beautiful?
Analogue or Digital?
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
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Pursuing those questions that keep my up at night (or keep me occupied when I'm up at night) - Is the universe, at it's most fundamental level, Analogue or Digital?
By which I mean, if the universe is analogue there are infinite subdivisions that can be applied to it - colors, heat, mass, all can be measured more and more precisely without hope of ever coming to an end. There is, then, an infinite possiblity of nuance, and the universe would then have to be considered to be a wave - or a complex pattern or interference of waves.
However, if the universe is digital everything at some fundamental level can be measured exactly, and that's the bottom of it. The mechanics of this in physics are known as "Quantum", however it should be noted that they have subdivided the atom into 6 varieties of quarks, and there are even more subdivisions that go farther still. So "Quantum Mechanics" describes a level of physics, but an intermediate level (albeit very small) between other levels that use waves to describe their properties.
Light is both a particle and a wave - see Wikipedia yet again for clarification. This explanation, however, while pandering to both possibilities raises more questions than it answers. If you've read the Wiki you'll understand.
Then there is always the possibility that the question is invalid - it is, after all, the universe, and there may be more than these 3 possibilities...
Truth and Lies
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
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Awake and now caffeinated, todays question (one of many I distracted myself with, not falling asleep) was how lies can be used to express truth. This is the job of every writer, to tell a story, possibly fictional, but beneath the characters, plot and location capture something essential and true; artists, painters and musicians all do the same, hide the truth within a lie, we, the audience, will find it, pick it out, if there is truth it will resonate with us, if it is false the art will not survive. And in time the lie evolves.
And this is true as well with mathematics and the sciences - think of negative numbers: they do not exist. It is that simple, yet without negative numbers we could not have the banking system (not necessarily a bad thing), debt could not exist, it is a theory or thought construct that allows us to move and grow in different directions. But a bank is but a trivial application of this idea, think of the computer software, advanced math and physics that all use negative numbers, without their supposed existence (the lie) we could not have gotten into space or to the moon.
God is another such example. I don't mean "God" - here, the big G, but those specific cultural gods, think of the early Christian God, wrathful, angry, proud, human, yet upon him was built the Cistine Chapel, Notre Dame of Paris, St. Pauls Cathedral, libraries of music were composed in his honor, countless books, paintings, sculptures were created to celebrate his glory. Every religion has done the same, from a lie built truth.
Or Physics and Chemistry - the models we are taught in school, the periodic table of elements, all are lies. We have no photo's of the atom, our knowledge of it is entirely inferred, the models we use are props to help us imagine their existence, yet these models and thought structures allow us to manipulate chemical structures, create plastics, fuels, the list is endless...
Find other examples - in politics - in philosophy - anywhere you can - of lies that have been used to create truth.
Over time these lies evolve, they reach the end of their usefulness, the early Christian God has been thrown out of science in favour of chemistry and physics, and these things will in time as well be thrown as well, the lies having reached the end of their purpose and new ones will emerge to move us forward.
Which brings the question:
What new lies can we tell that will move us personally, or as a society, forward?
Insomnia
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Dreams
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5:00 AM and I have laid awake the past 2 hours, woken at 3:00 AM suddenly, awake, restless. No dreams that I can recall, but a sense of urgency, a missed connection, a premonition. I check my email, there is nothing, outside it's raining, cool, leaves turning to mulch on the lawn, the streets glisten...I've left the windows on the car open...
My premonitions are rare, but seldom wrong, I am more logic than instinct, but I heed the voice, it's a beautiful morning, a cigarette, one of many final cigarettes while I gather my thoughts.
And so I return to bed, wondering what compelled me to get up, trying again to fall asleep. I should know better, there is a reason for my waking even if I do not see it, and so I try to hide the little problem of my waking beneath the bigger problems, the big questions...
I muse upon the lies that create truth, symmetry, and other trifles, but none lead me to sleep. I wonder at the demons that have cropped up lately in my dreams, not being religious I wonder where they have come from... There was another demon recently, a short dream, a short demon, he merely entered the room, following somebody else but, I was busy, watching a mozza melt on a veggie burger I was making, waiting, it would be ready soon. I was hungry, the demon left.
Now, a pot of coffee and the day begins. There is work to be done, I need a shovel and rake, the compost needs to be placed outside and raked into the garden, twigs need to be gathered, websites built... there is work to be done.
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