Comments

  • Chaos Magic
    If there's virtue here, it's not in eschewing choice or convenience, but in (a) looking and (b) holding your beliefs as open to revisionSrap Tasmaner

    :up: In a nutshell.
  • Introducing Karen Barad’s New Materialism
    I continue to look into New Materialism as it affects math or physics teaching. Here is an excerpt from the Article

    Multimodality and New Materialism in Science
    Learning: Exploring Insights from an Introductory
    Physics Lesson
    by Marshall and Conana

    A multimodal social semiotics perspective to science teaching and learning considers
    the language of science a cultural tool for meaning-making, where the mode used to
    inscribe the scientific ideas produces the intended meanings for the meaning-maker
    (Kress et al. 2001). Within the field of physics education, social semiotics perspectives
    have productively been used to examine student learning. Here, physics learning is
    viewed as “becoming fluent in a critical constellation” of modes (Airey and Linder
    2009, 27). Each mode (speech, graph, diagram, mathematics, gesture) can be seen to
    have different affordances, and meaning-making can be viewed as the effect of all these
    modes acting jointly. Volkwyn et al. (2019), drawing on Bezemer and Kress (2008),
    describe the movement from one mode to another as “transduction”. Studies show that
    a multimodal conceptualisation of science teaching enables students to better access the
    semiotic resources needed for successful learning of science (Airey and Simpson 2019).

    I'm seeing only a description of common teaching practices from a different POV.
  • Introducing Karen Barad’s New Materialism
    Still trying to see if there is any meat on this bone, I find

    A STRUCTURAL THEORY OF EVERYTHING
    Brian D. Josephson
    Mind–Matter Unification Project,
    Cavendish Laboratory, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE

    The realist position differs from the usual one adopted in quantum mechanics in that it attempts to describe what actually happens in the case of individual events, rather than simply computing averages. The difference is apparent in the case of a typical high-energy physics experiment in which large numbers of individual events are observed. Quantum theory addresses only statistical averages, whereas one can imagine instead a theory that can describe what happens individual events. In confining oneself to statistics as is the norm, one may be missing crucial information, as would indeed
    happen in sciences such as astronomy. This would clearly be the case in astronomy, where for
    example a statistical approach to meteor showers would fail to note the occasional peaks in
    intensity.

    On the other hand, Physics Stack Exchange tries to avoid even discussing agential realism in that science. It seems to have status similar to many-worlds speculations. That is to say nothing has come of it in actual physics.

    I welcome any thoughts to the contrary.
  • Introducing Karen Barad’s New Materialism


    Postmodern quantum mechanics rejects the quasi-theological fundamentalism governing much of recent high-energy physics . . .

    I tried reading the 1993 paper describing this shift in thinking, but only came away with the idea of using semi-classical methods of approximation to unravel chaos. Supposedly, Barad extends ideas of Bohr into other aspects of physics. I didn't get far. A physicist might explain how this relates to agential realism. That is, if there are any physicists who entertain this concept.

    As to Barad's approach to teaching math, I assume it boils down to engaging students in Woke causes mathematically. But I could be wrong. If so, I welcome illumination.
  • Introducing Karen Barad’s New Materialism
    Intra-action seems interwoven with Science studies and I suppose the teaching of math would necessarily be in the context of societal effects, etc. This might overlap or be similar to Waldorf education.

    I have a good friend who years ago helped bring Spacial dynamics to the teaching realm. The teaching of math then becomes more a physical process than a purely mental one.

    Otherwise I don't see where agential realism goes. It appears to me be more societal oriented, with emphasis of feminist related issues.
  • Introducing Karen Barad’s New Materialism
    I was curious about Barad's philosophy of mathematics. It seems she (they) was influenced by Oresme and Leibniz from centuries ago. But I am fuzzy about "intra-action" in that environment. Another source talks of a math learner "enter(ing) a material process of becoming".


    From Wiki (Nicole Oresme):

    To Oresme, an object moves, but it is not a moving object. Once an object begins movement through the three dimensions it has a new “modus rei” or “way of being,” which should only be described through the perspective of the moving object, rather than a distinct point.

    I'm wondering if a definition or theorem only "comes alive" if it is involved in a process in mathematical thought.
  • Density and Infinity
    Well, when we explore space, we don't see any Boltzmann brainsRogueAI

    Cosmology at its best. A PhD thesis could be written on this observation. :roll:
  • What Are You Watching Right Now?
    Just saw Oppenheimer. Nolan is representative of the times— the “auteur” of plebs.Mikie

    I haven't seen it yet, but I really enjoyed the WGN production of the series Manhattan several years ago.
  • What do we know absolutely?
    Within certain systems of thought, rigorously defined, there are absolutes. Mathematics, for instance. In general it's best to avoid any such perspective. Except death and taxes.
  • The awareness of time
    Leibniz v Newton is still a topic in history of ideas and physics, to do with their competing understandings of time.Wayfarer

    True, though relativity came along.

    A far more relevant and interesting conflict of ideas of time is Einstein vs Bergson.
  • Relative vs absolute
    Maths in its casual absolutism can provide pragmatic models of reality. But here you would need to start to think about how reality itself might be more deeply describedapokrisis

    No need to start thinking about the obvious. Thanks for the reminder. :smile:
  • The awareness of time
    Yes but the dispute over whether it was Newton or Liebniz [Leibniz] who came up with calculus is the part you will hear about outside mathematics class.Wayfarer

    Important at the time, virtual trivia now. Possibly a subject for philosophers to entertain. :smile:
  • Relative vs absolute
    Why is differentiation reciprocal to integration?apokrisis

    You've got to be kidding. Reciprocal?

    The real world of natural processes is pretty fractal, ain't it? Mountains, coastlines, rivers, earthquakesapokrisis

    In a very rough sense of the word. Not mathematically. No coastline is patterned the same upon closer and closer examination.

    A coastline is irregular over every scale of observation because it is a dynamical balance between smoothness and roughness. Or "integration and differentiation".apokrisis

    Irregularity is a long way from fractal. Smoothness and roughness is comparable to integration and differentiation? :roll:

    But maybe the Cosmos just ain't a computation as maths would like to demand, and instead dynamical balanceapokrisis

    No reason to assert that "dynamical balance" is not mathematical.
  • Relative vs absolute
    I know, not quite what you mean. :cool: — jgill

    But note how fractals neatly express the intermediate case between the continuous and the discrete.
    apokrisis

    Don't need fractals. There is no intermediate case. The continuous is the limit of the discrete.The limit definition of the common integral does the job. And when I write a computer program to obtain the image of a contour in the complex plane I choose a value of N and plot N points, then increase N to get a better image until reaching the limitations of my computer.
  • The awareness of time
    Leibniz came up with the idea, — jgill

    Wasn’t that contested by Newton?
    Wayfarer

    Both were eclipsed by Weierstrass and Cauchy with their formalization of limits. :cool:

    Non-standard analysis was formalized in the last century - it uses infinitesimals - but is rarely taught these days. A friend who was in the math department at CU Boulder told me they experimented with it one term, but for whatever reasons it was not successful.
  • A List of Intense Annoyances
    Driving down a two lane one direction street when two bicycle lanes appear, sending you into a single lane. No matter how often you drive this street you never see a bicyclist.
  • It's Amazing That These People Are Still With Us
    But these people started so young and got so famous so quickly that it’s as if they’ve been in the background since the 1880s.Mikie

    ?
  • Consequentialism: Flagellation Required
    Dit que le mieux est l'ennemi du bien
  • Relative vs absolute
    In reality, nothing could be absolutely continuous as it would indeed just break the yardstickapokrisis

    Absolute continuity

    I know, not quite what you mean. :cool:
  • The awareness of time
    But doesn't infinitesimal mean exceedingly small?Alkis Piskas

    I've always thought of infinitesimals as part of the metaphysics of mathematics. They don't really exist in normal arithmetic, but have a mathematical description that allows them to be used in calculus, say. Leibniz came up with the idea, then a bit later the limit definitions took over.

    Infinitesimal

    They have no Euclidean dimension (except for position).
  • The awareness of time
    The same applies to "a period of tme" or "interval of time". They are all self-referential expressions. I know these expressions are commonly used. But better avoid this, at least in this place, isn't that right?Alkis Piskas

    Yes, by all means.


    That would require an instant of zero-length. Which is absurd of course. So, we have to set a length for an instant, however small that may be. Which makes "present" a relative thing.Alkis Piskas

    In physics and math the word instant means instantaneous or infinitesimal - having no length or duration. However, in common usage it can mean a tiny interval. Planck time is the limit of measurability and does not necessarily imply the smallest possible time interval.
  • The awareness of time
    Time does not actually exist.Alkis Piskas

    A bit convoluted. To exist possibly means to persist through a duration of time. Can something exist in only an instant of time? The blink of an eye, then gone? Could we detect such an occurrence?
  • The awareness of time
    It seems to me, that any notion of a personal 'awareness of time,' must be perceived with a description of expansion/inflation/ relative reference frames, such as Victors in mind. 'It's all relative.'universeness

    :up: Toth is a fine expositor. So are Muller and Fernee.
  • The awareness of time
    Perhaps the concept of time only makes sense in the context of awareness.Pantagruel

    Not really. You fall asleep and awaken in the blink of an eye, finding that an hour has past and the world has moved on.

    If time measures change, or gives change substance, it is a bit strange that the metrics in special relativity allow for a change of spacetime when there is no change of position in space.
  • Why should we talk about the history of ideas?
    How does one respond to babble with a question mark at its end?
  • How Does Language Map onto the World?
    .
    Metaphysics makes the guesses. Science checks them out — apokrisis

    If it can. So far the Measurement Problem and String theory are left dangling in a scientific void. My take is that metaphysics in this regard is more scientific speculation.
    jgill

    Where is measuring a practical problem?apokrisis

    Where is metaphysics making the guesses here? Was it metaphysics that presented string theory? Or perhaps simply a result of scientific speculation? Metaphysics seems to have entered the arena of speculative thought with various interpretations of quantum theory. Oh wait, those were actual physicists. Science hasn't done a very good job of checking them out IMO.
  • How Does Language Map onto the World?
    Metaphysics makes the guesses. Science checks them outapokrisis

    If it can. So far the Measurement Problem and String theory are left dangling in a scientific void. My take is that metaphysics in this regard is more scientific speculation.

    Just like philosophy PhDs are sold as a route to Wall Street – critical thinkers able to break out of the box!apokrisis

    bingChat could not find evidence to support the notion that Wall street in fact hires philosophy PhDs. Maybe they do.

    What? You want personal enlightenment for free? Go climb a mountain!apokrisis

    Not at $36,000 for being hauled up Mt Everest. The less expensive climbs take their tolls in different ways. My back and shoulders testify to that.

    . . . and if institutions of learning did not have such a tendency to exclude conjectures which are perceived to be outside the currently accepted orthodoxyJanus

    I spent many years in such institutions and did not observe this institutional trait. But I was not in the humanities where the lines between fictional and real may be blurred.
  • How Does Language Map onto the World?
    Is human philosophy 'constrained' to serve the particular groups of humans who cocreate it on some group level or some genetic level ? Is there a necessary philosophy ?plaque flag

    As a person with math background you might ask this question of that discipline as well. Every day about 80 articles are submitted to ArXiv.org . There are probably tens of thousands of articles published that are read by less than five people and have not garnered enough support to move the needle of mathematical desire.

    To this extent most mathematics and philosophy have little to no effect on the twists and turns of civilization. But there is a kind of satisfaction to the individual producing their product.
  • Anyone in the forum get an appendectomy?
    Anyone else experience that?TiredThinker

    Mine was removed in 1949. No aftereffects I know of.
  • How Does Language Map onto the World?
    I'm trying to find the simplest words for what I see as the issueplaque flag

    Your mathematics background shining through. :cool:
  • Why should we talk about the history of ideas?
    But it's a fact that the practice of philosophy does not much resemble the practice of science.Srap Tasmaner

    An understatement of impressive magnitude.


    There will be debate, and some new tests to replicate the date, but eventually everyone will agree to reshuffle our understanding of the populating of the Americas. Nothing like this is even conceivable in philosophy.Srap Tasmaner

    Scientists seek truth, while philosophers argue the definition of truth. Interesting interplay.
  • "All reporting is biased"
    Unbiased reporting raises no hackles and is considered too bland. It's all about confirmation bias these days. A couple of years ago I thought NPR was even minded - then they began supporting wokeness and the 1619 Project. Some here may think that is no argument against unbiased reporting, but it is, just to the left and not the right.

    Disinformation, whether from the media or social sites, is the number one threat to this nation.
  • On knowing
    But it goes further still: to speak at all, to have a thought and draw a conclusion or affirm a conditional or negation is inherently affective. the point I make here is that it is these analytical conditions, which are typical in everyday living, tend to reify the categorical analyses, reducing the world to its own abstract image. The actuality, intuitive givenness of things, if you will, of putting the eyes to the computer screen, . . .Astrophel

    You write well, very impressive. More so if I were to understand what you say. But then as a mathematician I can not skillfully put into words the sensation of "knowing" when a theorem's proof resonates with me. :chin:
  • On knowing
    Science hypostatizes this quantifying dimension of reason, and gives us a picture of truth as factual truth, and facts are quantifiable and abide by the law of excluded middle, and do not bear the fluidity of actuality we see in desire, love, pleasure, hate, despair, boredom and the rest. This is THE existential complaint.Astrophel

    Were you a scientist or mathematician you might realize the desires, loves, pleasures, etc. arising from the practice of the profession. To the contrary these experiences give meaning to one's life.

    But then all of this discussion falls by the wayside of actual physical experience. Go climbing.
  • "Beauty noise" , when art is too worked on
    whereas my example involves an infinite number of functions in the iteration process. — jgill

    What condition do you use to terminate your program?
    universeness

    The theory of convergence involves all the functions. In practice, on the computer, I simply specify N. Usually N=100 or 1000.
  • Addiction & Consumer Choice under Neoliberalism
    Outside the cities I doubt 65% want to move away from the private automobile. — jgill
    That’s nice. Unfortunately I prefer going by polling, not personal feelings
    Mikie

    bingChat:
    There is no specific data on the percentage of people in rural areas who would prefer public transportation. However, it is known that rural demographics make public transit increasingly desired. For example, older Americans make up a larger portion of rural populations (17 percent) than in urban populations (13 percent) and rural residents with disabilities rely on public transit- they take about 50 percent more public transit trips than unimpaired people do 1. Additionally, there are 2.9 million rural veterans, making up 33 percent of the veteran population enrolled in the VA health care system. Rural public transit can help them access needed services
  • Addiction & Consumer Choice under Neoliberalism
    68% want a public option; about 65% + favor public transit.Mikie

    Although public transportation is a high priority among Americans, only about 5% use it to commute to work. Outside the cities I doubt 65% want to move away from the private automobile.
  • "Beauty noise" , when art is too worked on


    When I think of fractals I think of the Mandelbrot Set, although the definition has gone far beyond that example and into normal everyday conversations to mean intricate patterns in the plane. Iteration is at the heart of the topic and that is a kind of recursion. The following illustrates the basic difference between a Mandelbrot set and what I do:


    , with complex variables.


    You go systematically across the complex -plane and paint the points where the composition function is well-behaved for a predetermined value of n, say n=1,000.

    For ,


    You go systematically across the complex plane and paint the points colors depending upon how large the composition function is at that point.

    There is no randomized factor in either case. Note that the Mandelbrot set is simple iteration at each point of the plane, whereas my example involves an infinite number of functions in the iteration process.

    However, the Chaos Game is another approach that includes randomness. Beyond my scope of knowledge.

    I use very simple BASIC programs I have written for the images of my examples.
  • Climate change denial
    A good thing can be overdone, losing its potency.
  • The Andromeda Paradox
    If we send two signals to the Mars Rover, spaced at exactly 10 seconds apart, does the Rover receive them in that same time spread?

    Yes, and if the two observer walking past each other simultaneously send signals to Andromeda, and then another signal a minute later, they'd get to Andromeda at the same time, and the second signal a minute later, separated by the time it takes light to go however far apart the guys got in that minute.
    noAxioms

    Of course.

    By the time the light reaches her, she's simply closer to it. She's been walking millions of years towards it already. Once Bill sees the decision happening, for Ann at that point, having walked at 5 m/s for all that time, the light reaching her then is 15 days later and the armada is already on its way.Benkei
    :roll: