The Earth and Cannonballs

The earth actually completes a rotation in less than 24 hours!  It's part of what I learned a couple nights ago.

I read the other night that Tycho Brahe didn't think the earth could be rotating because if it did, a cannonball fired in the direction of the earth's orbit should go further than one fired in the opposite direction - but it doesn't.

First of all, I was confused with Brahe's confusion.  If I were going to be confused about why cannonballs don't travel further fired in one direction, I would have been thinking the one fired in the opposite direction of the earth's rotation would have travelled further.  However, I spent some time a while back thinking about Galilean relativity, so I was able to understand why there is no difference between the cannonballs being fired in these directions whether or not the earth is rotating.

As is often the case with these types of things, there is a group who does not believe the earth rotates.  I stumbled onto this site: http://www.atlanteanconspiracy.com/2011/11/earth-is-not-moving.html  Google "the earth is not moving" and you get all sorts of fun. Most of us believe the genuineness of videos seen from space which show the earth is spinning...nope...conspiracy. 

While I can shrug off this skepticism as likely nonsense, I was curious.  If there is no physical differences between the ideas of the earth moving around the sun or the sun moving around the earth, how do we know the earth is moving? I had to spend most the day pondering that and did some research on it.  What a fun time. 

I learned about Foucault's pendulum.  Cool experiment that is.  I've seen it in the science museum before, but I never understood it. That big swinging ball hanging from the ceiling that eventually knocks over dominoes if you have the patience to watch it happen.  This thing actually performs differently at different latitudes.  On the equator, the pendulum has no change, at the poles it spins completely in 24 hours.

It also turns out there is a difference in the direction of cannonballs being fired North and South (assuming they were fired far enough for a difference to be noticed - which wasn't possible during Brahe's time).  This idea is called the Coriolis effect.  Paths veer right or left (from our perspective) depending on whether we do this in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere.  This is even seen in the direction of the rotation in storm systems of earth.  Pretty cool stuff.

I also learned about the difference between a solar day and a sidereal day.  It turns out the earth actually spins on its axis in 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds.  However, it takes another 4 minutes for the sun to return to the same spot in the sky it was the day before.  This is because we've moved on the earth's orbit a bit in that time period.  This website has a good explanation of that: http://howdoweknow.org/index/twodaytypes.txt  I found that very interesting.

So, some fun stuff I thought I'd pass along.

The Power of Ignorance

This is my son's first year in baseball.  The league he's playing in is associated with the city and is designed to prepare him for playing baseball in a school.  The kids are learning and having fun, but - as often is the case - some parents take things a bit more seriously.

A few games ago, the opposing team had a runner on second.  There was a ground ball, so the runner on second base took off for third.  When he was about ten feet away from the base, our third basemen stepped right in his path, blocking him from getting to third.  The umpire missed it and called the runner out when the ball finally made it to third base.  The opposing team's coach kept saying - correctly - the third basemen cannot block the runner's path.  A big discussion started among the coaches about what happened.  A parent a few seats away from me went into a tirade.  She began screaming at the other team's coach, "This is baseball!"  It was obvious she had no idea what she was talking about.  She was ignorant of the rules, but passionately felt the runner should be out, and was confidently obnoxious in expressing her conclusions.  For the informed, we were embarrassed for her.

Betrand Russell said, "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."

Some people haven't had the experience of being an expert in an area and then receive obstinate criticism from a novice.

Yesterday, Tiger Woods made a very impressive chip on the 16th hole in the Memorial Tournament (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYLNLdHz_A8).  Jack Nicklaus raved, "It's the most gutsy shot that I've ever seen."  He continued later, "Under the circumstances, I don't think I've ever seen a better shot."  A non-golfer may watch that shot and think Nicklaus is ridiculous or at the least being overly dramatic.  The shot was only a handful of yards away and went in the hole...big deal.  It's when a person becomes educated regarding the details that they begin to have some appreciation regarding Jack's statement: the way the ball was sitting in the grass, the direction the grass was facing, the slant of the green, the wind, the impact of a full stroke, the pressure of the situation, etc.  Even when a novice learns of these things, his lack of experience may still leave him not nearly as convinced as the expert who understands how this mix of circumstances impacts the situation.  But a non-golfer seasoned with humility might at least be able to confess, "My ignorance leaves me unimpressed, but since the experts are so thrilled, I'm almost certainly missing the significance."  And if they're interested, they may begin to ask questions to try to understand the topic a bit better.

As an expert No-limit Hold'em player, I've often had the experience of a casual poker player instructing me on how a hand should have been played.  As they begin to justify their thinking, I realize they don't even know how to begin thinking about the game.  They don't even know what they don't know.  Ignorance is powerful.

But why are the intelligent often full of doubt?  It's because they realize the complications involved and it drives them to uncertainty - or at least an appreciation of other experts in the field who may disagree with them.

A few weeks ago, I was reading about a philosopher from the 1800s, Auguste Comte.  He was trying to think of an example of knowledge that would always be hidden.  He decided the composition of the distant stars and planet would be a good example.  One hundred years later, the scientific community using the tool of astronomical spectroscopy would look back on his statement as another example of the power of the position of ignorance.  Science had discovered a method Auguste couldn't have even imagined.  Sometimes we lack the knowledge to even begin imagining a way we may gain knowledge.

To me, the power of ignorance highlights the absurdity of a permanent agnosticism on any topic.  In other words, a statement like "We'll never be able to know that" may always be arguing from ignorance.

Three Strikes Against Humanity

This evening I finished watching a debate on evolution vs. intelligent design.  The lively debate featured many of the heavy hitters in the discussion; I thoroughly enjoyed it.  For those interested in that particular discussion, you can find the first of eight parts here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT3NZTGCtrI&feature=related.

As I often do when watching debates, I imagine I'm arguing against each speaker.  In this particular debate, I was thankful I wasn't arguing against any of the speakers.  All of them seemed highly intelligent and incredibly educated on the topic.  I thought how I'd just have to sit and listen to each one and rather helplessly ask questions from time to time.  In the end, it can only come down to what evidence I find most compelling.  When I've made a decision on a given side of the argument, the opposition may pepper me with questions I can't answer, but I'd be left with only, "Well, I found this idea and/or fact more compelling."  There's little anyone can do to impact a person's sense of what they find compelling when they're making a decision to give or withhold assent to a proposition.  And to that end, it's a bit discouraging because it seems to me we have three strikes against us.

1. We have a laundry list of cognitive biases, ingrained heuristics, and social and emotional barriers that impede us from fairly and logically weighing and analyzing data.

2. Even if we can get the data input straight, our logical abilities have much to be desired.  We're not nearly as logically skilled as we like to think we are.

3. Even when we get the conclusion wrong, we find a way to make the observations and/or results fit our conclusions.

To me, this slows me down to making quick conclusions, makes me want to be sure to include the involvement of other people in an evaluation, and creates a more understanding, tolerant response when someone else simply disagrees with me.  When someone is not convinced after the data is presented, I'm not sure there's much left to be done save to strive to treat everyone involved with respect.  The occasion will surely arise - as it often does for me - when I represent the side who's been shown the evidence and is not convinced.

Science and Our Lives

"Take a left on Exit 765," says the voice on your cell phone.  "The airport is on your left."  You give your spouse a quick video call on your phone; you both smile at one another from 50 miles away and end the call.  You enter the elevator and head up to the terminal floor.  You check in by scanning your credit card and driver's license, head through security, and make your way to your gate.  You're right on time and board your flight.  You sit back, enjoy the smooth take off  and as the plane breaks over the clouds, you take out your iPad, slide your finger across it to find a good ebook and plug in your head phones to tune out the rest of the world.

Science has impacted our lives in a way that humans from just a hundred years ago could not have even imagined.  For those humans who live in a technologically advanced country, virtually every minute of their lives is impacted by scientific expansion.  In spite of this, there seems to be a large gap between  the technology a person uses and that person's knowledge of the history and underlying concepts of that technology.  It seems the average person's understanding of scientific progress is on par with the discoveries from at least several hundred years ago.

How many of us could begin to explain how a GPS system really works?  How the engine in your vehicle works?  How does your voice and image instantly make it to your spouse's handheld device?  What's going on in that elevator when you press those buttons?  How does that airport scanner find your ticket information?  How did that secure x-ray machine help keep you safe?  How does that plane actually get off the ground?  How does that iPad really work?  How does that sound travel to your ears through a wire?

For most of us, these questions leave us shrugging our shoulders.  More often than not, we don't give any of these questions a second of thought.  We simply expect the technology to work.  We get frustrated if the GPS takes us on a longer route.  We're agitated if the video call has a two second delay between the display and sound.  And heaven forbid the elevator should stop between floors!  To top it off, while understanding nothing of the process, we casually lean back in our seats while we're being shot through the air at 500 miles per hour 30,000 feet off the ground.

                

This gap between our understanding of and participation in scientific advancement is progressively growing.  The number of scientific fields and the pace at which each field is making break-through discoveries is overwhelming.  It's nearly impossible to keep up with it all.

It seems to me, for some people this breach of understanding seems to encourage cynicism towards current scientific discoveries and endeavors.  "How could they possibly know that?"  "They've been wrong so many times before about other things."  "They're just after money."  "It's simply not worth spending the money on this research."  Lately, these types of cynical statements often target fields like medicine, biology, and cosmology.

While entrusting every minute of our lives to the scientific philosophy and the past accomplishments of the scientific community, when scientific conclusions challenge other ideas we hold dear or tap into our fears and insecurities, our default often seems to be a rejection of those conclusions.  I'm not advocating we simply swallow anything that comes from some scientist, but it does seem to me a person in today's world should find themselves embracing the scientific philosophy and giving the conclusions of the scientific community the benefit of the doubt.

Further, many in today's community want to stifle scientific endeavors because of the associated costs.  However, many - if not most - of the discoveries that paved the way for the lifestyle we live today were simply stumbled upon as a result of scientific curiosity; someone pursuing knowledge only for the sake of it. 

                

Here's to encouraging each of us to add a science book to our virtual shelves now and then to get a better understanding and appreciation of how science has brought us to where we are today.  And here's to hoping this culture continues to support scientific advancements to help bring us to a brighter tomorrow.

                

My World is Shattered

Ostriches DON'T bury their heads in the sand when they're scared.

Opossums DON'T hang by their tails.

Touching a frog or toad WON'T give you warts.

Mother birds WON'T reject their babies if they've been touched by humans.

What's this world coming to?

A Quest for Truth

I had to pause the other day,  staring at the phrase "quest for truth".  What did that quest look like to me? 

I see the quest as boundless; the joy being in the voyage while exercising the freedom to peruse any path I find interesting.  Learning -  if for no other reason than for the sake of it.

At the tail end of a debate, Christopher Hitchens closed with the most inspiring speech I've ever heard.

"...that the discussion about what is good, what is beautiful, what is noble, what is pure, and what is true, could always go on.  Why is that important?  Why would I like to do that?  Because that’s the only conversation worth having.  And whether it goes on or not after I die, I don’t know.  But, I do know it’s the conversation I want to have while I’m still alive.  Which means that to me the offer of certainty, the offer of complete security, the offer of an impermeable faith that can’t give way, is an offer of something not worth having.  I want to live my life taking the risk all the time that I don’t know anything like enough yet.  That I haven’t done a spit enough.  That I can’t know enough.  That I’m always hungrily operating on the margins of a potentially great harvest of future knowledge and wisdom.  I wouldn’t have it any other way... Take the risk of thinking for yourself.  Much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way."

It would have to be a pretty large tombstone, but I'll take that as my epitaph.  

The Ashkenazi Jews

I just finished a book called The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution.  It was a fascinating read, and I recommend it if you're into learning about that sort of stuff.

One part I found particularly interesting was a section on the Ashkenazi Jews.  This is a group of Jews who lived in the Rhineland.  Ashkenazi is the Hebrew word for Germany.  To highlight the intellectual prominence of the Ashkenazim, authors Cochran and Harpending note the following:

"Jewish intellectual prominence is striking.  As we have said, Ashkenazi Jews are vastly overrepresented in science.  Their numbers among prominent scientists are roughly ten times greater than you'd expect from their share of the population in the United States and Europe.  Over the past two generations they have won more than a quarter of all Nobel science prizes, although they make up less than on-six-hundredth of the world's population.  Although they represent less than 3 percent of the U.S. population, they won 27 percent of the U.S. Nobel Prizes in science during that period and 25 percent of the A.M. Turing Awards (given annually by the Association for computing Machinery).  Ashkenazi Jews account for half of twentieth-century world chess champions.  American Jews are also overrepresented in other areas, such as business (where they account for about a fifth of CEOs) and academia (where they make up about 22 percent of Ivy League students)."

Picking out a few other pieces of data from the book, the average IQ of this ethnic group is 112-115, which is about 3/4 of a standard deviation above the European mean of 100.  This difference has a strong impact on the number of people with extremely high IQs.  The disparity has produced personalities like Albert Einstein, John von Neumann, Richard Feynman, Julian Schwinger, Murray Gell-Mann, Ed Witten, and Grigori Perelman.  (That last name is a fun one to Google.  The dude proved a 100-year old math problem and then decline both The Fields Medal as well as a one-million dollar reward.)

While they warn the idea is controversial, they contend the difference in this group is biological as a result of natural selection on intelligence.  There are several interesting pieces in place which make the situation unique.  Among them was the groups role in cognitively demanding occupations.  Their surroundings - like the Christians refusing to offer usury - threw them in these roles (specifically financing).  Another factor was the Ashkenazi's endogamy.  This practice kept the genetic mix inside their group.

Adding weight to this thesis is specific genetic diseases extremely prevalent among their numbers.  Tay-Sachs and Gaucher's disease are among these.  A few of these genetic mutations, including Tay-Sachs, are the only known disease alleles that increase neural connections.

Of course, their case is more involved than the pieces I've mentioned.  If you find it interesting, I'll let you experience the pleasure of reading the book yourself.  Other topics in the book include eye colors, lactose tolerance, affects of agriculture, how disease resistance and vulnerability shaped the way the world was conquered, and more.