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  1. <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/" xmlns:blogger="http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0" version="2.0"><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:12:47 +0000</lastBuildDate><category>philosophy of science</category><category>history of science</category><category>drug discovery</category><category>history of physics</category><category>Nobel Prize</category><category>books</category><category>chemistry</category><category>book review</category><category>nuclear weapons</category><category>physics</category><category>evolution</category><category>science</category><category>drug design</category><category>history of chemistry</category><category>molecular 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smell</category><category>vitalism</category><category>weinberg</category><category>women in science</category><category>world peace</category><category>ß2 AR</category><category>∆G</category><category>∆S</category><title>The Curious Wavefunction</title><description>Musings on science, history, philosophy and literature</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>1123</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-7202042292171902132</guid><pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2025 16:58:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2025-06-17T09:58:40.910-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">arms control</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Garwin</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">history of science</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">nuclear weapons</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">physics</category><title>Richard L. Garwin (1928-2025): Force of Nature</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYrIqYzPH7NDIYFJ4qnr8QyQHH4gbNqmapqBXb8tWNPClXThX6mmGuJhuGeNB2pRiJANUV_dUAvzaxcdf9nqWCKBRYCQoZwtTdBJES805dy59tBZer_pnTZxPgSqLYqrWuXUo7F7d2lpcXOLEjhx0oOcKynT1JLfU_eBKHAyu5e3cAT8wccbFAIQ/s2048/00garwin-01-print1-superJumbo.webp&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1499&quot; data-original-width=&quot;2048&quot; height=&quot;468&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYrIqYzPH7NDIYFJ4qnr8QyQHH4gbNqmapqBXb8tWNPClXThX6mmGuJhuGeNB2pRiJANUV_dUAvzaxcdf9nqWCKBRYCQoZwtTdBJES805dy59tBZer_pnTZxPgSqLYqrWuXUo7F7d2lpcXOLEjhx0oOcKynT1JLfU_eBKHAyu5e3cAT8wccbFAIQ/w640-h468/00garwin-01-print1-superJumbo.webp&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;There are physicists, and then there are physicists. There are engineers, and then there are engineers. There are government advisors, and then there are government advisors.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  2. &lt;p data-end=&quot;198&quot; data-start=&quot;161&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;And then there’s Dick Garwin.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  3. &lt;p data-end=&quot;237&quot; data-start=&quot;200&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Richard L. Garwin, who his friends and colleagues called Dick, has died at the age of 97. He was a man whose soul imbibed technical brilliance and whose life threaded the narrow corridor between Promethean power and principled restraint. A scientist of prodigious intellect and unyielding moral seriousness, his career spanned the detonations of the Cold War and the dimming of the Enlightenment spirit in American public life. He was, without fanfare or affectation, the quintessential citizen‑scientist—at once a master of equations and a steward of consequence. When you needed objective scientific advice on virtually any technological or defense‑related question, you asked Dick Garwin, even when you did not like the advice. Especially when you did not like it. And yet he was described as “the most influential scientist you have never heard of”, legendary in the world of physics and national security but virtually unknown outside it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  4. &lt;p data-end=&quot;276&quot; data-start=&quot;239&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;He was born in Cleveland in 1928 to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, and quickly distinguished himself as a student whose mind moved with the inexorable clarity of first principles. His father was an electronics technician and high school science teacher who moonlighted as a movie projectionist. As a young child Garwin was already taking things apart, with the promise of reassembling them. By the age of 21 he had earned his Ph.D. under Enrico Fermi, who—legend has it—once remarked that Garwin was the only true genius he had ever met. This was not idle flattery. After Fermi, Dick Garwin might be the closest thing we have had to a universal scientist who understood the applied workings of every branch of physics and technology. There was no system whose principles he did not comprehend, whether mechanical, electrical or thermodynamic, no machine that he could not fix, no calculation that fazed him. Just two years after getting his Ph.D., Garwin would design the first working hydrogen bomb, a device of unprecedented and appalling potency, whose test, dubbed “Ivy Mike,” would usher in a new and even graver chapter of the nuclear age.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  5. &lt;p data-end=&quot;315&quot; data-start=&quot;278&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Yet Garwin was never intoxicated by power. Because he thought the creation of the hydrogen bomb was driven by the exigencies of the age, he did not regret his work, but neither did he revel in it, seeking instead to control its worst excesses. For decades his contribution remained unknown, and he never bothered to update the record, saying that he could either get something done or get credit for it, but not both. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who leapt eagerly into the vortex of Cold War prestige and developed the braggadocio to go along with it, Garwin remained a paradoxical figure: at once the architect of supreme destructive force and one of its most persistent critics. He understood—perhaps more than any other scientist of his generation—that technical brilliance without ethical deliberation is merely efficiency in the service of catastrophe. He understood that his main job was to shoot down boondoggles and billion‑dollar bad ideas which were a defense department specialty. As perhaps the best example of how he saw his main function as offering stone‑cold sober advice based on the best technical analysis, he along with Hans Bethe pointed out fatal flaws with the Johnson administration’s ABM system and the Reagan administration’s SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative, derisively called Star Wars) system. As a member of Nixon’s science advisory council, he killed the proposal for a supersonic jetliner after citing noise pollution and structural concerns. In return the vindictive Nixon killed the science advisory council.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  6. &lt;p data-end=&quot;354&quot; data-start=&quot;317&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Garwin would advise every president from Truman to Obama, Republican and Democrat alike, offering a rare and vanishing example of a mind that could not be bought, flattered, or ideologically corralled. George W. Bush awarded him the National Medal of Science; Obama the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He advised Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, pushed for the Anti‑Ballistic Missile Treaty under Nixon, helped Obama deal with the Deep Horizon Oil Spill and warned, presciently, of the folly of weaponizing space. From submarines to space weapons, from missile defense to nuclear disarmament, from oil spills to solar power, there was no field in which Garwin was not an expert, often the preeminent expert. Long after his hydrogen bomb design became a grim historical footnote, his advocacy for arms control, transparency, and rational defense policy continued unabated—earnest, unfashionable, and, above all, indispensable. As the physicist Freeman Dyson who was one of his fellow technical experts put it, Garwin was a prime example of how one man with a backpack could beat an army of government bureaucrats, if only that man’s name was Dick Garwin.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  7. &lt;p data-end=&quot;393&quot; data-start=&quot;356&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;But to speak only of his role in the nuclear age is to risk caricature. Garwin’s genius was dazzlingly catholic. His parallel career at IBM mirrored some of the great technological innovations of our modern age. IBM prized him so highly that they allowed him to spend a third of his time doing classified government work on their dime. And their astute hiring decision paid off in spades. Garwin’s fingerprints are found in the design of gravitational wave detectors, in the refinement of MRI technology, in the development of GPS and satellite reconnaissance systems. He contributed to the understanding of superconductivity, to the design of the compact disc and the touch screen, to cryptography and to high‑energy physics – he narrowly missed the Nobel Prize for an experiment he conducted in his 20s to demonstrate what’s called parity violation in beta decay. And he did all this with a kind of quiet, omnidirectional intensity that shunned limelight but advanced civilization in tangible ways.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  8. &lt;p data-end=&quot;432&quot; data-start=&quot;395&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Garwin authored over 500 scientific papers, many of them marked not just by precision but by restraint—proposing solutions rather than pronouncements, elevating fact over flourish. He felt it his public responsibility to put almost the entire corpus of his unclassified work online at the Garwin Archive – more than 1600 pages of presentations, talks and technical analysis covering almost every defense‑related topic. If the academy in recent decades has become a theater of self‑display, Garwin belonged to an older order: one in which brilliance did not demand amplification, and integrity required no branding. As he said in a documentary made about him a few years ago, the preservation of our democracy was his lodestar; nothing else mattered if that goal could not be achieved.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  9. &lt;p data-end=&quot;471&quot; data-start=&quot;434&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Garwin kept on working, traveling, advising, relentlessly, until almost his last day. When he was 88 I had the privilege of having an email exchange with him about a project I was working on. My one‑paragraph question was answered with four paragraphs less than an hour after my message; characteristic of Dick, he also pointed me to technical tools that could aid my query. He sent me a touching obituary he had written of his wife of more than sixty‑five years, Lois, who had just died and who had been his pillar in supporting him and raising their three children.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  10. &lt;p data-end=&quot;512&quot; data-start=&quot;473&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;It is difficult not to view Garwin’s passing as something more than a personal loss. It is the departure of a type—perhaps the last of a type. A scientist who not only understood the arcana of physics, but who grasped the frailty of human institutions and the perils of unmediated power. A man who could, with equal ease, work out a thermonuclear cascade and dismantle a delusion in a Senate hearing room. That such a figure would exit the stage at a moment not just when the world sorely needs him but when the machinery of government not only disregards scientific counsel but actively spurns it – preferring instead the solipsistic comfort of invented facts fueled by ideological biases – renders his absence all the more acute. Garwin represented the moral and intellectual ballast that keeps a civilization grounded, and without which it begins to drift. There were a select few handful like him – Hans Bethe, Freeman Dyson, Sidney Drell. But he was the last. That we are now adrift makes his departure feel less like the close of a chapter than the dimming of the last light on the horizon. His life, to those who knew it, offers a retort to cynicism. In an age when expertise is increasingly sneered at, and when the distinction between persuasion and knowledge is recklessly blurred, Richard Garwin stood for the proposition that facts still matter, that thought must precede action, and that it is possible—however rarely—for brilliance to be in the service of restraint rather than abandon.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2025/06/richard-l-garwin-1928-2025-force-of.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYrIqYzPH7NDIYFJ4qnr8QyQHH4gbNqmapqBXb8tWNPClXThX6mmGuJhuGeNB2pRiJANUV_dUAvzaxcdf9nqWCKBRYCQoZwtTdBJES805dy59tBZer_pnTZxPgSqLYqrWuXUo7F7d2lpcXOLEjhx0oOcKynT1JLfU_eBKHAyu5e3cAT8wccbFAIQ/s72-w640-h468-c/00garwin-01-print1-superJumbo.webp" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-6317591464365737052</guid><pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2025 05:05:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2025-01-14T21:05:11.983-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">biotechnology</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">bioterrorism</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">chemical synthesis</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">chemical weapons</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cloud labs</category><title>Preventing misuse of chemistry cloud labs by bad actors</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-style: var(--artdeco-reset-typography-font-style-italic);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicWiq6cWD9KP-Pjs3igKfQgYLu49s2oH13p-V6nXI-b637uhINgnS8C20iG7-DvCGjK72AFvnhUU4sHAh-cB3RBZ4jklvIICBeiPJcWWbkDqPcQY4WZV14bY0B11wgdO1c4o324oTOIN3D-4V--aJiS4KNHWu-hWaKymUC7cWQz-jwZQWhqjBY4w&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;576&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1024&quot; height=&quot;180&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicWiq6cWD9KP-Pjs3igKfQgYLu49s2oH13p-V6nXI-b637uhINgnS8C20iG7-DvCGjK72AFvnhUU4sHAh-cB3RBZ4jklvIICBeiPJcWWbkDqPcQY4WZV14bY0B11wgdO1c4o324oTOIN3D-4V--aJiS4KNHWu-hWaKymUC7cWQz-jwZQWhqjBY4w&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: verdana; font-style: var(--artdeco-reset-typography-font-style-italic);&quot;&gt;Cloud labs promise to significantly accelerate synthesis and testing by lowering cost and technology barriers - for both good and bad actors. Potential strategies for preventing misuse are explored.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Automated chemical synthesis platforms, especially cloud-based labs which represent an exciting emerging frontier, represent a potentially revolutionary step forward in scientific research. They offer the potential to accelerate discovery in fields such as pharmaceuticals, materials science, and environmental chemistry by setting up and running experiments more intelligently. Most importantly, by abstracting away technical details like specific instrumentation and consumable types and dimensions, these cloud labs can truly democratize science by enabling scientists and students who lack capital and access to sophisticated equipment to run experiments remotely from their laptops.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;However, as with all powerful technologies, these platforms also present significant risks. A particular concern is the misuse of dual-use chemicals—chemical precursors that can be used for both legitimate scientific purposes and nefarious activities, such as creating illegal drugs, explosives, or chemical weapons. The lowering of barriers to the knowledge and capabilities needed to synthesize a chemical compound using a cloud lab concomitantly comes with the increased risk of relatively unsophisticated actors, both state and non-state, using such a system to make dangerous chemical agents.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;To mitigate these risks while enabling legitimate research, it is essential to implement a robust framework combining technological controls, human oversight, regulatory compliance, and ethical principles. On the technical side, there are two levels at which such control can be exerted - the supply chain level and the software layer level. Chemical vendors already have restrictions and controls in place for ordering legitimately hazardous or controlled substances.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;However, since many chemical precursors are benign by themselves and because the sheer scale enabled by cloud labs can make it unrealistic for vendors to have a foolproof system of control, there need to be checks and balances at the level of the software level as well. A particularly attractive feature of these checks and balances is that they involve identifying compounds by their SMILES strings or a variety of other cheminformatics formats - the kinds of chemical recognition that are now standard in every chemical database or modeling software.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;Cloud Labs in a Nutshell&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;A cloud lab is a software system for programmatically setting up and running experiments in a centralized or distributed remote facility, typically one that is heavily automated and enabled by robotic experimentation. Cloud labs are highly attractive for two reasons: first, because they can enable anyone without access to infrastructure to run experiments from their web browser at low cost; and second, because they can lower barriers to running experiments by only needing users to specify high-level experimental protocols while abstracting away low-level details like consumables (test tubes, vials etc.), specific instrumentation and other laboratory equipment. As such, cloud labs promise to revolutionize the practice of science by democratizing it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;The Problem of Dual-Use Chemicals&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Dual-use chemicals are substances that have legitimate scientific or industrial applications but can also be used to create harmful products. For example, chemicals used in pharmaceutical research might also serve as precursors for illegal narcotics, while industrial compounds could be weaponized to produce explosives or toxins. In fact, except for obvious examples like sarin whose illegal use is well-known, the very fact that almost any chemical reagent can be dual-use illustrates the nature of the problem.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The key challenge in managing dual-use chemicals is balancing accessibility and security. Scientists require access to these chemicals for critical research, yet misuse by malicious actors could have devastating consequences and could also put them out of reach of legitimate applications. A comprehensive strategy is required to prevent misuse while ensuring that legitimate researchers can continue their work unhindered. Several such strategies can be imagined.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;1. Tier-Based Access:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;To address the dual-use dilemma, one of the most effective strategies is implementing tier-based access based on the risk level associated with a particular chemical and the qualifications of the user. Chemicals can be classified into different tiers based on their potential for misuse.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Low-Risk Chemicals:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;Basic laboratory reagents and chemicals with low misuse potential can be made accessible to a wide range of users, such as students or early-career researchers. These could include, for instance, common solvents like methylene chloride, hexane and acetone.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-style: var(--artdeco-reset-typography-font-style-italic); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Moderate-Risk Chemicals:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;These substances may have some dual-use potential, but they are primarily used for industrial or pharmaceutical research. Access can be restricted to verified researchers who demonstrate legitimate scientific purposes. Examples of such compounds include ephedrine (which is regulated as Sudafed in pharmacies), toluene (a common lab solvent but also a precursor for TNT) and acetic anhydride (a common compound in the synthesis of drugs like aspirin but also used in heroin production).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-style: var(--artdeco-reset-typography-font-style-italic); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;H&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;igh-Risk Chemicals:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;Chemicals with significant misuse potential, such as explosives or nerve gas precursors, should be accessible only to highly regulated users, such as defense contractors or government agencies, under strict oversight. Examples of these would be potassium chlorate (used as an oxidizer but also as an explosive additive), hydrogen cyanide (used as a reagent in synthesis but is very toxic) and chlorine gas (used in water purification and as a disinfectant but can be - and was - used as a chemical warfare agent).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;This tiered system allows for granular control, ensuring that only qualified individuals with appropriate credentials can access high-risk chemicals. For instance, while a defense or aerospace contractor might have a legitimate use for potassium chlorate or red fuming nitric acid (RFNA), a pharmaceutical company or small startup asking for large quantities of the same substances in synthesis might raise red flags. At the software level, this granular control would translate into the right permissions model, something that modern software systems already do quite well.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-weight: var(--artdeco-reset-typography-font-weight-bold);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;2. Quantity Monitoring:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;A key strategy for preventing the misuse of dual-use chemicals is implementing strict quantity limitations; a chemical that might be fine in small quantities would raise questions if purchased in larger quantities. For instance, using a few hundred milliliters of toluene in a chemical synthesis might be legitimate, but if a synthesis starts requiring several liters of the material, it would be reasonable for the software to trigger a request for information (RFI), asking the users to justify their purchase. The quantities of chemicals used would also need to be tracked across time, since bad actors would try to get around the limitations by adding up small quantities purchased over long periods (for instance, illegal drug users pursued this strategy by stockpiling small quantities of Sudafed over time until that loophole was closed). By restricting the amount of a chemical that can be synthesized at any given time, the platform can prevent users from producing large quantities of precursors that could be used for harmful purposes. Batch tracking is already a feature embedded in vendor databases, so that feature can be easily extended to cloud labs.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-weight: var(--artdeco-reset-typography-font-weight-bold);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;3. Automated Pathway Detection:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;A particularly sophisticated strategy for managing dual-use chemicals involves the use of synthesis pathway screening. Platforms can deploy algorithms that analyze the proposed chemical reactions submitted by users. These algorithms would flag any reaction pathways that could lead to the synthesis of dangerous compounds, even if the individual chemicals requested are themselves benign.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;Some of the recent advances in software for retrosynthesis and reaction prediction would be particularly helpful in this context. If a user provides a target compound structure, retrosynthesis algorithms can break the compound down into its individual precursors and corresponding reagents. If more than a certain percentage of the precursors or reagents are questionable, the user request would trigger a warning flag. The same applies, albeit in reverse, for forward reaction prediction. If a user submits a list of building blocks to make, the algorithm can predict the variety of target compounds that can be made. If more than a certain percentage, including byproducts, appear questionable, the system can trigger a warning.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-weight: var(--artdeco-reset-typography-font-weight-bold);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;4. Behavior Anomaly Detection:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;Any system can be fooled with the right strategy, and one of the strategies for gaming a chemistry cloud lab would be to confuse the system by making suspicious requests rare or sophisticated enough. To further enhance security, automated chemical synthesis platforms can leverage user-specific data analytics to track user behavior.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;For example, consider the case noted above: A researcher who typically works on pharmaceutical compounds suddenly requests a precursor associated with explosives. This shift in behavior could trigger an alert, prompting further investigation. Users who display unpredictable or risky behavioral patterns could be subject to tighter restrictions at the organizational level. Aggregated user behavior would also be very helpful in this case. For instance, a user who orders X quantities of chemical A and Y quantities of chemical B with a frequency of Z would be subject to more scrutiny, even if any one of these individual actions would not be a cause for concern. Ultimately, only holistic user and organizational profiles would provide the most useful predictors of potentially suspicious behavior, but that kind of profiling - essentially tracking behavior through space and time - is one that current data analytics systems can handle quite well.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;In all these cases, one will naturally have to balance privacy with security. The system can be blinded to personal identifying information, identifying users only with cryptic labels. Serious violations would need the users’ organizations, not the cloud lab provider, to unblind their identity and take necessary action. But user restrictions can certainly be implemented through mutual agreement between the cloud lab provider and the organization as well.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;By continuously monitoring user behavior, platforms can proactively detect misuse, even before harmful chemicals are synthesized.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;5. Batch and supply chain tracking:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;The feasibility of batch tracking has already been mentioned above, but it deserves some elaboration. To further enhance accountability, cloud labs should implement features that track both source and usage. This ensures that every chemical can be traced back to its origin, whether it was purchased from a supplier or synthesized within the cloud lab.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;This transparency creates a clear chain of custody, ensuring that if a dual-use chemical is misused, the platform can quickly identify where it came from and who was responsible for synthesizing it. Real-time monitoring and sharing with regulatory and other concerned organizations would reduce incentives to cheat and close potential loopholes related to the sourcing inherent in complicated supply chains.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Balancing Creativity and Security&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;Managing the risks associated with dual-use chemicals on automated synthesis platforms is a complex but vital task. By implementing a multi-layered approach—tiered access control, real-time and aggregated behavior monitoring, and automated pathway detection —these platforms can allow scientists to innovate while minimizing the risk of misuse. This approach won’t make the system foolproof, but it will minimize risk by implementing multiple checkpoints. Other human-level controls can be combined with this kind of pure algorithmic control. These controls could include expert panel reviews and collaboration with regulatory agencies. These checks are important as well, but their use must be balanced with potential impacts on the ease of use and lowering of barriers which are the most attractive features of cloud labs.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;As cloud-based labs continue to play an increasingly important role in scientific research, it is essential to ensure that these powerful tools are used responsibly. With the right safeguards in place, we can unlock their potential to do good science in fields like medicine, agriculture, materials science and energetic materials while preventing misuse by bad actors.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2025/01/preventing-misuse-of-chemistry-cloud.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicWiq6cWD9KP-Pjs3igKfQgYLu49s2oH13p-V6nXI-b637uhINgnS8C20iG7-DvCGjK72AFvnhUU4sHAh-cB3RBZ4jklvIICBeiPJcWWbkDqPcQY4WZV14bY0B11wgdO1c4o324oTOIN3D-4V--aJiS4KNHWu-hWaKymUC7cWQz-jwZQWhqjBY4w=s72-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-7290559758891203951</guid><pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2025 04:59:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2025-01-14T20:59:24.349-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">biotechnology</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">drug discovery</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">medicinal chemistry</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">technology</category><title>Minority Report Meets Drug Discovery: Intelligent Gestural Interfaces and the Future of Medicine</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzH9TQoA9-i7m-58l5ONd22wZpd2vpweA9eGLp9t7e8DPcwIOE6qxeoUIKj6Sfg2UW505gwa4jFKZ-Kv62acKANRZu9sUu30-HqnIFyags4raQV5hct14YUei7Lb1rOHtZ2XoLTDzekj4raMzlvwmSsfciImt_EGzq6UxBgz3egUZW0v_MzbOn9w&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;719&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1280&quot; height=&quot;180&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzH9TQoA9-i7m-58l5ONd22wZpd2vpweA9eGLp9t7e8DPcwIOE6qxeoUIKj6Sfg2UW505gwa4jFKZ-Kv62acKANRZu9sUu30-HqnIFyags4raQV5hct14YUei7Lb1rOHtZ2XoLTDzekj4raMzlvwmSsfciImt_EGzq6UxBgz3egUZW0v_MzbOn9w&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In 2002, Steven Spielberg’s&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-style: var(--artdeco-reset-typography-font-style-italic); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;Minority Report&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;introduced one of the most iconic visions of the future: a world where data is accessed, manipulated, and visualized through an immersive, gestural interface. The scene where Tom Cruise’s character, Police Chief John Anderton, swiftly navigates vast amounts of visual information by simply swiping his hands through thin air is not just aesthetically captivating but also hints at the profound potential of such interfaces in real-world applications—particularly in fields as complex as drug discovery. Just like detective work involves combining and coordinating data from disparate sources such as GPS, real-time tracking, historical case studies, image recognition and witness reports, drug discovery involves integrating data from disparate sources like protein-ligand interactions, patent literature, genomics and clinical trials. Today, advancements in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and high-performance computing (HPC) offer the tantalizing possibility of a similar interface revolutionizing the way scientists interact with multifactorial biology and chemistry datasets.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;This post explores what a Minority Report-style interface for drug design would look like, how the seeds of such a system already exist in current technology, and the exciting potential this kind of interface holds for the future of drug discovery.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The Haptic, Gestural Future of Drug Discovery&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;Perhaps one of the most memorable aspects of&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-style: var(--artdeco-reset-typography-font-style-italic); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;Minority Report&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;is the graceful, fluid way in which Tom Cruise’s character interacts with a futuristic interface using only his hands. With a series of quick, intuitive gestures, he navigates through complex data sets, zooming in on images, isolating key pieces of information, and piecing together the puzzle at the center of the plot. The thrill of this interface comes from its speed, accessibility, and above all, its elegance. Unlike the clunky, keyboard-and-mouse-driven systems we’re used to today, this interface allows data to be accessed and manipulated as effortlessly as waving a hand.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In drug discovery, such fluid navigation would be game-changing. As mentioned above, the modern scientist deals with a staggering amount of information: genomics data, chemical structures, protein-ligand interactions, toxicity reports, and clinical trial results, all coming from different sources. The ability to sweep through these datasets with a flick of the wrist, pulling in relevant data and discarding irrelevant noise in real-time, would make the process of drug design not only more efficient but more dynamic and creative. Imagine pulling together protein folding simulations, molecular docking results, and clinical trial metadata into a single, interactive, 3D workspace—all by making precise, intuitive hand movements like Tom Cruise.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The core of the Minority Report interface is its gestural and haptic nature, which would be crucial for translating such a UI into the realm of drug design. By introducing haptic feedback into the system—using vibrations or resistance in the air to simulate touch—a researcher could &quot;feel&quot; molecular structures, turning abstract chemical properties into tactile sensations. Imagine &quot;grabbing&quot; a molecule and feeling the properties of its surface—areas of hydrophobicity, polarity, or charge density—all while rotating the structure in mid-air with a flick of your wrist. Like an octopus sensing multiple inputs simultaneously, a researcher would be the active purveyor of a live datastream of multilayered data. This tactile feedback could become a new form of data visualization, where chemists and biologists no longer rely solely on charts and numbers but also on physical sensations to understand molecular behavior. The experience would translate to an entirely new dimension of interacting with molecular data and models, making it possible to “sense” molecular conformations in ways that are impossible with current 2D screens.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Such a haptic interface would also make the process more accessible. Students and new researchers in drug discovery would quickly learn how to navigate and manipulate datasets through a gestural UI. The muscle memory developed through these natural, human movements would make the learning curve less steep, transforming the learning experience into something more akin to a hands-on laboratory session rather than an abstract, numbers-on-a-screen challenge. Drug discovery and molecular design would be democratized.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Swiping Through Multifactorial Datasets&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;One of the most exciting possibilities of a Minority Report-style UI in drug discovery is its ability to merge multifactorial datasets, making complex biology and chemistry data &quot;talk&quot; to each other. In drug discovery, researchers deal with data from various domains, — genomics, proteomics, cheminformatics, clinical data etc. — each of which exists in its own silo; any researcher in the area would relate to the pain of integrating these very different databases, an endeavor that requires a significant amount of effort and specialized software. Currently, entire IT departments are employed to these ends. A futuristic UI could change that entirely.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Imagine a scientist swiping through an assay dataset with one hand, while simultaneously bringing in chemical structure data and purification data on stereoisomers with the other. Perhaps throw in a key blocking patent and gene expression data. These diverse datasets could then be overlaid in real time, with machine learning algorithms providing instant insights into correlations and potential drug candidates. For instance, one swipe could summon a heat map of gene expression related to a disease, while another flick could display how a particular small molecule binds to a target protein implicated in that disease. A few more gestures could allow the scientist to access historical drug trials and toxicity data as well as patent data, immediately seeing if any patterns emerge. The potential here is enormous: combining these multifactorial datasets in such a seamless, visual way would enable researchers to generate hypotheses on the fly, test molecular interactions in real-time, and identify the most promising drug candidates faster than ever before.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The Seeds Are Already Here: AR, VR, and High-Performance Computing&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;While this vision seems futuristic, the seeds of this interface already exist in today&#39;s technology. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) platforms are rapidly advancing, providing immersive environments that allow users to interact with data in three dimensions. AR devices like Microsoft&#39;s HoloLens and VR systems like the Oculus Rift already provide glimpses of what a 3D drug discovery workspace might look like. For example, AR could be used to visualize molecular structures in real space, allowing researchers to walk around a protein or zoom in on a ligand-binding site as if it were floating right in front of them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;At the same time, high-performance computing (HPC) is already pushing the limits of what we can do with drug discovery. Cloud-based platforms provide immense computing power that can process large datasets, while AI-driven software accelerates the pace of molecular docking simulations and virtual screening processes. Combining these technologies with a Minority Report-style interface could be the key to fully realizing the potential of this future workspace.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;LLMs as Intelligent Assistants&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;While the immersive interface and tactile data manipulation are powerful, the addition of large language models (LLMs) brings an entirely new layer of intelligence to the equation. In this vision of drug discovery, LLMs would serve as intelligent research assistants, capable of understanding complex natural language queries and providing context-sensitive insights. Instead of manually pulling in data or running simulations, researchers could ask questions in natural language, and the LLM would retrieve relevant datasets, compute compound properties, run analyses, and even suggest possible next steps. Even if a researcher could summon up multiple datasets by swiping in an interactive display, they would still need an LLM to answer questions pertaining to cross-correlations between these datasets.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Imagine a researcher standing in front of an immersive display, surrounded by 3D visualizations of molecular structures and genomic data. With a simple voice command or text prompt, they could ask the LLM, “Which compounds have shown the most promise in targeting this specific binding site?” or “What genetic mutations are correlated with resistance to this drug?” or even fuzzier questions like “What is the probability that this compound would bind to the site and cause side effects?”. The LLM would then comb through millions of datasets, both existing and computed, and instantly provide answers, suggest hypotheses, or even propose new drug candidates based on historical data.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Moreover, LLMs could help interpret complex, multifactorial relationships between datasets. For example, if a researcher wanted to understand how a particular chemical compound might interact with a genetic mutation in cancer cells, they could ask the LLM to cross-reference all available data on drug resistance, molecular pathways, and previous clinical trials. The LLM could provide a detailed, synthesized response, saving the researcher countless hours of manual research and allowing them to focus on making creative, strategic decisions.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;This kind of interaction would fundamentally change the way scientists approach drug discovery. No longer would they need to rely solely on their own ability to manually search for and interpret data. Instead, they could work in tandem with an intelligent, AI-driven system that helps them navigate the immense complexity of modern drug design. With the right interface, researchers could manipulate massive amounts of drug discovery data in real-time, powered by already existing HPC infrastructure.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Current challenges&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;While this vision of an all-in-one molecular design interface sounds promising, we would be remiss in not mentioning some familiar current challenges. Data is still highly siloed, even within organizations, and inter-organizational data sharing is still bound by significant legal, business and technological challenges. While AR and VR are now being democratized through increasingly cheap headsets and software, the experience is not as smooth as we would like, and bringing in disparate data sources into the user experience remains a problem. In the future, common API formats could become a game changer. Finally, LLMs still suffer from errors and hallucinations. Having a human in the loop would be imperative in overcoming these limitations, but there is little doubt that the sheer time-saving and consolidation they enable, along with the ability to query data in natural language, would make their use not just important but inevitable.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;A Future of Instant, Integrated Data at Your Fingertips&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The promise of a Minority Report-style interface for drug discovery lies in its ability to make data instantly accessible, integrated, and actionable. By swiping and gesturing in mid-air, scientists would no longer be constrained by traditional input methods, unlocking new levels of creativity and efficiency. This kind of interface would enable instant access to everything from raw molecular data to advanced machine-learning models predicting the efficacy of new drug candidates.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;We can image a future where a drug designer could pull up decades of research on a specific disease, instantly overlay that with genomic data, and compare it with molecular screening results—all in a 3D, immersive environment. The heightened experience would make it possible to come up with radically new hypotheses about target engagement, efficacy and toxicity in short order. Collaboration would also reach new heights, as teams across the world interacted in the same virtual workspace, manipulating the same data sets in real time, regardless of their physical location. The interface would enable instant brainstorming, rapid hypothesis generation and testing, and seamless sharing of insights. The excitement surrounding such a future is palpable. By blending AR, VR, HPC, and LLMs, we can transform drug discovery into an immersive, highly interactive, and profoundly intuitive process.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Let the symphony start playing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2025/01/minority-report-meets-drug-discovery.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzH9TQoA9-i7m-58l5ONd22wZpd2vpweA9eGLp9t7e8DPcwIOE6qxeoUIKj6Sfg2UW505gwa4jFKZ-Kv62acKANRZu9sUu30-HqnIFyags4raQV5hct14YUei7Lb1rOHtZ2XoLTDzekj4raMzlvwmSsfciImt_EGzq6UxBgz3egUZW0v_MzbOn9w=s72-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-7266596293527222540</guid><pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2025 04:56:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2025-01-14T20:56:01.415-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">biology</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">philosophy of science</category><title>Why Technology (and AI) Won’t Save Biology</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeNfwHv9xXN9dG-gBywH0rYMb3dSqBHF8DrVjCEQngbMtxI8goBkgtMT9RcB_FkFYof38bzbbb6GZV2rKtAECctBh34ZO0Mpli649JUopW14ZK03sqc8gTzJ_yumhdfypWzQl_D53yNevhC2QMF-AqdKQcX5np2O1o2VflCvD6UEKc4Eyo6_E50w&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;437&quot; data-original-width=&quot;777&quot; height=&quot;180&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeNfwHv9xXN9dG-gBywH0rYMb3dSqBHF8DrVjCEQngbMtxI8goBkgtMT9RcB_FkFYof38bzbbb6GZV2rKtAECctBh34ZO0Mpli649JUopW14ZK03sqc8gTzJ_yumhdfypWzQl_D53yNevhC2QMF-AqdKQcX5np2O1o2VflCvD6UEKc4Eyo6_E50w&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;There seems to be no end to biology&#39;s explosive progress. Genomes can now be read, edited, and rewritten with unprecedented scope. Individual neurons can now be studied in both space and time. Mathematical models help us understand the dynamics of virus spread and ecological populations, and vaccines for deadly diseases like HIV and Ebola seem to hold more promise than ever. Many say the twentieth century belonged to physics and the twenty-first belongs to biology, and indeed, this sentiment seems to be borne out by the astonishing advances in the biological sciences.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Six Major Revolutions in Biology&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Over the past five hundred years, biology has undergone six major revolutions that transformed our understanding of life. The first was Linnaeus’s classification of organisms into binomial nomenclature. The second was the invention of the microscope by pioneers like Hooke and Leeuwenhoek. The third was the discovery of cells&#39; composition in health and disease by Schwann and Schleiden, thanks to advancements in microscopy. The fourth was Darwin’s formulation of evolution by natural selection. The fifth was Mendel’s discovery of the laws of heredity. And the sixth was the discovery of the structure of DNA by Watson, Crick, and others. An ongoing seventh revolution centers around mapping genomes and understanding their implications for disease and ecology. This has been aided by breakthroughs in statistics and new imaging techniques like MRI and CT scans.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;These revolutions were driven not just by new ideas, but also by new tools—a pattern that underscores the intertwined nature of scientific progress. Scientific revolutions are a two-pronged affair: breakthroughs come both from new paradigms of thinking and new technological advances.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The Role of Technology in Biological Discoveries&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;From the microscope to electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and modern imaging techniques, four of the six revolutions in biology hinged on technological advancements. The invention of tools that enabled deeper observation revealed new truths that theory could then catch up with. In genomics, for example, rapid sequencing methods paired with powerful computers and statistical techniques for identifying rare events have unlocked a flood of genetic data. However, this bounty of data brings its own challenges: it hides gems of understanding within mountains of information. Systems biology seeks to make sense of this deluge by piecing together the puzzle at different levels, but even this approach highlights the gaps between what we can observe and what we can truly understand.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence in Biology&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;This is where artificial intelligence (AI) enters the conversation. AI promises to address biology’s complexity by analyzing vast datasets and finding patterns that elude human comprehension. Indeed, AI and machine learning have already shown promise in areas like genomics, protein folding, and drug discovery. For instance, AlphaFold, a machine learning algorithm, achieved a breakthrough in predicting protein structures, which had remained a tough challenge in biology for decades. AI models also excel at recognizing anomalies in medical imaging, predicting the spread of pandemics, and optimizing experimental designs.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;However, while AI offers immense potential, it also amplifies existing challenges. The major limitation lies in the fundamental difference between recognizing patterns and understanding causation. AI systems excel at correlating data and identifying intricate relationships, but these correlations do not necessarily reveal underlying biological mechanisms. In fields like cancer genomics, sequencing technologies have revealed hundreds of mutated genes, and AI can help sift through these to find correlations between certain mutations and cancer progression. But beyond identifying these correlations, biologists must still build causal frameworks to explain why and how these mutations impact cancer growth. Without such theoretical underpinnings, AI runs the risk of creating a black box where patterns are identified without leading to genuine understanding. Even in terms of strict utility, these patterns may be inadequate since prediction without understanding can lead to blind spots; for instance witness &quot;activity cliffs&quot; in medicinal chemistry or missed interaction partners in cancer biology, both of which can thwart true prediction.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;The very nature of AI models may also reveal their limitations. For instance, LLMs and other leading AI models are trained and based on discrete, binary data, while biology is full of continuous data; something as simple as dose-response curves testifies to this fact. The difference between digital and analog systems comes to mind: computers are digital, but life is a hybrid of analog and digital, combining digital outputs built on analog substrates and vice versa. In a previous&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;PVVHCCBevdEmHKyAIeyIvuDqupzgfdjtlk &quot; data-test-app-aware-link=&quot;&quot; href=&quot;https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2020/07/brains-computation-and-thermodynamics-a-view-from-the-future.html&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-link-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: var(--font-weight-bold); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-decoration: var(--artdeco-reset-link-text-decoration-none); touch-action: manipulation; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot; target=&quot;_self&quot;&gt;post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;, I argued that the relative thermodynamic inefficiency of the brain might point to its analog workings. If AI were to truly transform drug discovery and biology, its discrete digital models would have to learn to deal with continuous, analog data.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;This challenge is not new. Sydney Brenner once pointed out that biology in the 1950s used to be &quot;low input, low throughput, high output,&quot; whereas today it&#39;s often &quot;low input, high throughput, no output.&quot; While AI has the potential to plug gaps in improving output, it can also exacerbate this trend by focusing on high throughput without significant output. Just as we once mistook data accumulation for understanding, we now risk mistaking AI-generated correlations for genuine scientific insight. AI-driven discoveries must therefore be complemented with theoretical and experimental models that go beyond pattern recognition.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Reductionism and Emergence in the Era of AI&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;One of the key reasons why technology—and now AI—hasn’t “saved” biology lies in the fundamental philosophy of reductionism. Reductionism, the idea of breaking down complex systems into simpler parts, has been the great legacy of twentieth-century science. However, as complexity theorists like&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;PVVHCCBevdEmHKyAIeyIvuDqupzgfdjtlk &quot; data-test-app-aware-link=&quot;&quot; href=&quot;https://www.tkm.kit.edu/downloads/TKM1_2011_more_is_different_PWA.pdf&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-link-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: var(--font-weight-bold); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-decoration: var(--artdeco-reset-link-text-decoration-none); touch-action: manipulation; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot; target=&quot;_self&quot;&gt;Philip Anderson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;and&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;PVVHCCBevdEmHKyAIeyIvuDqupzgfdjtlk &quot; data-test-app-aware-link=&quot;&quot; href=&quot;http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2010/07/models-laws-and-limits-of-reductionism.html&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-link-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: var(--font-weight-bold); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-decoration: var(--artdeco-reset-link-text-decoration-none); touch-action: manipulation; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot; target=&quot;_self&quot;&gt;Stuart Kauffman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;pointed out, complex systems often display emergent properties that can’t be deduced from their individual components. AI tools, which mostly operate on reductionist principles by breaking down biological data into discrete elements, are thus poorly equipped to handle emergent phenomena.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;For example, while AI can analyze neuronal firing patterns and model brain networks, it struggles to explain higher-order cognitive functions and consciousness. Mirror neurons are a case in point: AI can track their activation across brain regions, but understanding their role in human empathy or social behavior remains elusive. Neuroscientists like John Krakauer argue that such limitations reflect the broader challenge of understanding emergent properties within biological systems.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The Future: An Integrated Approach&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;For AI to truly revolutionize biology, it must not merely amplify reductionist methods but enable a more integrated approach to biological understanding. This involves studying biological systems at multiple levels of organization - both digital and analog - and creating AI models that can reconcile these levels. For example, in neuroscience, we must bridge low-level recordings of single neurons with models of neuronal clusters and behavioral observations of entire organisms. Similarly, in fields like genomics, AI must work alongside biologists to develop causal models that connect molecular changes with physiological and ecological consequences. This is why organizations that center their entire product or discovery pipeline around AI need to be careful and avoid the proverbial pitfall of having everything look like a nail when they have a hammer.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The promise of AI in biology also depends on fostering closer interdisciplinary collaborations. Physicists, computer scientists, biologists, and psychologists need to work together to build models that combine reductionist and holistic perspectives. AI should serve as a tool that integrates data from different levels, facilitating not just more precise measurements, but more comprehensive theories.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Final thoughts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;As the late biologist Carl Woese observed, living systems are not simply collections of molecular machines, but resilient patterns in a turbulent flow. In his elegant essay titled “A New Biology for A New Century,” Woese argued for a broader perspective that sees organisms as complex, dynamic organizations. AI must help us move toward this vision by integrating the patterns it finds with deeper theoretical insights, enabling a biology that goes beyond the sum of its parts.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The era of AI in biology holds great promise, but it also poses new risks of mistaking data accumulation for understanding. AI must be seen not as a savior of biological sciences, but as a vital partner in building bridges between different levels of biological understanding. By combining AI’s pattern recognition with theoretical frameworks that address emergence and historical contingency, we can move toward a more integrated, holistic view of life.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;As technology advances, we must remember the limitations of reductionism and the dangers of technological solutionism. AI’s role should not be to replace human understanding, but to augment and expand it. Just as we harness the tools of the past revolutions in biology, we must now harness AI to not just process data, but to deepen our understanding of the flow of life itself.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, &amp;quot;system-ui&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI&amp;quot;, Roboto, &amp;quot;Helvetica Neue&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Fira Sans&amp;quot;, Ubuntu, Oxygen, &amp;quot;Oxygen Sans&amp;quot;, Cantarell, &amp;quot;Droid Sans&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Apple Color Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Symbol&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Lucida Grande&amp;quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;Image link:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;white-space-pre&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, &amp;quot;system-ui&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI&amp;quot;, Roboto, &amp;quot;Helvetica Neue&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Fira Sans&amp;quot;, Ubuntu, Oxygen, &amp;quot;Oxygen Sans&amp;quot;, Cantarell, &amp;quot;Droid Sans&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Apple Color Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Symbol&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Lucida Grande&amp;quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;PVVHCCBevdEmHKyAIeyIvuDqupzgfdjtlk &quot; data-test-app-aware-link=&quot;&quot; href=&quot;https://scitechdaily.com/ai-reveals-previously-unknown-biology-we-might-not-know-half-of-whats-in-our-cells/&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-link-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, &amp;quot;system-ui&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI&amp;quot;, Roboto, &amp;quot;Helvetica Neue&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Fira Sans&amp;quot;, Ubuntu, Oxygen, &amp;quot;Oxygen Sans&amp;quot;, Cantarell, &amp;quot;Droid Sans&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Apple Color Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Symbol&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Lucida Grande&amp;quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: var(--font-weight-bold); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-decoration: var(--artdeco-reset-link-text-decoration-none); touch-action: manipulation; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot; target=&quot;_self&quot;&gt;https://scitechdaily.com/ai-reveals-previously-unknown-biology-we-might-not-know-half-of-whats-in-our-cells/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2025/01/why-technology-and-ai-wont-save-biology.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeNfwHv9xXN9dG-gBywH0rYMb3dSqBHF8DrVjCEQngbMtxI8goBkgtMT9RcB_FkFYof38bzbbb6GZV2rKtAECctBh34ZO0Mpli649JUopW14ZK03sqc8gTzJ_yumhdfypWzQl_D53yNevhC2QMF-AqdKQcX5np2O1o2VflCvD6UEKc4Eyo6_E50w=s72-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-7588081748711660102</guid><pubDate>Sat, 28 Dec 2024 01:10:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-12-27T17:10:59.633-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">book list</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">books</category><title>Books read in 2024</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #080809; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;I read 57 books this year, satisfying my annual goal of reading at least 50. Some are re-reads (starred) —I was on an Oliver Sacks binge last month. As usual, the list is skewed toward non-fiction (verity) with some excellent fiction: Hernan Diaz&#39;s &quot;Trust,&quot; an endlessly inventive novel, was a keeper. And as usual, science and history dominate the list.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #080809; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;My top five favorites were “The Best Minds” (a riveting real-life tale of schizophrenia and murder), “Fire Weather” (a brilliantly written investigation of the confluence of oil and fire country in the the &lt;span class=&quot;html-span xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1hl2dhg x16tdsg8 x1vvkbs&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;html-a xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1hl2dhg x16tdsg8 x1vvkbs&quot; style=&quot;color: #385898; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit;&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;vast wilderness of Canada), Oliver Sacks’s “Letters”, “More than Curious” (a revealing account of physics personalities and ideas from one on the frontier) and “Material World” (an endlessly fascinating account of the origins, properties, and geopolitical implications of the critical materials that fuel our civilization).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #080809; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Happy reading in 2025!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span id=&quot;docs-internal-guid-f0ef2319-7fff-ed75-1e8c-f4a1ce342c80&quot;&gt;&lt;ol style=&quot;margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-wrap-mode: wrap;&quot;&gt;Weapons of the Lewis and Clark Expedition - Jim Garry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Indispensables - Patrick O’Donnell&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;From Falling Bombs to Radio Waves - Emilie Serge&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;New Cold Wars - David Sanger&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Fifties - David Halberstam&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;For Blood and Money - Nathan Vardi&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Madame Curie - Eve Curie&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Physics in the Twentieth Century - Victor Weisskopf&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;I’ve Been Thinking - Daniel Dennett&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Letters - Oliver Sacks&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Uncle Tungsten - Oliver Sacks*&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;On the Move - Oliver Sacks*&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Awakenings - Oliver Sacks*&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;A Leg to Stand On - Oliver Sacks&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Deadly Feasts - Richard Rhodes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Man With a Shattered World - A. R. Luria&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Golden Road - William Dalrymple&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Campaigning with Grant - Horace Porter&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Poor Charlie’s Almanack - Charlie Munger*&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Origin Story: The Trials of Charles Darwin - Howard Markel&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction - Fergus Bordewich&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;No Ordinary Time - Doris Kearsn Goodwin&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Playground - Richard Powers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine - Angela Creager&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Areopagitica - John Milton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Uranium Club - Miriam Hiebert&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;America’s Cold Warrior - James Wilson&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Quanta and Fields - Sean Carroll&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Peacemaker - William Inboden&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Reagan - Max Boot&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Why We Die - Venki Ramakrishnan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Genius Talk - Denis Brian&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Trust - Hernan Diaz&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Waves in an Impossible Sea - Matt Strassler&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Material World - Ed Conway&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;More than Curious - William Press&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;American Spring - Walter Borneman&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Valley Forge - Bob Drury, Tom Clavin&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;American Colonies - Alan Taylor&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Breaking the Spell - Daniel Dennett&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Strategies of Containment - John Lewis Gaddis&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Hinge Points - Siegfried Hecker&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Washington: The Indispensable Man - James Flexner&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Best Minds - Jonathan Rosen&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Fire Weather - John Vaillant&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Inside the O’Briens - Lisa Genova&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Revolutionary - Stacy Schiff&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Blind Spots - Marty Makary&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Quiet Damage - Jesselyn Cook&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Foundation for the Future: The ABM Treaty and National Security - Arms Control Association&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Japanese Empire: Grand Strategy from the Meiji Restoration to the Pacific War - S. C. M. Paine&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Gravity of Math - Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadis&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam - Robert McNamara*&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;The Fog of War - Robert McNamara and Erroll Morris&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Because Our Fathers Lied - Craig McNamara&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li aria-level=&quot;1&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; role=&quot;presentation&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap-mode: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Making Weapons, Talking Peace - Herbert York&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In addition, there were textbooks that I browsed and worked through to various degrees; many of them are old favorites and are part of my continued education. The books included Alberts et al.&#39;s &quot;Molecular Biology of the Cell&quot;, Patrick&#39;s &quot;Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry&quot;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt; Taylor and Wheeler&#39;s &quot;Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity&quot;, Feynman&#39;s &quot;Lectures&quot; (Volume 2), Glasstone&#39;s &quot;Nuclear Reactor Engineering&quot; and Penrose&#39;s &quot;Road to Reality&quot;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2024/12/books-read-in-2024.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-7672143716741355043</guid><pubDate>Thu, 14 Nov 2024 01:20:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-11-13T19:32:09.639-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">book review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Oliver Sacks</category><title>Review: &quot;Letters&quot;, by Oliver Sacks</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #080809; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrGsGN_oapeBzOoeXpePq2WNGwnwpHviVYKoujvUA0Ux49kjhZRnhwjCvz6PiamBdn0esDHCJ8Jr6PcOZJWi9gKkQCZXeSMVo5LRCze77tz5fSIu4rC9emoC3Ktxf4METY99M9AsnorTQjIUfAxnLkMQNoBdqlcur5VKTx-zk1gHZM_17_mHpbOw&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;768&quot; height=&quot;400&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrGsGN_oapeBzOoeXpePq2WNGwnwpHviVYKoujvUA0Ux49kjhZRnhwjCvz6PiamBdn0esDHCJ8Jr6PcOZJWi9gKkQCZXeSMVo5LRCze77tz5fSIu4rC9emoC3Ktxf4METY99M9AsnorTQjIUfAxnLkMQNoBdqlcur5VKTx-zk1gHZM_17_mHpbOw=w300-h400&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;During his 82 years on earth, Oliver Sacks produced such a virtual torrent of writings that he continues to speak to us from beyond the grave nine years after he died. This collection of his letters is the fourth book of his writings that has been published after his death, and I would not be surprised if more trickle out in the upcoming years. The man’s passions and intellectual curiosity were so multifarious and deep and his sheer urgent &lt;span class=&quot;html-span xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1hl2dhg x16tdsg8 x1vvkbs&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;html-a xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1hl2dhg x16tdsg8 x1vvkbs&quot; style=&quot;cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit;&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;need to express them was so constant and acute, that thoughts and words rushed out of him like a never-abating volcano. Nothing might be so indicative of his prodigious powers of expression as these letters, lovingly edited and presented by his longtime associate and friend, Kate Edgar.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;As Edgar tells us in the preface, it was hard to keep up with Sacks. His writing, while joyously readable and interesting, was vivid and complex, and he poured out words at a tremendous clip, often caring little about trifles like punctuation and capitalization because of the sheer speed. His method of getting Edgar to fix typos and punctuation was to have her sit next to him as he furiously typed on his typewriter, asking her to instantly edit every page as it came out of the machine. When an exhausted Edgar would make it back to her apartment late in the evening, there would be Oliver calling her, asking her to take a look at a few more pages that had somehow been produced even after that avalanche. It would surely have been the experience of a lifetime for her.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;As anyone who has read Sacks’s oeuvre would know, Sacks was passionate about a remarkable number of things - medicine and neurology, chemistry, history of science, earthworms, plants, motorcycles, bodybuilding, narcotic drugs, travel, and of course, writing and people. There was nothing in his life that he did not commit to with extreme passion, sometimes gambling with his life while doing this as in the case of extreme bodybuilding and extreme drug use. His body of knowledge was tremendously diverse, ranging across science, literature, poetry, history and philosophy. In the tradition of the Great Books, he had digested classic works by Darwin, Hume, Shakespeare and other great writers and thinkers in their entirety, along with assimilating great works by neurologists and doctors. A remarkable memory seemed to enable him to summon references from these disparate sources on demand.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;All these qualities are on incandescent display in this collection of letters, which start with his arrival in the New World in the 1960s and end two weeks before his own death in 2015. Every single one of them is full of vivid, gushing, empathetic, bracingly honest writing. They span so many different topics, emotions, people and thoughts that it would be impossible to do their contents justice. So a brief overview would have to suffice.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The first third of the collection is perhaps the most fascinating. It deals with the self-discovery of his coming of age in a new country, his explorations of his sexuality (he had several amorous encounters which he kept from his family), travels around the country on his motorcycle and the people he met as a doctor. For me one letter, written to his brother Marcus in 1966, stands out. It is almost phantasmagoric, and was likely written when he was on an amphetamine high. In it he performs an excruciatingly painful, vivid analysis of his family and especially his mother, that would make a psychoanalyst (especially a Jewish one) salivate. He presents his mother as a kind of loving Gorgon, crushing everyone who stood in her way and reducing his father to a whimpering non-entity. Undoubtedly the dominant personality in their family of six (which included his schizophrenic brother Michael), she was alternately a font of wisdom and love and a terrifying presence. When his father indiscreetly broke Sacks’s trust and told her he was gay, she flew into a violent rage and told him she regretted him ever being born. The subject was never brought up again, but it is obvious that Sacks’s passionate early relationships with men , followed by his complete withdrawal from those relationships until he was in his 70s were influenced by the trauma inflicted by his mother. And yet the letters back home are warm, loving and full of interesting observations on people and places. Sacks is often fighting battles with hospital personnel depicted in his book and the movie “Awakenings”. In one, he pleads with the administrators to let patients on L-DOPA outdoors, pointing out the rejuvenation that he has witnessed in them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The middle third of the book details letters to new friends, including the writer W. H. Auden and the poet Thom Gunn whose poem, “On the Move”, inspired the title of Sacks’s memoirs. He is constantly receiving copies of books written by others and sending them his own work. A full chapter is devoted to letters to Sacks’s lover Jeno Vincze, a Hungarian theater director who Sacks met in Europe. The early letters display an intensity and a passion rivaling anything in D. H. Lawrence or Anais Nin; there is the usual ardor for physical and mental connection and impatient waiting for replies, followed by grumblings about the delay. But soon it’s over. He breaks up in a letter alternately filled with sorrow and vicious, almost cruel rejection. Sacks would not have a romantic relationship for another 40 years.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;If the personal is on full display in the first half of the book, the professional is equally so in the second half. The letters here include his correspondence with scientific and literary luminaries like Susan Sontag, Stephen Jay Gould, Roald Hofmann, Francis Crick, Robert Silvers (the famed editor of the New Yorker, where Sacks published several essays) and Gerald Edelman. He calls Crick an “intellectual nuclear reactor” after meeting him and strikes up a particularly close friendship with Gould. I was especially pleased to see some dear friends make an appearance here: John Horgan to whom he writes a letter discussing stage fright, Richard Rhodes whose fascinating book on prion diseases he refers to, and Freeman Dyson to whom he writes praising Dyson’s essay on teaching. He seems particularly taken by Edelman and Crick, and by Crick’s protege Christof Koch.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Sacks was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in early 2015. The cancer had been detected earlier and had been removed. But nine years later it came roaring back. Sacks responded in the best way he could - by writing about it in the New York Times and in letters to friends and family. He is frank and matter-of-fact about it (“I don’t think I will outlast the month”) and even in the last few weeks his letters are full of discussions about science, literature and essays that he would urgently like to publish - there’s not a trace of self-pity or long-winded philosophical reflection. The publication of his memoir, “On the Move”” was fast-tracked after his diagnosis. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The essays that he wrote in the months before his death include one in which he expresses gratitude for the opportunity he had been given to have discourse with a global community of writers and readers; and one in which he seems to reconnect, in a way, with his Jewish roots. These were published as part of a slim book after his death. Sacks’s last letter was written on August 15, 2015. In it he described the writings he would like published after he was gone, and ended with an exhortation: “Let us begin - soon!”. He died two weeks later, on August 30.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;There are few writers and thinkers I have come across who wrote so vividly and honestly about so many different things, and perhaps none who lived life so fully, compulsively, passionately, enjoying its every offering. Along with his memoir, this letter collection showcases Sacks at his most genuine and most inspiring. It should be an enduring monument to his legacy.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2024/11/review-letters-by-oliver-sacks.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrGsGN_oapeBzOoeXpePq2WNGwnwpHviVYKoujvUA0Ux49kjhZRnhwjCvz6PiamBdn0esDHCJ8Jr6PcOZJWi9gKkQCZXeSMVo5LRCze77tz5fSIu4rC9emoC3Ktxf4METY99M9AsnorTQjIUfAxnLkMQNoBdqlcur5VKTx-zk1gHZM_17_mHpbOw=s72-w300-h400-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-7880903974635338180</guid><pubDate>Tue, 22 Oct 2024 03:48:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-10-21T20:48:39.648-07:00</atom:updated><title>From Valley Forge to the Lab: Parallels between Washington&#39;s Maneuvers and Drug Development</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9);&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, &amp;quot;system-ui&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI&amp;quot;, Roboto, &amp;quot;Helvetica Neue&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Fira Sans&amp;quot;, Ubuntu, Oxygen, &amp;quot;Oxygen Sans&amp;quot;, Cantarell, &amp;quot;Droid Sans&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Apple Color Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Emoji&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Segoe UI Symbol&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Lucida Grande&amp;quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizTYjco6NIfi8Yyc4spS9fc27Hottm0p75pmCqkji2yuMUrjhBlo8XVQkIklc11wjaog1ACcSSTOBPCxUY0SSpFN9NOBKbgBJonYkKCkTKpya-GvsHIT6x4ib0JAfBbyCrjRNil7aSqpE8NI_Z2dhc-E9uSS0kYGTrHEwOa_svOLjxEA9FKNgFYg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;720&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1280&quot; height=&quot;360&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizTYjco6NIfi8Yyc4spS9fc27Hottm0p75pmCqkji2yuMUrjhBlo8XVQkIklc11wjaog1ACcSSTOBPCxUY0SSpFN9NOBKbgBJonYkKCkTKpya-GvsHIT6x4ib0JAfBbyCrjRNil7aSqpE8NI_Z2dhc-E9uSS0kYGTrHEwOa_svOLjxEA9FKNgFYg=w640-h360&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;George Washington’s leadership during the American Revolution was marked by strategic foresight, perseverance, and adaptability—qualities essential for overcoming challenges in drug discovery as well. He was known more for brilliant tactical retreats than outright wins. He knew that the American War of Independence, just like the long march toward a marketed drug, was a marathon and not a sprint. It is an interesting thought exercise to draw parallels between Washington&#39;s qualities of patience, resourcefulness, and collaboration and the development of new drugs that similarly demand inspired leadership in the form of long-term vision, resilience in the face of failure and innovative thinking. Below, we’ll explore five lessons from Washington’s military campaigns, applying them to the high-stakes world of drug discovery with some concrete examples.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__heading-3&quot; id=&quot;ember666&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-default); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: small;&quot;&gt;1. Strategic Patience and Long-term Vision: Washington&#39;s Fabian Strategy vs. HIV Drug Development&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember667&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Washington’s military success was often defined by his Fabian strategy—a war of attrition and avoidance of large-scale confrontations that allowed the Continental Army to conserve strength and gradually wear down the British forces. One of the clearest examples was his decision to avoid the direct engagement in New York in 1776, focusing instead on smaller, targeted strikes. While this strategy initially led to a disastrous retreat across the river to New Jersey, Washington and his troops regrouped, leading to their famous crossing of the Delaware. Washington&#39;s patience ultimately paid off with victories at Trenton and Princeton, where the tide of the war began to shift.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember668&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In drug discovery, strategic patience is essential, as breakthroughs rarely come overnight. A breakthrough drug famously has less than 1% odds of success and takes billions of dollars and several years to hit the market and treat patients. Consider the development of antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS. When HIV was first discovered in the early 1980s, treatments were non-existent. Early drug trials failed to yield effective results, and scientists faced constant setbacks. However, researchers took a long-term approach, gradually improving upon early, promising but toxic drugs like AZT through years of clinical trials and development. By 1997, the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was a turning point, transforming HIV from a fatal disease to a manageable condition. This mirrors Washington’s long-term vision—victory wasn’t immediate, but patience and persistence eventually led to success. HIV drug development also mirrors Washington&#39;s ability to learn from his mistakes and build on his successes. After the Battle of Long Island, Washington realized the importance of intelligence, logistics and preparedness. Similarly, when attacking the HIV virus, researchers recognized the value of building on their knowledge of viral mutations to effect combination therapy and attacking different stages of the virus&#39;s lifecycle - the equivalent of an attack on multiple fronts.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__heading-3&quot; id=&quot;ember669&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-default); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: small;&quot;&gt;2. Managing Limited Resources: Valley Forge vs. Orphan Drug Development&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember670&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;One of the most famous episodes of Washington’s leadership was during the harsh winter at Valley Forge in 1777-1778. The Continental Army suffered severe deprivations because of food, clothing, supply and personnel shortages. Washington’s ability to maintain morale and use limited resources efficiently for everything from building shelter to clothing his men, while relying on men like Baron von Steuben to train the troops, was pivotal in turning the army into a more effective fighting force that emerged from this trial by fire (or cold) stronger and more determined.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember671&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In drug discovery, managing limited resources is often critical, especially for diseases that don’t attract significant funding or attention. The development of orphan drugs—those that treat rare diseases—often faces the same kind of scarcity. An example is the development of Spinraza (nusinersen), a drug for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a rare genetic disease. Biotech firm Ionis Pharmaceuticals faced significant financial challenges, as developing a treatment for a rare disease didn’t seem commercially viable. However, through careful allocation of resources, partnerships with larger pharmaceutical companies (like Biogen), and perseverance, Spinraza became the first FDA-approved treatment for SMA in 2016. Like Washington at Valley Forge, the success of this drug was the result of making the most out of limited resources while keeping the long-term goal in sight.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__heading-3&quot; id=&quot;ember672&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-default); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: small;&quot;&gt;3. The Importance of Collaboration and Alliances: French Alliance vs. COVID-19 Vaccines&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember673&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The United States would likely have lost the Revolutionary War without critical assistance from France. In the pivotal Saratoga campaign, for instance, up to 90% of arms and gunpowder carried by American soldiers came from France. French support, particularly in the form of naval power and troops, played a decisive role in the eventual victory at Yorktown in 1781.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember674&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;A modern parallel in drug discovery is the unprecedented collaboration seen in the development of COVID-19 vaccines. The global pandemic spurred collaborations between pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and governments on a scale never seen before. Pfizer and BioNTech’s partnership is a prime example—BioNTech provided the mRNA technology, while Pfizer’s resources and expertise enabled rapid scaling and distribution. This alliance was crucial in delivering one of the world’s first effective vaccines in less than a year. Just as Washington couldn’t win the war alone, drug discovery often depends on strategic alliances to achieve breakthroughs. Often these strategic alliances are between smaller companies that invent a new drug or technology and larger companies that scale and develop it. Sometimes they are between unlikely bedfellows, such as government and the private sector; for instance, HIV drug success was founded upon productive collaborations between government, private companies and activists.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__heading-3&quot; id=&quot;ember675&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-default); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: small;&quot;&gt;4. Adaptability and Learning from Failure: Battle of Monmouth vs. Alzheimer’s Drug Failures&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember676&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Washington’s ability to adapt to failure is best exemplified by the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. After the disastrous retreat ordered by General Charles Lee, Washington rallied the troops and turned the battle into a stalemate, avoiding what could have been a significant defeat. Initially goaded by Lee&#39;s retreat, British General Henry Clinton declined to attack when he found Washington in a formidable defensive position. This ability to adapt under pressure and recover from failure was a hallmark of his leadership.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember677&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In drug discovery, a parallel can be drawn with the development of gefitinib (Iressa), a targeted cancer therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Initially approved in 2003, gefitinib showed promise in early clinical trials for a subset of lung cancer patients. However, in 2005, the FDA limited its use after post-approval studies failed to show a significant survival benefit in the broader patient population. This was a major setback for AstraZeneca, the drug’s developer.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember678&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Despite this failure, researchers did not abandon gefitinib entirely. Reanalysis of the patient response revealed that the drug was highly effective in patients with specific mutations in the EGFR gene—a critical insight that had not been fully understood during the initial trials. By identifying the right patient population, gefitinib regained relevance as a precision medicine for a subgroup of NSCLC patients. In 2015, gefitinib was reapproved in the U.S. for use in patients with EGFR-mutated lung cancer, a prime example of how learning from early failures can lead to a more targeted, effective approach in drug development.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember679&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Like Washington at Monmouth, the researchers behind gefitinib adapted to early setbacks by recalibrating their approach, identifying a more precise target, and ultimately turning a potential failure into a success.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3 class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__heading-3&quot; id=&quot;ember680&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-default); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: small;&quot;&gt;5. Endurance and Moral Leadership: Valley Forge vs. Cystic Fibrosis Drug Development&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember681&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Washington’s moral leadership during Valley Forge was crucial in keeping the Continental Army together during one of its darkest periods. His decision to stay with his men, sharing their hardships, and his constant encouragement gave them the endurance needed to persevere. By the time they emerged from Valley Forge, the army was stronger and better trained. Another example of Washington&#39;s leadership was his assumption of a frontline position at Assunpink Creek near Princeton, when his army was in disarray. Again and again, Washington inspired his troops with his quiet inner strength, battlefield bravery, unwavering focus on the end goal and democratic management of his army in which every man&#39;s opinion was valuable.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember682&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In the drug discovery world, long-term battles against chronic and deadly diseases often require similar moral leadership. One such example is the decades-long effort to develop treatments for cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disease that severely affects the lungs. Adopting a program from Aurora Biosciences and shepherding it through significant doubts and uncertainty, Vertex Pharmaceuticals led the charge, working tirelessly through failed attempts and incremental progress. Like Washington with his war council, the company carefully weighed the opinions of both enthusiasts and critics. Their efforts finally culminated in the development of Kalydeco and, later, Trikafta, drugs that significantly improve lung function and quality of life for CF patients. The leadership of Vertex’s researchers and executives, many of whom remained committed to finding a solution even when success seemed elusive and the mechanism of the drug (a potentiator rather than a more traditional inhibitor) appeared unconventional and novel, mirrors Washington’s leadership at Valley Forge. They persevered against severe odds, driven by a belief in the importance of their mission.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember682&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Final thoughts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph&quot; id=&quot;ember684&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); line-height: var(--line-height-open); margin: 1.6rem 2.4rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The cause of complex drug development, just like the cause of the American Revolution, is mired in great cost and uncertainty. The odds of success are slim, the obstacles formidable, the naysayers many. Washington&#39;s quiet, dogged endurance, leadership from the front, patience and unwillingness to despair for long sustained the American cause long after purely rational analysis would have concluded that it was lost. Similarly, drug discovery depends on the right combination of leadership, resources and just plain good luck. But there is little doubt that dogged perseverance, adaptability in the face of new data, smart resource management and the spirit of collaboration can cause a step change in the odds of success, whether in war against a recalcitrant enemy or war against a recalcitrant disease. As Washington pithily put it, &quot;Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.&quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2024/10/from-valley-forge-to-lab-parallels.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizTYjco6NIfi8Yyc4spS9fc27Hottm0p75pmCqkji2yuMUrjhBlo8XVQkIklc11wjaog1ACcSSTOBPCxUY0SSpFN9NOBKbgBJonYkKCkTKpya-GvsHIT6x4ib0JAfBbyCrjRNil7aSqpE8NI_Z2dhc-E9uSS0kYGTrHEwOa_svOLjxEA9FKNgFYg=s72-w640-h360-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-2215562023087956283</guid><pubDate>Sat, 14 Sep 2024 05:41:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-09-13T23:13:27.473-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Heisenberg</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">timeless figures</category><title> Timeless Figures, #2: Werner Heisenberg</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJxVOkFho_b_9c8XkiZ9tdxgOuMOs1LIrozCfnZrDxF3g6M2xQgu5x9Gmg60E5P-isk7KXuyGiZVHgIPUxOTrbu0q9_Bw2NwgU7IAvi_u-12nPpBZaKOqe0DCXy6CpOAOL7VeOrLTiwHBTqIK1Edv6a1JYzsKCZm8Mx-3Mv5EOYjEWn6p-cpY0yA&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2048&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1492&quot; height=&quot;335&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJxVOkFho_b_9c8XkiZ9tdxgOuMOs1LIrozCfnZrDxF3g6M2xQgu5x9Gmg60E5P-isk7KXuyGiZVHgIPUxOTrbu0q9_Bw2NwgU7IAvi_u-12nPpBZaKOqe0DCXy6CpOAOL7VeOrLTiwHBTqIK1Edv6a1JYzsKCZm8Mx-3Mv5EOYjEWn6p-cpY0yA=w244-h335&quot; width=&quot;244&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Werner Heisenberg was a good man who deluded himself into thinking he was working for a good cause. That cause was not working for the Nazis but maintaining the continuity of German science after the Nazis. Heisenberg’s life shows us what happens when a brilliant man with convictions lacks the moral clarity to make tough choices.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span id=&quot;docs-internal-guid-97f9aa6f-7fff-492f-e303-afe4966ebd84&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;Heisenberg’s father was a classics and Greek professor at the University of Munich; academic achievement and intellectual interests ran in the family. Steeped in philosophy and initially drawn toward mathematics, an encounter with Arnold Sommerfeld, arguably the most successful physics professor of the 20th century, sealed his decision to study physics. As a young man after the turmoil of World War 1 and the short-lived postwar experiments in government in Germany, Heisenberg was deeply influenced by joining a youth movement that discussed science and philosophy, took long walks in the mountains, sang patriotic songs and talked about how to rebuild Germany after the war. It seems likely that this influence at an impressionable age left a lasting impression on his later decision to stay in Germany.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;In 1922, after listening to a lecture in Munich by Niels Bohr, Heisenberg came under Bohr’s towering influence. Bohr became almost a father figure to Heisenberg. A gentle man who regarded spirited debate as the highest means of reaching the truth, Bohr sharpened Heisenberg’s drive to understand atomic physics and almost brought him to tears once by his “terrifying relentlessness” in seeking the nature of reality. Before Heisenberg went to Bohr’s institute in Copenhagen, though, he went to study with Max Born in Göttingen. Born who was to have as much influence as Sommerfeld in training some of the leading theoretical physicists of the time - among them Pauli, Dirac and Oppenheimer - was a physicist’s physicist, steeped in mathematical sophistication and an all-encompassing knowledge of the subject.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;Born and Heisenberg decided to tackle the mess of spectral lines - light emitted from atoms - that had initiated the quantum revolution through Bohr’s theory of atomic structure but which had then turned into headscratchers. Bohr and Sommerfeld’s ‘old’ quantum theory explained the lines from simple atoms like hydrogen and helium, but higher elements proved recalcitrant. It was a more sophisticated, comprehensive theory of atomic structure that Heisenberg undertook as his challenge with Born. The story of how in the process he effectively invented modern quantum mechanics became part of the lore of physics. After suffering from a severe attack of hay fever in 1927, Heisenberg decided to spend some time recovering on the small island of Helgoland in the North Sea. The natural beauty of the island liberated his thoughts, and in the small hours of the morning one day, he suddenly saw that he could work out the rules for atomic structure by focusing purely on the numbers related to the spectral lines instead of trying to make sense of unobservable features like atomic trajectories or electron orbits. His epiphany illustrates the novelty and thrill of scientific discovery: he reported, “&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;I had the feeling that, through the surface of atomic phenomena, I was looking at a strangely beautiful interior, and felt almost giddy at the thought that I now had to probe this wealth of mathematical structures nature had so generously spread out before me.” Heisenberg had undertaken one of the most significant steps toward understanding nature since Einstein.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;Back in Göttingen, Born and Heisenberg’s collaborator Pascual Jordan realized that the numerical relationships their young colleague had found could be cast in the form of matrices; for all his brilliance, Heisenberg was untutored in the knowledge of 19th century mathematics that Born displayed. Through their work the three physicists laid out the first underpinnings of what became quantum mechanics. Called “matrix mechanics”, the scheme turned out to be too complicated to deal with actual physical problems, and led the Frenchman Louis de Broglie and the Austrian Erwin Schrödinger to replace it with wave mechanics and the Schrödinger equation which became the standard tools to calculate quantum phenomena. But Heisenberg had set the stage.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;The work for which Heisenberg is best known - the rare scientific principle that enters the vocabulary of laymen and achieves the ultimate distinction of being indiscriminately used out of context - came about in 1927 when he was working in Copenhagen. After battling over some fundamental philosophical differences in interpreting quantum behavior, Bohr went off on a skiing trip. Walking at night in the park near Bohr’s institute, Heisenberg realized that there was a fundamental indeterminacy in our knowledge of the atomic world. Thus was born the uncertainty principle which says that you cannot know certain attributes of subatomic entities, like their positions and velocities, with simultaneous certainty.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;The uncertainty principle, along with Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems and the speed of light, puts absolute constraints on our knowledge of reality. It is, in some sense, another nail in the coffin of human hubris and our quest to achieve total knowledge of the world. And yet as the physicist Hans Bethe was to say to a lay audience half a century later, with these fundamental constraints the principle lets us calculate all kinds of properties of quantum systems to an unprecedented degree of accuracy. The uncertainty principle, Bethe said, eliciting laughter, should really be called the “certainty principle”. Heisenberg received the Nobel Prize in 1932 “for the creation of quantum mechanics”. His place in the history of science was more than assured.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;In the 1930s, after quantum mechanics was made complete as a correct description of nature by Heisenberg, Dirac, Pauli, Schrödinger and others, Heisenberg acquired a professorship at Leipzig even as storm clouds gathered over Europe after Hitler became chancellor in 1933. He trained many outstanding future physicists, including Edward Teller, Rudolf Peierls and Felix Bloch, and included his students in his social life, playing Beethoven and Schubert for them; music was always a palliative to the uncertain ways of the world. His friendship with Wolfgang Pauli produced important results, and with Pauli he continued to make contributions to nuclear structure, providing important insights into nuclear forces and the interaction of light and matter (an early forerunner of what came to be known as quantum electrodynamics). Despite the dark times enveloping the continent, those seemed to be halcyon days: the accounts of the passionate discussions with Bohr, Pauli and others through the 1920s and 30s that Heisenberg recounts in two of his books (“Physics and Philosophy” and “Physics and Beyond”) are the ultimate testament to the life of the mind. He married a perceptive woman, Elisabeth, who was later to write a penetrating memoir of her life with Werner.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;Many of Heisenberg’s students and colleagues were hit hard by the laws banning Jews from teaching and other government positions, leading to an exodus led by Einstein. In the light of attacks on ‘Jewish physics’ by anti-Semitic scientists like Phillip Lenard, Heisenberg faced a dilemma. On one hand, he knew that the attacks on relativity and quantum mechanics were nonsensical, but on the other he deeply felt an attachment to Germany that he felt went beyond the Nazis. Unlike others, Heisenberg did not go out of his way to protect his Jewish colleagues, although he kept the teaching of relativity alive in the face of constant attacks. In 1938, Heisenberg came under suspicion from Reinhard Heydrich, the sinister head of the Reich Security Office; he had been labeled as a ‘White Jew’ by Lenard and others while being considered as a successor to Arnold Sommerfeld in Munich. Heinrich Himmler, whose mother knew Heisenberg’s, interceded on Hesienberg’s behalf, and after some uncomfortable sessions with Heydrich and Himmler, Heisenberg was exonerated and warned to keep his personal opinions and professional views separate.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;In the summer of 1939 Heisenberg visited the United States, lecturing at Columbia, Michigan and other universities. Many of these offered him positions and his exiled colleagues like Samuel Goudsmit pleaded with him to emigrate, but Heisenberg, who professed his love for Germany, still did not seem to understand that his beloved country had become indistinguishable from the Nazis. He sailed for Germany only a few weeks before Hitler attacked Poland and World War 2 began.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;By that time, the German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann had discovered nuclear fission. The Manhattan Project kicked off in response to a letter written to President Roosevelt by Leo Szilard and Einstein; one of their overriding reasons for asking the president to take necessary action was precisely the fact that Germany’s premier physicist, Werner Heisenberg, may be working on an atomic bomb. Heisenberg was indeed asked to form a group of scientists that also included his friend Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, with a mandate to explore the practical uses of atomic energy. Their main interest was in what they called a “uranium machine” or a nuclear reactor. During their work the German physicists made some critical missteps, including rejecting graphite as a moderator; this led them to rely on heavy water, a scarce material produced in a mountain factory in Norway that was later sabotaged by British and Norwegian commandos. They also put off Hitler’s war minister, Albert Speer, by asking for too little money and projecting long odds for the project’s success. But two teams independently and competitively led by Kurt Diebner and Heisenberg did achieve neutron multiplication.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;During the war, Heisenberg made a visit to his old mentor Niels Bohr that remains controversial to this day; it was memorialized by Michael Frayn’s play “Copenhagen.” Perhaps wishing to reconnect with Bohr, Heisenberg visited Copenhagen in September, 1941. Later, during a dinner at Bohr’s house, Heisenberg and Bohr went out for a walk. There Heisenberg tried to feel Bohr out on the Allied effort to build an atomic bomb (Bohr did not know the reality then and only found out about the Manhattan Project when he visited Los Alamos in December, 1943). Bohr was alarmed since he interpreted Heisenberg’s questions to mean that the Germans were working on a bomb, and terminated the conversation right away. Each man later gave his own justification; Heisenberg claimed that he wanted to find out if the effort to make a bomb, depending as it did on the enormous hurdles involved in separating the fissionable isotope of uranium from the non-fissionable one, was underway at all. He claimed that if Bohr had indicated that the Allies were finding it too hard to make one, he would have informed his government of the same thing. That seems self-serving and disingenuous, to say the least.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;The fact remains that Heisenberg did not know how to make a bomb. He was aware that it would take a critical mass of uranium to make one, and even that there would be a new element - plutonium - that would be more feasible to separate from uranium than it was to separate uranium-235 from uranium-238. But all evidence indicates that he had failed to accurately calculate the critical mass of a few dozen pounds that would make the entire effort practical. Later he self-servingly claimed that his heart was just not in it and that he even deliberately misled Hitler and Albert Speer into thinking that the effort was not worth it. There is no evidence for the latter and scant evidence for the former. The truth might always remain a mystery. In the event, as the characters in Frayn’s assert, the ironic truth is that Heisenberg never succeeded in killing a single soul with an atomic bomb - an effort which was the whole impetus for the Manhattan Project - while the Allies successfully killed over a hundred and fifty thousand people using it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;As the war came to an end, Heisenberg set out on his bicycle, trying to scrounge what he could to protect his family and get to the American and British lines, risking his life as a potential deserter. He was finally captured by the Allies, along with other physicists like Otto Hahn, and housed in a palatial British estate called Farm Hall. Unknown to the German physicists, the entire house had been bugged and their conversations taped - Heisenberg naively told the others that the British were too gentlemanly to use the techniques of the Gestapo. When news of Hiroshima reached the scientists, there was disbelief and astonishment, although it seems to have come more from the incredulity that the Allies had separated uranium-235 and plutonium-239 than from them being able to calculate the critical mass.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;After the war, Heisenberg embarked on his mission to rebuild German physics; at least he was spared that part of his original dream. He wrote insightful books on nuclear physics, philosophy and the halcyon days of the past, recounting his critical role in the creation of one of the most important intellectual frameworks the human mind has ever conceived. But he never made a scientific contribution comparable to his earlier ones. Among others, his former friend Wolfgang Pauli and Richard Feynman scathingly scoffed at his efforts to formulate a comprehensive, unified theory of physics. While his self-serving explanations of why he worked for the Nazis were met with scorn and disapproval, in another, more gentlemanly era, he continued to be received cordially and otherwise defended by old colleagues and students like Isidor Rabi and Edward Teller.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;Werner Heisenberg died in 1976, aged 74. Because of his creation of quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle, he remains one of the most important theoretical physicists in history. But it is his work for Nazi Germany that really makes him relevant for the current era, because that work raised critical questions that are more important than ever. Among them, the most important question is whether you can separate service to your country from service to its political regime. Heisenberg thought you could. Many of his colleagues emphasized that you could not; once the government of a country becomes evil enough, you cannot divorce working for your country from working for that government. In the end, the answer may remain as uncertain as his famed principle.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2024/09/timeless-figures-2-werner-heisenberg.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJxVOkFho_b_9c8XkiZ9tdxgOuMOs1LIrozCfnZrDxF3g6M2xQgu5x9Gmg60E5P-isk7KXuyGiZVHgIPUxOTrbu0q9_Bw2NwgU7IAvi_u-12nPpBZaKOqe0DCXy6CpOAOL7VeOrLTiwHBTqIK1Edv6a1JYzsKCZm8Mx-3Mv5EOYjEWn6p-cpY0yA=s72-w244-h335-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-7699791257291310506</guid><pubDate>Wed, 11 Sep 2024 21:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-09-13T22:49:38.578-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Einstein</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">history of science</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">timeless figures</category><title>Timeless Figures, #1: Albert Einstein</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAf22ZfRoHIhkHARsXHhiJT3sAw3kc8XaVCGRufoQhuVAqNIGSVA6hdccPg5VR1ebPcb3MRmwsRr2tmZJ6urTepZSL67EHH8hqhbge3tEsqwiMC0AihrLD-bFb4QYsC01sDzyBemz3auooX6eaCG_1m5QKdPx8tw9IVDjwj-kwrPw5hb-N2DEEag&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1345&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAf22ZfRoHIhkHARsXHhiJT3sAw3kc8XaVCGRufoQhuVAqNIGSVA6hdccPg5VR1ebPcb3MRmwsRr2tmZJ6urTepZSL67EHH8hqhbge3tEsqwiMC0AihrLD-bFb4QYsC01sDzyBemz3auooX6eaCG_1m5QKdPx8tw9IVDjwj-kwrPw5hb-N2DEEag=w244-h320&quot; width=&quot;244&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;So much has been written about Albert Einstein over the ages that it is sometimes easy to take for granted and forget what made him special. Most of us know the earth-shattering impact his special and general theories of relativity had on physics, but it is easier to forget the very special man whose character traits undoubtedly made these soaring works of the human intellect possible.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Einstein’s parents, Hermann and Pauline, were intelligent and diligent. Hermann had an affinity for mathematics but had to become an apprentice and a professional to make ends meet. Pauline had an affinity for music and German literature. Their son inherited both talents, although later in life – perhaps repulsed by the Nazis’ obsessions with heredity – he attributed his success simply to heightened curiosity rather than inheritance. But given the respectable but by no means outstanding degree of his parents’ intellect, it is hard to deny that Einstein was the product of a very lucky genetic lottery.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In later popular accounts, Einstein was typically portrayed as a lazy student lost in his world, with a lackluster performance in school. But like other Einstein myths, this was false; he consistently received the highest grades grades, especially in mathematics and the sciences. His bent for science was clear at an early age and was illustrated especially by two episodes whose vivid impressions on him he could recall even decades later. One was the gift of a compass when he was five years old and sick: Albert was enthralled by the fact that the needle always pointed North, and this alerted him to “something deeply hidden” in the laws of Nature. The second was when his uncle Jakob introduced him to algebra: “We go hunting for an animal whose name we don’t know, so we call it x. When we bag our game, we pounce on it and give it its right name.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;It was early on that Einstein demonstrated his two most important traits, more important even than the glittering intellect that had been bestowed upon him. One was an open disdain for conformity and authoritarianism, whether it was in renouncing his German citizenship at the startling age of sixteen to avoid military conscription, impertinently questioning his professors or marrying his girlfriend Mileva Marić against his parents’ approval. Later these same traits would lead him to discover a revolutionary theory of physics (assuming that the speed of light was constant took an enormous amount of courage), snub his nose at German militarism and antisemitism, leave the country of his birth for good and carry on political activism in his adopted country. An accompanying trait was fearlessness; fearlessness at being mocked for his scientific and political beliefs. Both traits were enveloped in a self-effacing humor that let him see the absurd in life and the world. Undoubtedly these traits, and especially the humor, kept him sane at the brink of scientific discovery and in a world gone half-mad.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The story of Einstein’s lackluster educational performance is well-known. He lived a Bohemian existence and preferred to hang out with his friends in coffee shops, discussing philosophy and science and playing music on his violin. His admission to the famed ETH in Zurich failed because he did not do well enough in the general examination and had to take remedial courses. After he got in on his second attempt, he met the twenty-year-old Mileva – the only woman in his class – and was instantly smitten. His letters to her are full of passionate pronouncements, dirty limericks and poetry.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Graduating from the ETH, Einstein had trouble finding a teaching and research position. There is a letter from around his time from an anguished Hermann to the distinguished physical chemist Wilhelm Ostwald, later the winner of a Nobel Prize, asking for the good professor to give his son a job as an assistant. There is no reply from Ostwald on record. It was thanks to his friend Marcel Grossman’s father that Einstein found a job as a patent clerk, “third-class”, at the Swiss patent office in Bern. Grossmann was to later play a major role in Einstein’s mathematical enlightenment.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Einstein’s time at the patent office from 190 to 1909 and his ‘annus mirabilis’ of 1905, in which he produced five revolutionary papers that forever changed our understanding of physics, is well documented; these included the paper in which he introduced his famous equation relating mass to energy. In all of his science, Einstein’s two most important qualities were summed up by his biographer Abraham Pais: they were an appreciation for invariants (quantities that are independent of the frame of reference) and for statistical fluctuations. The former would enable him to explain relativity, the latter phenomena like Brownian motion and Bose-Einstein condensation.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;What is perhaps less appreciated is the contribution of his humdrum daily job to the theory of relativity. Relativity sprang not from abstract manipulation of algebraic symbols but from imaginative thought experiments concerning everyday objects - clocks, rulers, trains, elevators. It was his time at the patent office that immersed Einstein in the details of mechanical implements. His daily job involved sharpening the often fuzzy, vague, partially thought-out ideas of inventors to make them legally defensible and workable in practice. He was quite good at this analysis and received praise from his supervisor as one of the most competent young men in the office. It is impossible to overestimate the impact of this immersion in the details of technical contrivances on Einstein’s future work on the frontiers of physics. Crucially, the job at the patent office left him free to focus on his physics and family in the evenings.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Einstein’s family life was not happy, to say the least, and he was not by any means the role model of the family man. Mileva, who herself had sacrificed a promising career, took care of the house and children and acted as an important sounding board for Einstein’s initial ideas, so much so that controversy later arose as to how much she might have contributed to them (there is no evidence that the key ideas came from anyone but Einstein). Einstein repaid her by omitting her name from the acknowledgments of his relativity paper, mentioning only his ETH friend Michele Besso who was another sounding board. The marriage was strained and often acrimonious. Einstein wrecked it by beginning an affair with his cousin, Elsa, in 1912; he would later have several affairs. When Mileva learned of his adultery, she moved to Zurich, taking their sons Eduard and Hans Albert. In 1919, after having her agree to a harsh set of conditions for remaining married to him, Einstein finally asked Mileva for a divorce; in return, he predicted that he would win the Nobel Prize and would give her the money from it. He did win it two years later, amusingly not for relativity, which even then was too abstract for the prize committee, but for his explanation of the photoelectric effect that grounded the nature of light in particles called photons.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;After his annus mirabilis during which Einstein formulated the special theory of relativity, Einstein spent a hard ten years before coming up with the general theory of relativity. Both ideas were revolutionary, but Paul Dirac later remarked that while other scientists like Poincare and Lorentz might have stumbled upon the first one, it might have taken forever for anyone to discover the second one; its tenets were that original and novel. Einstein’s formulation of general relativity replaced gravity as a Newtonian force with gravity as a fundamental curvature of spacetime. He arrived at this startling, unexpected conclusion the same way that he had arrived at special relativity’s conclusions - by thinking of thought experiments. With special relativity, it was asking how the world would look like if he rode on a beam of light, a question he had first asked himself when he was sixteen. With general relativity it was realizing that a man in free fall would not feel his own weight - he called this thought the happiest thought of his life.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Unlike special relativity which could be explained with high school algebra - the physics was what was novel - general relativity needed mathematics that Einstein had never encountered. This is where his patent office friend Marcel Grossmann was crucial. After Einstein explained the requirements of general relativity, most notably the requirement of general covariance that would enable the laws of physics to look the same in all reference frames, Grossman told him that two branches of 19th-century mathematics would help him accomplish this. One was Riemannian geometry, developed by the German mathematical genius Bernhard Riemann, which extended plane geometry to curved surfaces. The other was the algebra of tensors, which are generalized extensions of vectors.&lt;span class=&quot;Apple-converted-space&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;That Einstein needed Grossmann’s insights to help him is a testament to his greatness as a physicist rather than a mathematician. It explains why there was no scientist like Einstein in the 20th century: while physicists like Paul Dirac, Wolfgang Pauli and Werner Heisenberg were more mathematically adept than Einstein, his feel for the physical picture and the thought experiment were unsurpassed. Among other physicists, probably only Richard Feynman and Enrico Fermi came close to this facility for visualizing the physical picture. In his later life, this facility left Einstein, and his failures would be explained by a peculiar over-reliance on mathematics which he had wisely avoided in his younger years.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;1915, when war was engulfing the continent, saw Einstein putting the finishing touches on general relativity as a professor in Berlin; when he saw the equation explaining the longstanding problem of the anomalous precession of the orbit of Mercury, its deep truth made him feel like something had snapped inside him. Einstein was deeply shocked by Germany’s bombastic militarism and march toward war. His pacifism writ large, he refused to sign a letter supporting the war signed by ninety-three German scientific and artistic luminaries including Nobel laureates like Max Planck, Paul Ehrlich and Emil Fischer. Because of the war, experimental confirmation of general relativity had to wait until 1919, when an expedition to Africa led by the British astronomer Arthur Eddington confirmed a key prediction of the theory observable only during a total eclipse of the sun - the bending of starlight.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The prediction catapulted Einstein to the status of the world’s most famous scientist. Crowds thronged to hear him speak, and Eddington’s validation of his theory was also seen as the joining of nationalities that had been broken by a horrific war. In lecture tours of Asia and America, Einstein was welcomed as a celebrity; he met Charlie Chaplain and Upton Sinclair, and parents pushed their way through crowds to have their children meet him. But at home, where the “stab in the back” theory attributing Germany’s loss to communists and Jews was already being swallowed by many, including a young corporal named Adolf Hitler who had been blinded by poison gas, Einstein started finding a hostile reception. The Nobel laureates Johannes Stark and Philip Lenard had started agitating against him, and the general sullen mood of Germany because of the harsh terms imposed by the Treaty of Versailles made it easy for the population to search for easy scapegoats. Einstein’s friend Walther Rathenau, whose crucial actions as minister of production had made it possible for Germany to continue the war until 1919, was assassinated in 1922 by ultranationalists. Because of his internationalism and pacifism during the war, Einstein was a marked man and had good cause to fear for his own life.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;His physics temporarily quelled conflict. The 1920s provided a fascinating contrast of sorts, between soaring and crippling economic deprivation on the one hand and unprecedented developments in physics on the other. The creation of quantum mechanics, beginning with Niels Bohr’s formulation of the structure of the atom in 1913 and continuing with work by Max Born, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac and others, provided new fodder for Einstein. The same Einstein who had been a revolutionary in relativity became a conservative in quantum mechanics, although his positions were oversimplified later. He never rejected the success of quantum mechanics - through his explanation of the photoelectric effect, he was one of the originators of it, after all - but because of the intrinsic uncertainty and probabilistic interpretations it introduced, never thought it was a deep, final explanation of the world’s workings. His skepticism did not stop him from making two major contributions to it even in the 1920s; along with helping the Indian physicist Satyendranath Bose develop a novel form of quantum statistics, Einstein laid the foundations of what later became the laser.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;But his philosophical problems with quantum mechanics continued for the rest of his life. They also led to a deep friendship with Niels Bohr. When Bohr had formulated his theory of atomic structure, Einstein had called it the “highest form of musicality in the sphere of thought”. Bohr was as deep a thinker in physics as Einstein; he and Einstein became intimate friends as well as spirited adversaries, forming a relationship which held fast and strong until the end of their lives. Each time Einstein would come up with what was purportedly a violation of a fundamental quantum principle like Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, such as in the famous 1927 Solvay Conference, Bohr would reply with a rejoinder that sometimes embarrassingly relied on explanations based on Einstein’s own theories of relativity. Bohr’s “Discussions with Einstein on Epistemological Problems in Atomic Physics” is the most complete account of his disagreements.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In the 1930s, storm clouds gathered over Europe again as the Nazi party won increasingly larger shares of votes in the Reichstag elections. In January 1933, using perfectly legal means effected by a foolish and deluded Hindenburg and his associates, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of journey. A month later, Einstein, who had experienced increasing attacks and personal antisemitism since the 1920s and who was visiting the United States, announced that he would no longer return to Germany. That March, he renounced his German citizenship for the second time; he would not return to the country of his birth and high accomplishments for the rest of his life. By that time, knowing what direction the winds were blowing, Einstein had already discussed positions at Oxford, Caltech and the newly conceived Institute for Advanced Study. Future institute director Abraham Flexner was an ardent believer in what he called the “usefulness of useless knowledge.” With no teaching and administrative duties, Einstein accepted the IAS offer, becoming the baggy pant-wearing, shaggy-haired, affable sage of the small, provincial town of Princeton, NJ, for the next thirty years.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Einstein may have been a genius, but he was certainly not immune to mistakes. Two stand out, not so much because they demonstrate Einstein’s failures as his mode of thinking. In 1917, Einstein applied his general theory of relativity to the entire universe, essentially founding modern cosmology. Curiously, he found out that his toy universe would not remain static but would instead expand like a balloon. To keep it static, he introduced a “cosmological constant” that would retard its expansion. But in 1922, the Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann found that Einstein’s equations are valid in a non-static universe. Einstein often called the cosmological constant his “biggest mistake”, but by the 1930s, thanks to the pioneering experimental observations of the American astronomer Edwin Hubble, he had accepted the notion of an expanding universe. In the 1990s, a positive value for the cosmological constant acquired new meaning when independent teams found that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Einstein’s second mistake is more interesting: he never accepted the existence of black holes and even wrote a paper arguing against their existence. Freeman Dyson’s explanation for Einstein’s refusal was that by the late 1930s when Robert Oppenheimer and his students had postulated black holes, Einstein had become the mathematical platonist he would turn into during his later years; black holes with their singularities were simply too ugly for him. Einstein’s abhorrence of black holes is a good example of how an excessive emphasis on preconceived beauty can blind even great minds to the logical consequences of their own theories.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Einstein’s time in Princeton was far from the most productive time of his life. He was a celebrity and his advice was sought by dignitaries and crackpots. He met FDR and formed a strong relationship with his Jewish Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau. He regularly spoke against the Nazi regime even as the Nazis ransacked his house and burnt his books. But he was no longer at the frontier of physics, which was centered mostly around nuclear physics. In 1932 the neutron was discovered, and physicists had a new tool with which to probe the interior of the atom. Unknown to Einstein, scientists in Italy, Germany, Great Britain and other countries started investigating the effect of neutrons on different nuclei. At the end of 1938, German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann discovered nuclear fission, and physicists across Europe and America quickly realized the possibility of an atomic bomb. Foremost among these was the Hungarian-born American physicist Leo Szilard, who had conceived of a nuclear chain reaction while standing at a traffic light in London in 1933. Szilard and Einstein went back to their times in Berlin, when they had filed a joint patent for an intrinsically safe refrigerator. Szilard realized the urgency of the United States building a nuclear bomb before Germany and sought out Einstein as the only scientist with enough stature to convey the message to President Roosevelt. The famous Einstein-Szilard letter did convince FDR to start a nascent atomic bomb program, which kicked into high gear and became the Manhattan Project after Pearl Harbor. But ironically, Einstein because of his German and pacifist background was never granted a security clearance by the government and invited to join the project.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Later Einstein rued the violent uses to which his science had been put, quipping that he should have rather become a watchmaker or plumber; in an obituary, Oppenheimer puckishly suggested that Einstein had no idea how challenging an American plumber’s job was. However, his disdain for nuclear weapons led Einstein to become a powerful voice of peace and sanity in a world that was becoming increasingly paranoid because of the Cold War. He addressed radio audiences, supported civil rights and socialist dissidents, including former students like David Bohm who had been trapped in Joseph McCarthy’s red scare, and agitated against McCarthy’s thuggery. When Oppenheimer, who was technically Einstein&#39;s boss as the director of the Institute for Advanced Study, lost his security clearance because of a witch hunt, Einstein advised him to fling his security clearance at an ungrateful government. Most consequentially, Einstein who had embraced the cause of Zionism for decades, supported the creation of a home for Jewish people in Palestine. But Einstein would almost certainly have been horrified by some of Israel’s right-wing nationalism today; as his later letters indicate, he always wanted Palestine to be equally free to Jews and Arabs, with open entry for all.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Einstein’s scientific and political rebellion won him few friends, although as the world’s most famous scientist, he continued to be idolized. In physics, he had let the particle physics revolution sweep past him and kept on expressing his skepticism of quantum mechanics. The young revolutionary had become an old conservative, leading Oppenheimer to trenchantly remark that he was a “lighthouse, not a beacon.” With his trademark self-effacing humor, Einstein was well aware that he was being treated more like a sacred relic rather than a practicing scientist; in 1942, he described himself as having become “a lonely old man who is displayed now and then as a curiosity because he doesn&#39;t wear socks.” Lonely after Elsa had died in 1936, he kept on scribbling equations in quest of a grand unified theory combining gravity and electromagnetism, not realizing that he would critically need the strong and weak nuclear forces that were just being revealed.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;On April 17, 1955, Einstein suffered internal bleeding because of a ruptured abdominal aneurysm. Surgery could have prolonged his life for a short period, but he refused, saying &amp;nbsp;&quot;I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.” He died in Princeton Hospital the next day.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p2&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot; style=&quot;font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Einstein’s life illustrates many lessons, but none more than the importance of curiosity and fearlessness and being true to himself. While the world changed momentously during his life, Einstein did not change in his essentials. His love of science and music and men, his commitment to pacifism and the international brotherhood of men and women, and his almost religious (although secularly so) feeling for the beauty and unity of nature’s laws stayed with him all his life. We are unlikely to see another like him for a long time, although he leaves us with lessons worth emulating for a lifetime.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2024/09/timeless-figures-1-albert-einstein.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAf22ZfRoHIhkHARsXHhiJT3sAw3kc8XaVCGRufoQhuVAqNIGSVA6hdccPg5VR1ebPcb3MRmwsRr2tmZJ6urTepZSL67EHH8hqhbge3tEsqwiMC0AihrLD-bFb4QYsC01sDzyBemz3auooX6eaCG_1m5QKdPx8tw9IVDjwj-kwrPw5hb-N2DEEag=s72-w244-h320-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-2313572443098139695</guid><pubDate>Tue, 13 Aug 2024 16:31:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-08-13T09:32:01.112-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">AI</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">history</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">technology</category><title>Areopagitica and the problem of regulating AI</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiM6LYqf-gfstCWHhnh_Wfjg2iEUnT5qXWlE0zF19JyGJZQwK5ydmHP-JBRhkYbVIPKIdpTvNodJcIgPx6A3VJU4KeHR0JlzMkf6OvdfL6VdRIwCVlfglJfTw7pdFzHVn-dL9PG-tK3aHmArl8nKPEESfUKoGc2dFxtyCZx66Ivmlaj1uWjjeFu_A&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;561&quot; data-original-width=&quot;399&quot; height=&quot;413&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiM6LYqf-gfstCWHhnh_Wfjg2iEUnT5qXWlE0zF19JyGJZQwK5ydmHP-JBRhkYbVIPKIdpTvNodJcIgPx6A3VJU4KeHR0JlzMkf6OvdfL6VdRIwCVlfglJfTw7pdFzHVn-dL9PG-tK3aHmArl8nKPEESfUKoGc2dFxtyCZx66Ivmlaj1uWjjeFu_A=w294-h413&quot; width=&quot;294&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;How do we regulate a revolutionary new technology with great potential for harm and good? A 380-year-old polemic provides guidance.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In 1644, John Milton sat down to give a speech to the English parliament arguing in favor of the unlicensed printing of books and against a proposed bill to restrict their contents. Published as “&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/miltA.html&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: 0.2s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Areopagitica&lt;/a&gt;”, Milton’s speech became one of the most brilliant defenses of free expression.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Milton rightly recognized the great potential books had and the dangers of smothering that potential before they were published. He did not mince words:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;“For books are not absolutely dead things, but …do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous Dragon’s teeth; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men….Yet on the other hand unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a Man as kill a good Book; who kills a Man kills a reasonable creature, God’s Image; but he who destroys a good Book, kills reason itself, kills the Image of God, as it were in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the Earth; but a good Book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Apart from stifling free expression, the fundamental problem of regulation as Milton presciently recognized is that the good effects of any technology cannot be cleanly separated from the bad effects; every technology is what we call dual-use. Referring back all the way to Genesis and original sin, Milton said:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;“Good and evil we know in the field of this world grow up together almost inseparably; and the knowledge of good is so involved and interwoven with the knowledge of evil, and in so many cunning resemblances hardly to be discerned, that those confused seeds which were imposed upon Psyche as an incessant labour to cull out, and sort asunder, were not intermixed. It was from out the rind of one apple tasted, that the knowledge of good and evil, as two twins cleaving together, leaped forth into the world.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In important ways, “Areopagitica” is a blueprint for controlling potentially destructive modern technologies. Freeman Dyson&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2003/02/13/the-future-needs-us/&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: 0.2s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;applied&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;the argument to propose commonsense legislation in the field of recombinant DNA technology. And today, I think, the argument applies cogently to AI.&lt;span id=&quot;more-260814&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;AI is such a new technology that its benefits and harms are largely unknown and hard to distinguish from each other. In some cases the distinction is clear. For instance, image recognition can be used for all kinds of useful applications ranging from weather assessment to cancer cell analysis, but it can be and&lt;a href=&quot;https://bigdatachina.csis.org/the-ai-surveillance-symbiosis-in-china/#:~:text=Address%20China&#39;s%20AI%2Dsurveillance%20symbiosis.&amp;amp;text=Some%20export%20controls%20and%20bans,But%20enforcement%20can%20be%20challenging.&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: 0.2s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;is used&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;for surveillance. In that case, it is not possible to separate out the good from the bad even when we know what they are. But more importantly, as the technology of image recognition AI demonstrates, it is impossible to know what exactly AI will be used for unless there’s an opportunity to see some real-world applications of it. Restricting AI before these applications are known will almost certainly ensure that the good applications are stamped out.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;It is in the context of Areopagitica and the inherent difficulty of regulating a technology before its potential is unknown that I find myself concerned about some of the new government regulation which is being proposed for regulating AI, especially&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1047&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: 0.2s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;California Bill SB-1047&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;which has already passed the state Senate and has made its way to the Assembly, with a proposed decision date at the end of this month.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The bill proposes commonsense measures for AI, such as more transparent cost-accounting and documentation. But it also imposes what seem like arbitrary restrictions on AI models. For instance, it would require regulation and paperwork for models which cost $100 million or more per training run. While this regulation will exempt companies which run cheaper models, the problem in fact runs the other way: nothing stops cheaper models from being used for nefarious purposes.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;eaa-wrapper eaa_post_between_content eaa_desktop&quot; id=&quot;eaa_post_between_content&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 0px -20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Let’s take a concrete example: in the field of chemical synthesis, AI models are increasingly used to do what is called&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en/services/software-and-digital-platforms/synthia-retrosynthesis-software&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: 0.2s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;retrosynthesis&lt;/a&gt;, which is to virtually break down a complex molecule into its constituent building blocks and raw materials (as a simple example, a breakdown of sodium chloride into sodium and chlorine would be retrosynthesis). One can use retrosynthesis algorithms to find out the cheapest or the most environmentally friendly route to a target molecule like a drug, a pesticide or an energy material. And run in reverse, you can use the algorithm for forward planning, predicting based on building blocks what the resulting target molecule would look like. But nothing stops the algorithm from doing the same analysis on a nerve gas or a paralytic or an explosive; it’s the same science and the same code. Importantly, much of this analysis is now available in the form of laptop computer software which enables the models to be trained on datasets of millions of data points: small potatoes in the world of AI. Almost none of these models cost anywhere close to $100 million, which puts their use in the hands of small businesses, graduate students and – if and when they choose to use them – malicious state and non-state actors.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Thus, restricting AI regulation to expensive models might exempt smaller actors, but it’s precisely that fact that would enable these small actors to use the technology to bad ends. On the other hand, critics are also right that it would effectively price out the&amp;nbsp;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;good&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;small actors since they would not be able to afford the legal paperwork that the bigger corporations can. The arbitrary cap of $100 million therefore does not seem to address the root of the problem. The same issue applies to another restriction which is also part of the European AI regulation, which is limiting the calculation speed to 10&lt;span style=&quot;border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;26&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;flops. Using the same example of the AI retrosynthesis models, it is easy to argue that such models can be run for far less computing power and would still produce useful results.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;What then is the correct way to regulate AI technology? Quite apart from the details, one thing that is clear is that we should be able to experiment a bit, run laboratory-scale models and at least try to probe the boundaries of potential risks before we decide to stifle this or that model or rein in computing power. Once again Milton echoes such sentiments. As a 17&lt;span style=&quot;border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;th&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;century intellectual it would have been a long shot for him to call for the completely free dissemination of knowledge; he must well have been aware of the blood that had been shed in religious conflicts in Europe during his time. Instead, he proposed that there could be some checks and restrictions on books, but only after they had been published:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;“If then the Order shall not be vain and frustrate, behold a new labour, Lords and Commons, ye must repeal and proscribe all scandalous and unlicensed books already printed and divulged; after ye have drawn them up into a list, that all may know which are condemned, and which not.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Thus, Milton was arguing that books should not be stifled at the time of their&amp;nbsp;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;creation&lt;/em&gt;; instead, they should be stifled at the time of their&amp;nbsp;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;use&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;if the censors saw a need. The creation vs use distinction is a sensible one when thinking about regulating AI as well. But even that distinction doesn’t completely address the issue, since the uses of AI technology are myriad, and most of them are going to be beneficial and intrinsically dual-use. Even regulating the uses of AI thus would entail interfering in many aspects of AI development and deployment. And what about the legal and commercial paperwork, the extensive regulatory framework and the army of bureaucrats that would be needed to enforce this legislation? The problem with legislation is that it is easy for it to overstep boundaries, to be on a slippery slope and gradually elbow its way into all kinds of things for which it wasn’t originally intended, exceeding its original mandate. Milton shrewdly recognized this overreach when he asked what else besides printing might be up for regulation:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;“If we think to regulate printing, thereby to rectify manners, we must regulate all recreations and pastimes, all that is delightful to man. No music must be heard, no song be set or sung, but what is grave and Doric. There must be licensing dancers, that no gesture, motion, or deportment be taught our youth but what by their allowance shall be thought honest; for such Plato was provided of; it will ask more than the work of twenty licensers to examine all the lutes, the violins, and the guitars in every house; they must not be suffered to prattle as they do, but must be licensed what they may say. And who shall silence all the airs and madrigals that whisper softness in chambers? The windows also, and the balconies must be thought on; there are shrewd books, with dangerous frontispieces, set to sale; who shall prohibit them, shall twenty licensers?”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;This passage shows that not only was John Milton a great writer and polemicist, but he also had a fine sense of humor. Areopagitica shows us that if we are to confront the problem of AI legislation, we must do it not just with good sense but with a recognition of the absurdities which too much regulation may bring.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The proponents of AI who fear the many problems it might create are well-meaning, but they are unduly adhering to the Precautionary Principle. The Precautionary Principles says that it’s sensible to regulate something when its risks are not known. I would like to suggest that we replace the Precautionary Principle with a principle I call The Adventure Principle. The Adventure Principle says that we should embrace risks rather than running away from them because of the benefits which exploration brings. Without the Adventure Principle, Columbus, Cook, Heyerdahl and Armstrong would never have set sail into the great unknown and Edison, Jobs, Gates and Musk would never embark on big technological projects. Just like with AI, these explorers faced a significant risk of death and destruction, but they understood that with immense risks come immense benefits, and by the rational light of science and calculation, they thought there was a good chance that the risks could be managed. They were right.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Ultimately there is no foolproof “pre-release” legislation or restriction that would purely stop the bad use of models while still enabling their good use. Milton’s Areopagitica does not tell us what the right legislation for regulating AI would look like, although it provides hints based on regulation of use rather than creation. But it makes a resounding case for the problems that such legislation may create. Regulating AI before we have a chance to see what it can do would be like imprisoning a child before he grows up into a young man. Perhaps a better approach would be the one Faraday adopted when Gladstone purportedly asked him what the use of electricity was: “Someday you may tax it”, was Faraday’s response.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Some say that the potential risks from AI are too great to allow for such a liberal approach. But the potential risks from almost any groundbreaking technology developed in the last few hundred decades – printing, electricity, fossil fuels, automobiles, nuclear energy, gene editing – are no different. The premature regulation of AI would prevent us from unleashing its potential to confront our most pressing challenges. When humanity is then grasping with its last-ditch efforts to prevent its own extinction because of known problems, a recognition of the irony of smothering AI because of a fear of unknown problems would come too late to save us.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2024/08/areopagitica-and-problem-of-regulating.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiM6LYqf-gfstCWHhnh_Wfjg2iEUnT5qXWlE0zF19JyGJZQwK5ydmHP-JBRhkYbVIPKIdpTvNodJcIgPx6A3VJU4KeHR0JlzMkf6OvdfL6VdRIwCVlfglJfTw7pdFzHVn-dL9PG-tK3aHmArl8nKPEESfUKoGc2dFxtyCZx66Ivmlaj1uWjjeFu_A=s72-w294-h413-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>2</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-4028211449234594032</guid><pubDate>Mon, 29 Apr 2024 21:44:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-04-29T16:39:09.834-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">books</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Daniel Dennett</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">evolution</category><title>Daniel Dennett (1942-2024)</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjoEIlrP8KVyUw_08ugHzyjQDYq_IIYrxLapzR3YsYr0SqEBlyy7kUBin0GzeCA8UoOV6UCW6vhhfuqEkXRtmwQZihDs_dKWgHSSqwYcABPy_mywBp8q_F0auTGjTgDK5aI-4jafKAWTfrcZTx5AVVjfhRLMIL40UYPhRFiqhqhjDpil5icsiMMA&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;430&quot; data-original-width=&quot;713&quot; height=&quot;213&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjoEIlrP8KVyUw_08ugHzyjQDYq_IIYrxLapzR3YsYr0SqEBlyy7kUBin0GzeCA8UoOV6UCW6vhhfuqEkXRtmwQZihDs_dKWgHSSqwYcABPy_mywBp8q_F0auTGjTgDK5aI-4jafKAWTfrcZTx5AVVjfhRLMIL40UYPhRFiqhqhjDpil5icsiMMA=w352-h213&quot; width=&quot;352&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For a long time there&#39;s been a kind of Cold War with a slow moving front between philosophers and scientists, especially physicists. The scientists accuse the philosophers of being as useful to the theory and practice of science as &quot;ornithologists are to birds&quot;, as a popular saying goes. The philosophers in turn emphasize to the scientists that their disciplines, especially in the 20th and 21st centuries, are so complex and abstract that they cannot be understood without the input of philosophy.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;It is in the light of this debate, especially, that the death of Daniel Dennett hit so hard. Unlike most philosophers, Dennett was someone who tried to seriously grapple with the actual&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;facts&lt;/i&gt; of science - in his case, evolutionary biology and neuroscience - as opposed to the fevered armchair speculation of philosophy. These facts were on full display in the many phenomenal books he wrote, of which my favorites are &quot;Darwin&#39;s Dangerous Idea&quot;, &quot;Breaking the Spell&quot; and &quot;From Bacteria to Bach and Back&quot;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Dennett&#39;s writing was wonderful and brilliant - extremely witty, confident, bold, even stridently so. He was one of only a handful of writers who regularly elicited moments of &quot;Aha!&quot; in my mind. More than almost anyone else from his generation he was unafraid of taking on bold ideas, particularly ones which would make readers uncomfortable. Whether he was arguing that consciousness is a kind of useful delusion in &quot;Consciousness Explained&quot; or exhorting readers to take the scientific study of religion seriously, as in &quot;Breaking the Spell&quot;, Dennett was always provocative. I do not remember a single time when I did not come away from a piece of Dennett&#39;s writing without ideas and questions swirling around in my head.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;This was true irrespective of whether I agreed with him or not, and there was certainly enough in his work for spirited disagreement. But this is something that needs to be pointed out especially today when so many of us are being asked, explicitly or implicitly, to pick sides, to eschew shades of gray, to personify the &quot;with us or against us&quot; ethos. Dennett took his opponents&#39; arguments seriously, before politely demolishing them. Even when he mocked shoddy thinking - and there was no dearth of that kind of incisive analysis in his writings - he did so after careful consideration of their positions. That quality is on full display in &quot;Breaking the Spell&quot; in which he takes on religious proponents with zeal and certainly, but also with careful analysis.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;It was Dennett&#39;s critical take on religion that led him to be pegged as one of the four &quot;horsemen&quot; of the New Atheism movement, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris. Part of what made him a member of that group was his sheer delight at the wonders of natural (as opposed to supernatural) evolution by natural selection. In fact, one of the most delightful and brilliant things he wrote showcasing the centrality of a mindless but highly creative process giving the illusion of intelligence was the following from &quot;From Bacteria to Bach and Back&quot;:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxgAZHj-3bfjW_U629399zcxHZ4iQTyXy0LF7IUUwHu9Oqp3kVRaEw4bnIIAascPKsthVsS6A-eM-PlnjPsRa2RrHugCB_OJo-qdWk8LCB38xsso1gqJj40fNdWV_oTCghdwws7jQKb_AqzkBfDxsNC2DKZ6HC6ZV57U75Ph4-VGhOOFlduf8SOQ&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;514&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1008&quot; height=&quot;241&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxgAZHj-3bfjW_U629399zcxHZ4iQTyXy0LF7IUUwHu9Oqp3kVRaEw4bnIIAascPKsthVsS6A-eM-PlnjPsRa2RrHugCB_OJo-qdWk8LCB38xsso1gqJj40fNdWV_oTCghdwws7jQKb_AqzkBfDxsNC2DKZ6HC6ZV57U75Ph4-VGhOOFlduf8SOQ=w473-h241&quot; width=&quot;473&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I find that last sentence to be cleverness exemplified. But given his vast oeuvre of writings, I never thought membership in the brotherhood of the horsemen to be a particularly significant part of Dennett&#39;s intellectual identity, and from what I hear, neither did he. Instead it was just one among many facets of a life devoted to reason, understanding and debate. His books were packed with so many things apart from atheism that it would be a disservice to primarily identify him with that movement.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;When I heard about Dennett&#39;s death I was about to spend some quality reading time in a coffee shop. I picked up &quot;Breaking the Spell&quot; and spent the next two hours engaging with that classic Dennettsian blend of provocativeness, wit and wisdom. At the end, just like when I had read his works before, I felt invigorated, as if I had just had a first-class workout in a mental gym. And as before I felt like a slight shift had taken place in my consciousness, my understanding of the world and myself.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The core of Dan Dennett&#39;s identity was devoted to teaching us to question our deepest, most cherished beliefs and to encourage critical thinking, no matter where it led us. In the process he made us think and feel provoked, delighted and yes, uncomfortable. Because through discomfort, whether physical or mental, comes enlightenment.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2024/04/daniel-dennett-1942-2024.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjoEIlrP8KVyUw_08ugHzyjQDYq_IIYrxLapzR3YsYr0SqEBlyy7kUBin0GzeCA8UoOV6UCW6vhhfuqEkXRtmwQZihDs_dKWgHSSqwYcABPy_mywBp8q_F0auTGjTgDK5aI-4jafKAWTfrcZTx5AVVjfhRLMIL40UYPhRFiqhqhjDpil5icsiMMA=s72-w352-h213-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-783500023408374514</guid><pubDate>Tue, 09 Apr 2024 17:27:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-04-09T10:33:08.631-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">history of physics</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">nuclear energy</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">samuel glasstone</category><title>Simple, atypical but neat estimation of energy released in fission</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, &amp;quot;system-ui&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;.SFNSText-Regular&amp;quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; orphans: 2; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot; style=&quot;text-align: start;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Simple but neat atypical calculation of energy released in fission (from Glasstone and Sesonske, “Nuclear Reactor Engineering”). It’s a nice illustration of guesstimating based on empirical data.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&quot;The amount of energy released when a nucleus undergoes fission can be calculated by determining the net decrease in mass, from the known isotopic masses, and utilizing the Einstein mass-energy relationship. A simple, but instructive although less accurate, alternative procedure is the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;a style=&quot;color: #385898; cursor: pointer;&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;following. Disregarding the neutrons involved, since they have a negligible effect on the present calculation, the fission reaction may be represented (approximately) by &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Uranium-235 -› Fission product A + Fission product B + Energy.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In uranium-235, the mean binding energy per nucleon is about 7.6 Mev, so that it is possible to write&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;92 p + 143 n -&amp;gt; Uranium-235 + (235 X 7.6) Mev&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;where p and n represent protons and neutrons, respectively.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The mass numbers of the two fission product nuclei are mostly in the range of roughly 95 to 140, where the binding energy per nucleon is, as in tin-120, for example, about 8.5 Mev; hence, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;92 p + 143 n -› Fission products A and B + (235 X 8.5) Mev&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Upon subtracting the two binding energy expressions, the result is&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Uranium-235 -&amp;gt; Fission products + &lt;b&gt;210 Mev.&lt;/b&gt;&quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2024/04/simple-atypical-but-neat-estimation-of.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-8905632697766779236</guid><pubDate>Sun, 31 Mar 2024 04:08:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-03-30T21:08:30.150-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">book review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">books</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">George Kennan</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">history</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Russia</category><title>Book Review: &quot;Into Siberia: George Kennan&#39;s Epic Journey Through the Brutal, Frozen Heart of Russia&quot;, by Gregory Wallance</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEwjRoUKyJl_YtG70XAp3XeJYEWN9tKbrBQk3fYtkhkwCZG07C7TrfzSMoPKNAeWAT1f1T-ge_ivire2-WiS9_fDuFOnIYQaCVzHzJBIoYNZXuD5B20r4xgputwD5Fw_zGLswvZpCt6Z-zYWn1BAAeLgsB_C47-j1np1Ph2a_LUMLwkSlJk_WGNA&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2048&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1536&quot; height=&quot;400&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEwjRoUKyJl_YtG70XAp3XeJYEWN9tKbrBQk3fYtkhkwCZG07C7TrfzSMoPKNAeWAT1f1T-ge_ivire2-WiS9_fDuFOnIYQaCVzHzJBIoYNZXuD5B20r4xgputwD5Fw_zGLswvZpCt6Z-zYWn1BAAeLgsB_C47-j1np1Ph2a_LUMLwkSlJk_WGNA=w300-h400&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;It may seem hard to believe now, but in 1865, by the time the Civil War ended, Russia was America&#39;s best friend in Europe. The two countries enjoyed a healthy diplomatic relationship, buoyed by trade and a mutual distrust of Great Britain; Russia was the only European nation to support the Union during the war. America sent formal condolences when Tsar Alexander was assassinated; Russia did the same when Lincoln was shot.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;By 1891 it was all over. American &lt;a style=&quot;color: #385898; cursor: pointer;&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;mistrust of Russia was so pronounced that all diplomatic relations had cooled. It has never been the same since. What changed? Many factors played a role, but a significant one was the publication in 1891 of a now forgotten book by the journalist, writer and explorer George Kennan. Titled &quot;Siberia and the Exile System&quot;, it documented in vivid detail the brutal, cruel, unsparing system of Siberia exile, inflicted by Tsarist Russia on its people for the most trivial misdemeanors.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&quot;Into Siberia&quot; is the vivid account by Gregory Wallance of the Ohio-born and raised George Kennan&#39;s two visits to Russia, first in the 1860s as an employee of Western Union with the mammoth goal of laying a trans-Siberian telegraph line that would connect Europe to America, and then again as a journalist formally authorized by the Tsarist regime to document the exile system in Siberia. Ironically, the Russian monarchy and government thought that Kennan&#39;s coverage of the system would invoke sympathy in the rest of the world for its need; little did they know that they were letting a fox in the henhouse.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Wallance excels at two things in particular; firstly at describing the almost unbelievably stark and brutal Russian landscape, populated by neck-deep snow, fatal temperatures well below -40 degrees and fierce indigenous tribes who had hardly had any contact with their more modern countrymen, and second at describing Kennan&#39;s epic journey into this wasteland. He is also exceedingly good at charting the stunningly inhumane treatment of prisoners and their families at the hands of the Tsar and his officials; the book opens with an unforgettable description of a pillar at the border of Siberia at which men and women cried uncontrollably, because the journey past this pillar was almost certainly one from which they would not return.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;It&#39;s hard to not be thoroughly inspired by Kennan, a sickly young man who, determined to prove that he was strong of body and character, undertook the almost impossibly dangerous and exotic journey in 1865 to Siberia. His letters home remind one of other brave explorers staying cheerful in the face of danger or death - Shackleton, Cherry-Garrard, Lewis and Clark. He seems like the epitome of &quot;what does not kill you makes you stronger&quot;, deliberately laughing in the face of the most infernal of natural and human elements, braving bears, deadly storms, an endless land without direction, fierce tribes and meagre to no supplies of essential food and clothing. He had not just genuine curiosity but genuine empathy for the savage-looking tribes he met, learning their ways and their dialects and working together with them to survive, learn, rescue trapped companions. The first book he wrote after coming back, &quot;Tent Life in Siberia&quot;, was an unprecedented account written by a sharp-eyed journalist with a gift for evocative prose which taught Americans about Russia.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&quot;Siberia and the Exile System&quot; was equally vivid. From the pillar at the Siberian border to the innermost reaches of the labor camps, Kennan was given free access by the Tsar and his regime to the prisoners and their families. What Kennan saw horrified him: men with barely anything on their backs marched for hundreds of miles - Bataan death march style - in the most inclement weather, until many of them died on the way; their wives facing an impossible choice of remaining behind and starving to death or accompanying their husbands into conditions so stark that they would starve anyway or would be raped or have to sell themselves into prostitution. The bodies of children in frozen embraces with their parents were not an uncommon sight. Perhaps worst of all were the reasons why these prisoners were condemned to hell in the first place. Most prisoners were condemned to Siberia on trumped up charges based on the flimsiest criticism of the Tsarist regime. Freedom of speech, Kennan saw, was a complete joke in Russia (sounds familiar?).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Everything that we read later about the gulag system had their origin in those horrific exile camps set up by a cruel, indifferent, repressive Russian regime. When Kennan wrote his book, Americans and Russians alike were appalled, albeit for different reasons. For the first time, Americans had their eyes opened to the reality of a country which they had considered their friend. For Russians the book was shocking for the level of detail and the convincing arguments with which Kennan exposed the crudities of their so-called civilization. Reading Kennan&#39;s account 50 years later was the best education that his namesake who was the more famous Kennan - the American diplomat George Kennan of containment fame - could get. In his memoirs and writings, the younger Kennan often credits his lesser-known ancestor for grounding him in the realities of the Soviet Union.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;After Kennan published &quot;Siberia and the Exile System&quot;, Russian-American relations permanently deteriorated. After the murder of Tsar Nicholas, Lenin effectively set up the state as an outlaw state, defined in opposition to the capitalist countries. It is of course impossible to escape a feeling of deja vu reading Kennan&#39;s account. There seems to be an almost unbroken thread from Alexander through Nicholas, Lenin, Stalin and all the way to Putin in the repression exerted by Russian strongmen and their henchmen on their own people. Reading this story of a 139-year-old tragedy, one can be forgiven for feeling pessimistic about the future of Russian democracy and human rights. While the internet and new modes of communication have alerted the rest of the world to Russian leaders&#39; excess, it is time for another hardy soul of George Kennan&#39;s gifts, resilience and unbounded concern for human welfare to again lay bare the soul of this vast, inscrutable land.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2024/03/book-review-into-siberia-george-kennans.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEwjRoUKyJl_YtG70XAp3XeJYEWN9tKbrBQk3fYtkhkwCZG07C7TrfzSMoPKNAeWAT1f1T-ge_ivire2-WiS9_fDuFOnIYQaCVzHzJBIoYNZXuD5B20r4xgputwD5Fw_zGLswvZpCt6Z-zYWn1BAAeLgsB_C47-j1np1Ph2a_LUMLwkSlJk_WGNA=s72-w300-h400-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-4767972732519712076</guid><pubDate>Mon, 18 Mar 2024 16:53:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-03-18T09:53:15.865-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">chemistry</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">history of science</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Jack Dunitz</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">science</category><title>Jack Dunitz (1923-2021): Chemist And Writer Extraordinaire</title><description>&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjtM0xPtc3ZZFv_GEnr1ITY-Kkm5F2fnxWiPaMm-oyIHOKGuw-ibtO_xZ2yJnpnA-zpyFBfhtn7VAiE4xJY7DIXj69xqNFQ6TP8dU2dD-yFB6i9YWgsU1-dNmtyZOebmWAn0kK2DebGsy1PmLMiEinR3268iARBdDBJOKu-L6OerJTXvVwzAZdfg&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;605&quot; data-original-width=&quot;768&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjtM0xPtc3ZZFv_GEnr1ITY-Kkm5F2fnxWiPaMm-oyIHOKGuw-ibtO_xZ2yJnpnA-zpyFBfhtn7VAiE4xJY7DIXj69xqNFQ6TP8dU2dD-yFB6i9YWgsU1-dNmtyZOebmWAn0kK2DebGsy1PmLMiEinR3268iARBdDBJOKu-L6OerJTXvVwzAZdfg&quot; width=&quot;305&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Every once in a while there is a person of consummate achievement in a field, a person who while widely known to workers in that field is virtually unknown outside it and whose achievements should be known much better. One such person in the field of chemistry was Jack Dunitz. Over his long life of 98 years Dunitz inspired chemists across varied branches of chemistry. Many of his papers inspired me when I was in college and graduate school, and if the mark of a good scientific paper is that you find yourself regularly quoting it without even realizing it, then Dunitz’s papers have few rivals.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Two rare qualities in particular made Dunitz stand out: simple thinking that extended across chemistry, and clarity of prose. He was the master of the semi-quantitative argument. Most scientists, especially in this day and age, are specialists who rarely venture outside their narrow areas of expertise. And it is even rarer to find scientists – in any field – who wrote with the clarity that Dunitz did. When he was later asked in an&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ojs.chimia.ch/chimia/article/download/2011_440/4335/15020&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;interview&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;what led to his fondness for exceptionally clear prose, his answer was simple: “I was always interested in literature, and therefore in clear expression.” Which is as good a case for coupling scientific with literary training as I can think of.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Dunitz who was born in Glasgow and got his PhD there in 1947 had both the talent and the good fortune to have been trained by three of the best chemists and crystallographers of the 20th century: Linus Pauling, Dorothy Hodgkin and Leopold Ruzicka, all Nobel Laureates. In my personal opinion Dunitz himself could have easily qualified for a kind of lifetime achievement Nobel himself. While being a generalist, Dunitz’s speciality was the science and art of x-ray crystallography, and few could match his acumen in the application of this tool to structural chemistry.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;X-ray crystallography was developed by physicists in the first half of the 20th century to peer inside molecules, the way x-rays and MRI peer inside the human body. Just like those two techniques tell us the locations and structures of various organs in our body, x-ray crystallography tells us where the atoms in a molecule are exactly located, what the lengths of the various bonds are and what the stoichiometry – the exact composition of a complex mixture – is. If you had to point out one technique that has truly revolutionized chemistry, laying the entire chemical universe ranging from rocks and minerals to proteins and nucleic acids bare, it is x-ray crystallography. Dozens of Nobel Prizes for figuring out the structures of increasingly complex molecules, starting with table salt and progressing on through DNA, hemoglobin and the entire ribosome – the multi-component assembly that synthesizes proteins in living organisms – have been awarded through the decades.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;One such Nobel Prize was given to James Watson and Francis Crick for figuring out the structure of DNA, a feat made possible by the world-class x-ray crystallography on DNA done by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling. Dunitz who got his PhD in Glasgow and was working in Oxford in 1953 saw history in the making as he and a colleague drove up to Cambridge to see the ball-and-stick model of DNA using metal plates and tubes that Watson and Crick had constructed. In fact after making a suggestion to Pauling who had figured out the fundamental structure of proteins at Caltech, Dunitz might have contributed an immortal alphabet to the language of life:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;While my own work at Caltech had nothing to do with protein structure, Pauling used to talk to me occasionally about his models and what one could learn from them. In his lecture, he had talked about spirals. In conversation a few days later, I told him that for me the word “spiral” referred to a curve in a plane. As his polypeptide coils were three-dimensional figures, I suggested they were better described as “helices.” Pauling’s erudition did not stop at the natural sciences. He answered, quite correctly, that the words “spiral” and “helix” are practically synonymous and can be used almost interchangeably, but he thanked me for my suggestion because he preferred “helix” and declared that he would always use it henceforth. Perhaps he felt that by calling his structure a helix there would be less risk of confusion with the various other models that had been proposed earlier. In their 1950 short preliminary communication, Pauling and Corey wrote exclusively about spirals, but in the series of papers published the following year the spiral had already given way to the helix. There was no going back. A few years later we had the DNA double helix, not the DNA double spiral.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;After seeing the power of crystallography to crack open the very structure of life, Dunitz spent the rest of his career in that field at the famed ETH in Zurich, capping an incredible 64-year-long career with his death in 2021; his last paper, written when he was 96, was appropriately a critique of certain chemical terminology and titled “&lt;a href=&quot;https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30408322/&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Bad Language&lt;/a&gt;“.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Dunitz was truly unusual in ranging across the broad spectrum of chemical disciplines. Organic, inorganic and biological chemistry all came within his purview, aided by the powerful interdisciplinary generality of the tool of x-ray crystallography which he wielded with aplomb. Over his long career he published more than 350 scientific papers and penned several foundational books. It would be impossible to review his entire corpus, so I now review three of his papers which made a striking impression on me, which I have cited and read many times over the years, and which I think showcase his striking originality in marshaling simple models and arguments across a variety of fields.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;figure class=&quot;wp-caption alignright&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; display: inline; float: right; margin: 14px 0px 27px 27px; max-width: 100%; width: 278px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Hydrogen Bonding&quot; class=&quot;&quot; decoding=&quot;async&quot; height=&quot;182&quot; src=&quot;https://ib.bioninja.com.au/img/H%20bonding%20mobile.jpg&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100%;&quot; width=&quot;278&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;figcaption class=&quot;wp-caption-text&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5675em; margin: 14px 0px; padding: 0px 2.77699px; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Hydrogen bonds in water molecules: the hydrogens of one molecule form fleeting interactions with the oxygens of the other (Image credit: Bioninja)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Perhaps my favorite paper of Dunitz’s is a 1997&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/chem.19970030115&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;paper&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;titled “Organic Fluorine Hardly Ever Accepts Hydrogen Bonds”. Some explication is needed here. Hydrogen bonds are weak, fleeting bonds between hydrogen and other atoms which, while weak, are absolutely critical in keeping all kinds of molecules including proteins and nucleic acids together. In fact, water would not be a liquid without hydrogen bonds and life as we know it would not exist without them. It is their very transient nature that make hydrogen bonds “on-demand” bonds; they can be formed when needed and rapidly dissolved when no longer needed. Linus Pauling, often considered the most important chemist of the 20th century, had underscored the importance of hydrogen bonds in the 1930s in his seminal book, “The Nature of the Chemical Bond”. Typically hydrogen bonds are formed between hydrogen and what are called ‘electronegative’ atoms, ones like oxygen and nitrogen. Electronegative atoms have a particular affinity for electrons, attracting the electron clouds of atoms like hydrogen; the most common hydrogen bonds therefore are ones between oxygen and nitrogen.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;There is another element on the periodic table, a most unusual one, which should be even more powerful at forming hydrogen bonds, except that it isn’t. That element is fluorine. Fluorine is in fact the most electronegative element on the periodic table, which is why we would expect it to form hydrogen bonds with furious abandon. But while inorganic fluorine found in compounds like hydrofluoric acid – a diabolically corrosive and&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://chemistry.harvard.edu/files/chemistry/files/safe_use_of_hf_0.pdf&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;dangerous&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;substance – does form these hydrogen bonds,&amp;nbsp;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;organic&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;fluorine (fluorine bonded to carbon, that is) found in compounds like polytetrafluoroethylene – PTFE or Teflon – does not. In fact it is precisely fluorine’s reluctance to form hydrogen bonds with water in Teflon that makes it such an effective coating for non-stick cookware.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;This behavior of fluorine is what the facts indicate, but the facts in this case don’t line up well with chemical theory which expects hydrogen bonding tendencies to increase with electronegativity. Fortunately there is a big database of “solved” crystal structures of organic molecules that includes molecules containing fluorine; it was only waiting for the right person to come along to interpret it. Dunitz’s paper was perhaps the first one to exhaustively analyze this database and then come up with a convincing chemical explanation for the counterintuitive observation that fluorine hardly ever forms hydrogen bonds. He looked at almost 6000 structures with fluorine and determined that hardly a dozen form hydrogen bonds between the fluorine and other hydrogen atoms. The details of why fluorine is reluctant to form hydrogen bonds is beyond the scope of this post (and explained in a further&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cbic.200300801&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;paper&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;by Dunitz), but the qualitative explanation is simple: imagine that an electronegative element like oxygen has “hands” that pull others toward it. The problem with fluorine is that it is so electronegative that it simply keeps its hands to itself.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Even today I keep meeting chemists who, based on what seems like entirely sound chemical logic, expect fluorine to form hydrogen bonds. They recommend that one make drug molecules with fluorine that would enable them to stick better to and form hydrogen bonds with proteins that they want to block, proteins that have gone haywire in cancer, for instance. It is then that I find myself waving Dunitz’s paper – sometimes literally since I still “believe” in paper copies – with the fervent enthusiasm of a preacher.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The second paper from Dunitz that I often highlight shows Dunitz’s masterful application of simple, semi-quantitative arguments to addressing an important question. One of the most important things that scientists want to know when thinking about biological molecules like proteins is how they interact with water. All biological molecules are swimming in a vast sea of water; in fact water not just ubiquitously surrounds these molecules but is also an intimate participant in their behavior. Knowing the thermodynamics of this system – the strength of binding in particular between proteins and other molecules and water – is critical in engineering better drugs and proteins. Two factors are key in quantifying this binding: enthalpy and entropy. Roughly speaking, enthalpy concerns itself with the strength of the interactions between two molecules and entropy concerns itself with how loosely or tightly they bind, whether they stay in place or whether they jiggle around. While enthalpy is often easy to estimate, entropy is not.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;eaa-wrapper eaa_post_between_content eaa_desktop&quot; id=&quot;eaa_post_between_content&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 0px -20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;eaa-ad  &quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;figure aria-describedby=&quot;caption-attachment-251037&quot; class=&quot;wp-caption alignright&quot; id=&quot;attachment_251037&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; display: inline; float: right; margin: 14px 0px 27px 27px; max-width: 100%; width: 275px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; class=&quot;wp-image-251037&quot; decoding=&quot;async&quot; height=&quot;350&quot; sizes=&quot;(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px&quot; src=&quot;https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-17-at-2.56.05%E2%80%AFPM-804x1024.png&quot; srcset=&quot;https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-17-at-2.56.05 PM-804x1024.png 804w, https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-17-at-2.56.05 PM-283x360.png 283w, https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-17-at-2.56.05 PM-768x978.png 768w, https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-17-at-2.56.05 PM-236x300.png 236w, https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-17-at-2.56.05 PM.png 1002w&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;&quot; width=&quot;275&quot; /&gt;&lt;figcaption class=&quot;wp-caption-text&quot; id=&quot;caption-attachment-251037&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5675em; margin: 14px 0px; padding: 0px 2.74858px; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Image credit: Science&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In 1994, Dunitz wrote a one-page&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.264.5159.670&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;paper&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;in the journal ‘Science’ titled “The Entropic Cost of Bound Water Molecules in Crystals and Biomolecules” in which, using the simplest of data and arguments, he came up with a reliable number quantifying the entropy of a single water molecule binding to biological molecules. One of his strengths here which is also showcased in the fluorine paper is his ability to look at old data and come up with new explanations. He starts by looking at data on&amp;nbsp;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;hydrates&lt;/em&gt;, simple salts like zinc sulfate which are surrounded by water molecules. He also looks at old data on the thermodynamics of the melting and freezing of ice which would also gives estimates on the entropy of water molecules; he points out something telling which is now a far more serious problem in our specialized world, namely that&amp;nbsp;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;“this information has been available for a long time, but science has become so specialized that its practitioners in one branch are all too often unaware of what is common knowledge in another.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;How is thermodynamic information on ice, liquid water and hydrate salts relevant to what goes on with proteins? Because, as Dunitz astutely observes, this thermodynamics sets an&amp;nbsp;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;upper limit&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;on the entropy question for water around proteins: salts bind water molecules most tightly, so surely proteins would bind them more weakly? Using these arguments, Dunitz arrives at a value for the entropy of a bound water molecule which is now commonly used in calculations. The paper demonstrates characteristic Dunitzian strengths which should be widely emulated: scrupulous attention to existing data, including data going back decades, simple back-of-the-envelope calculations, and proof by analogy.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The last paper among Dunitz’s great corpus of works is a paper which exemplifies a particularly fine example of speculative as well as interdisciplinary thinking. It questioned a fact which everyone knows but no one really thinks about: Why is body temperature for animals like humans who can maintain their temperature about 36 degrees celsius, and why is it maintained across such a huge range of organisms? As we know, unless they are sick, homeothermic animals like ourselves are very efficient at regulating body heat. An explanation provided by some previous scientists pointed to the specific heat of water. Specific heat is the amount of heat required to change the temperature of a substance by one degree. Water has a very large specific heat compared to many other substances, which is just one of many of its remarkably unusual properties. But this specific heat happens to reach its lowest value at about 36 degrees celsius, just the optimum temperature mentioned above. The previous explanation said that water at this temperature was least resistant to changes in its temperature and quickly dissipated whatever heat was added to or subtracted from it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Dunitz and his co-author, Steven Benner, found this argument “appealing, but not correct” in their response,&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nature.com/articles/324418c0&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;published&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;in the journal Nature in 1986. First, they identify what seems to be an obvious but overlooked problem: the smaller the specific heat, the easier it will be to cause fluctuations in temperature, making it harder for an organism to survive, not easier. They also realize that the previous argument only applies to pure water; water in living organisms is a complex aqueous mixture consisting of water, biomolecules like proteins and salts. So what could be responsible for the precise temperature regulation? Dunitz and Benner don’t pretend to know the answer, but they focus on two of water’s unique properties in particular, its hydrophobicity (or tendency to repel greasy, oil-like substances) and its viscosity. As temperature rises, water becomes less viscous and therefore facilitates chemical reactions in it. However, hydrophobicity also lessens with temperature, which could lead to unwanted mingling between water and greasy substances. Dunitz and Benner speculate that a temperature of 36 degrees is a Goldilocks-like zone, one where the viscosity is low enough for chemical reactions to speedily occur but hydrophobicity is high enough to prevent greasy substances from dissolving too easily.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;To me this paper is a superb example of informed speculation, not pretending to solve a problem but offering a tantalizing potential solution and gently but firmly demolishing an existing explanation. It is widely believed that life anywhere in the universe would have to be based on water. Dunitz and Brenner’s analysis of the temperature dependence of water’s unique viscosity and hydrophobicity provides another window on why this substance is so unique for supporting life.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;These three papers may serve to exemplify the range of Dunitz’s contributions, and they are but a slice of his vast corpus. In&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.93.25.14260&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;another analysis&lt;/a&gt;, he used a purely mathematical argument about the geometry of a pentagon to predict the experimentally-verified geometry of cyclopentane, a molecule with five carbon atoms arranged in a ring. His is a textbook name in many ways, none more so than in the eponymous “&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%BCrgi%E2%80%93Dunitz_angle&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Bürgi-Dunitz angle&lt;/a&gt;” which describes the angle of attack of a reacting molecule and the precise geometric configuration of the reactants in an important class of organic reactions, one which has yielded great dividends of both academic and industrial interest.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; class=&quot; wp-image-251047 alignright&quot; decoding=&quot;async&quot; height=&quot;341&quot; loading=&quot;lazy&quot; sizes=&quot;(max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px&quot; src=&quot;https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_4313-768x1024.jpeg&quot; srcset=&quot;https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_4313-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_4313-270x360.jpeg 270w, https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_4313-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_4313-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_4313-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://3quarksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_4313-scaled.jpeg 1920w&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin: 14px 0px 14px 27px; max-width: 100%;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Apart from scientific papers spanning a remarkable variety of topics, Dunitz also wrote books that are considered foundational in the field. Perhaps my favorite book of his is written for laymen. “&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Symmetry-Chemistry-Edgar-Heilbronner/dp/3527284885&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #e80004; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Reflections on Symmetry: In Chemistry…and Elsewhere&lt;/a&gt;“, written with his co-author Edgar Heilbronner, is a marvelous look at symmetry, perhaps the deepest quality of nature. Symmetry is absolutely fundamental not just for chemistry and biology but in the deepest reaches of physics, including quantum mechanics and particle physics. Dunitz and Heilbronner’s book is a romp through aspects of symmetry in fields as disparate as medieval mathematics, Islamic and modern art and of course, chemistry. It is a beautiful book, filled with illustrations and elegant arguments.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Jack Dunitz was one of those scientists who enrich everything they touch, across a wide range of domains, with insight, revelation and beauty. The simplicity and importance of his arguments, humility as a man and fearlessness in tackling disparate problems will be a candle that will keep lighting the minds of aspiring chemists and other scientists for eons to come.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUalHAtdu9E4f3PDAZs8WGyKiaMUeqJeFh7xgxo4omeZ4rVdf27-sXAVCwKs_qXPOu9e8SEzNxbshqh5YrMGyGB_CjuKLTQf1VyO4noB1O6t6QbPiEr2XdKZ6MQlZuhcfw5TFwGKHR-u78g0aj9bqOXZbZc6TUirluO5xyLfkthSU2DL5ZLKbJfA&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1152&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1536&quot; height=&quot;480&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUalHAtdu9E4f3PDAZs8WGyKiaMUeqJeFh7xgxo4omeZ4rVdf27-sXAVCwKs_qXPOu9e8SEzNxbshqh5YrMGyGB_CjuKLTQf1VyO4noB1O6t6QbPiEr2XdKZ6MQlZuhcfw5TFwGKHR-u78g0aj9bqOXZbZc6TUirluO5xyLfkthSU2DL5ZLKbJfA=w640-h480&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2Z-gPh6BjB0ZxMZWHKIXqffpdl7KaEX8wIUh9agQbOpR_SPqW7S0ykit23ti6bOBzuHPKWGhtiJmg9X8FyMlhow3LsMq3lDFTtSKwWv4ymRdr1opokPHHg9xT7lqAUoDBUUu2kigt1WSxgafwhioNEWpnpBv8Hvphh0cc7otUhQPGoA6Lsoi8GA&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1152&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1536&quot; height=&quot;480&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2Z-gPh6BjB0ZxMZWHKIXqffpdl7KaEX8wIUh9agQbOpR_SPqW7S0ykit23ti6bOBzuHPKWGhtiJmg9X8FyMlhow3LsMq3lDFTtSKwWv4ymRdr1opokPHHg9xT7lqAUoDBUUu2kigt1WSxgafwhioNEWpnpBv8Hvphh0cc7otUhQPGoA6Lsoi8GA=w640-h480&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2024/03/jack-dunitz-1923-2021-chemist-and.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjtM0xPtc3ZZFv_GEnr1ITY-Kkm5F2fnxWiPaMm-oyIHOKGuw-ibtO_xZ2yJnpnA-zpyFBfhtn7VAiE4xJY7DIXj69xqNFQ6TP8dU2dD-yFB6i9YWgsU1-dNmtyZOebmWAn0kK2DebGsy1PmLMiEinR3268iARBdDBJOKu-L6OerJTXvVwzAZdfg=s72-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-1309348863890575488</guid><pubDate>Sat, 20 Jan 2024 02:16:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-01-19T18:19:00.877-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">history of physics</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">history of science</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Niels Bohr</category><title>How Niels Bohr predicted Rydberg atoms</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtKJ3-azVSQn92QJkvXYhj0gwVAB1BUif9EDLMHfZeV3j43kN-SRvzNJhc9BdjL58NdBaGjcSLRvyTArjANp1Z4Vg5A0OdODYDB5PKm2M-39uYu-_LhSf_YCxTOOyc2yVCnx-aWCrsNiv8d7C94DpX-e5ZQg10U-kYrLhWUXXWR6jY8yof1lNz2A&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;613&quot; data-original-width=&quot;936&quot; height=&quot;420&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtKJ3-azVSQn92QJkvXYhj0gwVAB1BUif9EDLMHfZeV3j43kN-SRvzNJhc9BdjL58NdBaGjcSLRvyTArjANp1Z4Vg5A0OdODYDB5PKm2M-39uYu-_LhSf_YCxTOOyc2yVCnx-aWCrsNiv8d7C94DpX-e5ZQg10U-kYrLhWUXXWR6jY8yof1lNz2A=w640-h420&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3&quot; color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;In Niels Bohr&#39;s original 1913 formulation of the quantum atom, the Bohr radius r was proportional to n^2, n being the principal quantum number. Highly excited states would correspond to very large values of n and Bohr predicted these &quot;giant&quot; atoms would exist. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: inherit; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;Since the volume scales as r^3 or n^6, for n=33 you should see a &quot;hydrogenic&quot; atom a billion times larger than a ground state hydrogen atom. However, no spectral lines corresponding to such atoms were observed. So was Bohr&#39;s theory wrong?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: inherit; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: inherit; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;No! Bohr pointed out that unlike physicists, *astronomers* had observed faint spectral lines in the spectra or stars and nebulae, consistent with his theory. Because of the large proportion of gas and low density, he predicted such highly excited states would exist.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3&quot; color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: verdana; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3&quot; color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: verdana; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;Because of the extremely low densities, these excited states could live for as long as 1 second - a lifetime for an atom. In 1957, astronomers looking for electron-proton recombination in the interstellar medium serendipitously observed spectra from hydrogen atoms for n=110! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: inherit; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;In the 1970s, after Bohr&#39;s death, the advent of tunable dye lasers finally made it possible to observe these excited states in the lab. Because of their long lifetimes and huge electric dipole moments, these atoms have potential applications in quantum computing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: inherit; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: inherit; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-iGJn2Q2bI5hLt4bA1Dl38rDEPijsNg7f993Oliru3MjL53yE2I7OL2U1bl-5JxHVQNV7tbqnV-fUGis2EuUuYvHnFp2njavZsCkpy89wJqEgG8nxZ5ZMXkCVHjq3LoiLwfH4GuIxcS4llyywoZ0iahs7eqyUBwE4B953TNctFS2zYEce-8Gvag&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1280&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1280&quot; height=&quot;400&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-iGJn2Q2bI5hLt4bA1Dl38rDEPijsNg7f993Oliru3MjL53yE2I7OL2U1bl-5JxHVQNV7tbqnV-fUGis2EuUuYvHnFp2njavZsCkpy89wJqEgG8nxZ5ZMXkCVHjq3LoiLwfH4GuIxcS4llyywoZ0iahs7eqyUBwE4B953TNctFS2zYEce-8Gvag=w400-h400&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3&quot; color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: verdana; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3&quot; color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: verdana; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;These &quot;atoms&quot; are called Rydberg atoms because Johannes Rydberg had hypothesized about these large-quantum-number states in the 19th century. But Bohr provided a physical basis and an explanation, so they should really be called Rydberg-Bohr atoms at the least. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span color=&quot;inherit&quot; style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: inherit; white-space: inherit;&quot;&gt;Today, Rydberg atoms have diverse applications ranging from lasers to quantum computing to plasma physics to radio receivers for military applications. But it all goes back - almost as an afterthought - to Bohr&#39;s original pioneering 1913 paper and should be recognized as such.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;766&quot; data-original-width=&quot;638&quot; height=&quot;437&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjiOTz3xQFST8gYw1y5dpsptM39D2_hhyqNzW41EYtYBk1ij6ZWvSRyoOoDRS17ABFEtjoude_hTNMnX0HrgbUTHOvyKwW3SAHY3AiuzUU3vy5uOEhZ65RhEIHT0re8FCf1fKMLlhlcDqsgbN7I-qsfr6OiGMZaGuHUytiE_lwOQRi1Rp929o5Wpw=w364-h437&quot; width=&quot;364&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-175oi2r&quot; style=&quot;align-items: stretch; background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; list-style: none; 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padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;a aria-describedby=&quot;id__3evn1v2b7xn&quot; aria-label=&quot;3:03 PM · Mar 23, 2023&quot; class=&quot;css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-xoduu5 r-1q142lx r-1w6e6rj r-9aw3ui r-3s2u2q r-1loqt21&quot; href=&quot;https://twitter.com/curiouswavefn/status/1639025131069792257&quot; role=&quot;link&quot; style=&quot;background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #536471; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-shrink: 0; flex-wrap: wrap; font: inherit; gap: 4px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; text-overflow: unset; white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border-color: black; border-image: initial; font-size: 15px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-175oi2r&quot; 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margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-1rynq56 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-rjixqe r-16dba41&quot; dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #536471; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &amp;quot;Segoe UI&amp;quot;, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-overflow: unset; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;a aria-describedby=&quot;id__xiuezp4s39t&quot; aria-label=&quot;3:01 PM · Mar 23, 2023&quot; class=&quot;css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-xoduu5 r-1q142lx r-1w6e6rj r-9aw3ui r-3s2u2q r-1loqt21&quot; href=&quot;https://twitter.com/curiouswavefn/status/1639024656727576576&quot; role=&quot;link&quot; style=&quot;background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #536471; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-shrink: 0; flex-wrap: wrap; font: inherit; gap: 4px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; text-overflow: unset; white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2024/01/how-niels-bohr-predicted-rydberg-atoms.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtKJ3-azVSQn92QJkvXYhj0gwVAB1BUif9EDLMHfZeV3j43kN-SRvzNJhc9BdjL58NdBaGjcSLRvyTArjANp1Z4Vg5A0OdODYDB5PKm2M-39uYu-_LhSf_YCxTOOyc2yVCnx-aWCrsNiv8d7C94DpX-e5ZQg10U-kYrLhWUXXWR6jY8yof1lNz2A=s72-w640-h420-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-8804039624922241592</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Nov 2023 21:12:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-11-02T14:13:44.256-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">history of science</category><title>Galton&#39;s &quot;Hereditary Genius&quot; (1871)</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHb97ySa_UWOo9XcCiceRYlPsuR1_yUpE87_SlQDv_shoTCFknmXbIu7PU-Qv76n-RDUyMD-71F2c6E59fgD9FA-R76qDQ-tMmIhxA58qtxwJVi_LvdCwiNEEqgIz3T1kNmlziPLv1t-DBGC76UI4DF6hFSN2xcr7VkmbQeugKOQa6rUp3OrVSYQ/s2048/123167591_10102910612381277_4458324826424124479_n.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHb97ySa_UWOo9XcCiceRYlPsuR1_yUpE87_SlQDv_shoTCFknmXbIu7PU-Qv76n-RDUyMD-71F2c6E59fgD9FA-R76qDQ-tMmIhxA58qtxwJVi_LvdCwiNEEqgIz3T1kNmlziPLv1t-DBGC76UI4DF6hFSN2xcr7VkmbQeugKOQa6rUp3OrVSYQ/s2048/123167591_10102910612381277_4458324826424124479_n.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTTvVRVjzwE32o53wTLd-KsE3OYaw1zpKPztcn_IYAOZOWQjpJGuPeynSOja158Wqij-50utJrgaZ9N8ESfclnUOh1-gndyhiCmopAC7zmDSpq3-WhLcpwffkRBerOSOKcGyQpCDasgWdNCoTibkVOxl36DfeY6M4MV-gGBY7YSJbngrH-dru0Q/s2048/123187461_10102910612196647_1611586540660876063_n.jpg&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2048&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1536&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTTvVRVjzwE32o53wTLd-KsE3OYaw1zpKPztcn_IYAOZOWQjpJGuPeynSOja158Wqij-50utJrgaZ9N8ESfclnUOh1-gndyhiCmopAC7zmDSpq3-WhLcpwffkRBerOSOKcGyQpCDasgWdNCoTibkVOxl36DfeY6M4MV-gGBY7YSJbngrH-dru0Q/s320/123187461_10102910612196647_1611586540660876063_n.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2048&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1536&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHb97ySa_UWOo9XcCiceRYlPsuR1_yUpE87_SlQDv_shoTCFknmXbIu7PU-Qv76n-RDUyMD-71F2c6E59fgD9FA-R76qDQ-tMmIhxA58qtxwJVi_LvdCwiNEEqgIz3T1kNmlziPLv1t-DBGC76UI4DF6hFSN2xcr7VkmbQeugKOQa6rUp3OrVSYQ/s320/123167591_10102910612381277_4458324826424124479_n.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWbD33YCpoWScGVoyAkzrIVYc_lAoGTthUU7rkRSFSAfu4J_EsNCv2vJB8U8oJWPlqxY2ziDt2sw6ek8C3TWXN1IFX80BE7xSLnGpl99qx4qrsOQlu4VvEHlXY4Ucmvo59txExQ_t9Fqt7T3WIKRF2P-ewwrziNikHhvWWk9wfhT25-Lk1_0bLpw/s2048/123244754_10102910612206627_3896704443108081502_n.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2048&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1536&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWbD33YCpoWScGVoyAkzrIVYc_lAoGTthUU7rkRSFSAfu4J_EsNCv2vJB8U8oJWPlqxY2ziDt2sw6ek8C3TWXN1IFX80BE7xSLnGpl99qx4qrsOQlu4VvEHlXY4Ucmvo59txExQ_t9Fqt7T3WIKRF2P-ewwrziNikHhvWWk9wfhT25-Lk1_0bLpw/s320/123244754_10102910612206627_3896704443108081502_n.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;As someone who loved collecting vintage books, I was stoked to acquire a first American edition of Francis Galton&#39;s&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;pioneering book “Hereditary Genius” for the bizarrely low price of $25 - most copies in good condition like this one sell for an unaffordable few hundred dollars at the minimum. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;First published in 1869, “Hereditary Genius” is an important book in the history of science as well as a good example of how racist ideas are respectable in their own times. Galton was a statistician, geneticist and brilliant polymath who was one of the founders of statistics (among other ideas, he was the one who developed the concept of regression to the mean) and biometry or biological measurement. He was also Darwin’s cousin and was heavily influenced by Darwin’s ideas on survival of the fittest and natural selection. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;His book was the first to make a serious and fairly exhaustive case that intelligence is inherited and genetic. He made this case almost a quarter century before Gregor Mendel figured out the nature of genes. To do this Galton made a detailed survey of what he called “eminent men” (no women, although he acknowledges this deficiency) and traced their lineage through several generations, making the case that intelligence was preserved. The eminent men included men as diverse as scientists, poets, writers, “divines”, “oarsmen” and “wrestlers from the north country”.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The book is clearly written and argued and was hugely successful both in Europe and the United States. Darwin was smitten by it and wrote:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;“I have only read 50 pages of your book (to Judge), but I must exhale myself, else something will go wrong with my inside. I do not think I ever in all of my life read anything more interesting and original—and how well and clearly you put every point!&quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;But the book was a double edged sword. While the hereditary nature of intelligence is now &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg.2017.104&quot;&gt;accepted&lt;/a&gt;, Galton ended up making the case for eugenics, social Darwinism and the superiority of certain races (the examples in Galton&#39;s book are all Caucasian), arguments that were unsurprising for the times he lived in. While today his book is considered clearly incomplete and flawed, because of its novelty, clarity and reputation of its author, it became a rallying cry for eugenicists and white supremacists especially in the United States who advocated the culling of “inferior stock” to preserve intelligent races, which in their view naturally meant the Anglo-Saxon race.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;An important and readable book, very much a product of its times, correct in certain fundamental ways but incorrect, incomplete and dangerous in others.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2023/11/galtons-hereditary-genius-1871.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTTvVRVjzwE32o53wTLd-KsE3OYaw1zpKPztcn_IYAOZOWQjpJGuPeynSOja158Wqij-50utJrgaZ9N8ESfclnUOh1-gndyhiCmopAC7zmDSpq3-WhLcpwffkRBerOSOKcGyQpCDasgWdNCoTibkVOxl36DfeY6M4MV-gGBY7YSJbngrH-dru0Q/s72-c/123187461_10102910612196647_1611586540660876063_n.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-6709709839305853045</guid><pubDate>Wed, 25 Oct 2023 18:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-25T11:18:24.274-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">philosophy of science</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">religion</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">science</category><title>John Polkinghorne&#39;s &quot;Belief in God in an Age of Science&quot;</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;A book I have been enjoying recently is John Polkinghorne&#39;s &quot;Belief in God in an Age of Science.&quot; Polkinghorne who died recently was a noted theoretical physicist who was also a theologian. Unlike Polkinghorne I am an atheist, but he makes a good case for why religion, science, poetry, art, literature should all be welcomed as sources for truth about the universe and about human beings. A quote I particularly like from it:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;If we are seeking to serve the God of truth then we &lt;a style=&quot;color: #385898; cursor: pointer;&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;should really welcome truth from whatever source it comes. We shouldn’t fear the truth. Some of it will be from science, obviously, but by no means all of it. It will sometimes be perplexing, how this bit of truth relates to that bit of truth; we know that within science itself often enough and we find it outside of science as well. The crucial thing is to be honest.”&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I would quibble with the catch-all definition of truth in Polkinghorne&#39;s quote (scientific &quot;truth&quot; by its very nature is tentative) but otherwise agree. In my scientific career I have found this as well. Often Tolstoy or the Bhagavad Gita or Bach have taught me deep truths about human beings that I never saw in any physics or chemistry or mathematics textbook. The great thing about human life is its diversity. Science is the most important thing that enriches it, but it&#39;s not the only one. That&#39;s a good thing. These multiple sources of diversity should keep us busy for as long as there is a human species.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2023/10/john-polkinghornes-belief-in-god-in-age.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-4109080929905236000</guid><pubDate>Sat, 02 Sep 2023 21:58:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-09-02T17:54:32.977-07:00</atom:updated><title>Tolman, “The Principles of Statistical Mechanics, Chapter 1, Part 1</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Survey of classical mechanics: Generalized coordinates and momenta. Lagrangian equations. Derivation of Hamilton’s equations from Lagrangian. Poisson brackets. Hamilton as representing invariant E under time for conservative systems.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;“Pull quote”: Something simple and seemingly obvious but actually deep and foundational&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh18lkaqHb6v8YzdhM9kt2tO3f3BivaraWsQCebApOYaGZHDnJAdxuv16JxgwMZOSofYuVPJjtSVKfUEQpxbgYKVcPvrt23EOtXXAeQGYUlK87YTnnUs-zaV9yPrn6dqv4Tok_LtFpW7dthNdk9AT5Xoi0v_g8ysLWpTVhqpkhDZ5UE_5bZfgS_Nw/s3672/2A3F3E4B-1DAC-466A-8766-39CD086AB284.jpeg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1140&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3672&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh18lkaqHb6v8YzdhM9kt2tO3f3BivaraWsQCebApOYaGZHDnJAdxuv16JxgwMZOSofYuVPJjtSVKfUEQpxbgYKVcPvrt23EOtXXAeQGYUlK87YTnnUs-zaV9yPrn6dqv4Tok_LtFpW7dthNdk9AT5Xoi0v_g8ysLWpTVhqpkhDZ5UE_5bZfgS_Nw/w619-h192/2A3F3E4B-1DAC-466A-8766-39CD086AB284.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;619&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Some notes (not checked for typos!)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlrKtU0EIcxQcBORUGEiO9mJ-BH1Af-2cyHz-QlAQujRelBl82P_8fSQQ8gVllOKAIPMmKvp_VUNnsyISn7Ndewp3j7sry8_3mA8_i_1-fwsG0w43C4uLynyXCECmojTWOs-AMfMIOfoSw_HY5ugUD8vYhxAQFImEmDYbo05_LLSyKiVhf4WMPFA/s4032/78574DA1-ED5B-4E88-8D48-F6FD6CBB2E4F.jpeg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlrKtU0EIcxQcBORUGEiO9mJ-BH1Af-2cyHz-QlAQujRelBl82P_8fSQQ8gVllOKAIPMmKvp_VUNnsyISn7Ndewp3j7sry8_3mA8_i_1-fwsG0w43C4uLynyXCECmojTWOs-AMfMIOfoSw_HY5ugUD8vYhxAQFImEmDYbo05_LLSyKiVhf4WMPFA/w480-h640/78574DA1-ED5B-4E88-8D48-F6FD6CBB2E4F.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;480&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLY6j9beSUQJOscWTkMo8j5TRRi9NgNk40NYYa4kdrZ7g-QZ7bq5csMEd17tmKeRyMpltBqQTNLxZt6UhEwtXgf7MrNWYZ3QaDAPY60yso394zyORvwPnq3riUyWbTQdA7DMYHdszOFQjKRb8lNzFAHgG78xi0ljvyaQEf7RMo01ZKphPQeTV5A/s4032/E1B304CD-3A48-49DF-9FC5-3067295378F8.jpeg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLY6j9beSUQJOscWTkMo8j5TRRi9NgNk40NYYa4kdrZ7g-QZ7bq5csMEd17tmKeRyMpltBqQTNLxZt6UhEwtXgf7MrNWYZ3QaDAPY60yso394zyORvwPnq3riUyWbTQdA7DMYHdszOFQjKRb8lNzFAHgG78xi0ljvyaQEf7RMo01ZKphPQeTV5A/w480-h640/E1B304CD-3A48-49DF-9FC5-3067295378F8.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;480&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4CIj2dsolexlTnM8mA2Wv1JMFiov9QuomYRIWkF3t1uElkXT6K8a7n3PGC0ru8A9VuKmsNCWmSIkxeTP_g3Bk32N7afsskOtd6g5vZ80fRcFo0NfnBy9WnVh352yFT5XHYY3KNy3CVTPOXQw6xz4F-OJuYt9LBqXk7f6GBpXfn-mlNgnBxB69w/s4032/BE4B8265-7153-4AFD-B4AE-F4B2653D6AB4.jpeg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4CIj2dsolexlTnM8mA2Wv1JMFiov9QuomYRIWkF3t1uElkXT6K8a7n3PGC0ru8A9VuKmsNCWmSIkxeTP_g3Bk32N7afsskOtd6g5vZ80fRcFo0NfnBy9WnVh352yFT5XHYY3KNy3CVTPOXQw6xz4F-OJuYt9LBqXk7f6GBpXfn-mlNgnBxB69w/w480-h640/BE4B8265-7153-4AFD-B4AE-F4B2653D6AB4.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;480&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2023/09/tolman-statistical-mechanics-chapter-1.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh18lkaqHb6v8YzdhM9kt2tO3f3BivaraWsQCebApOYaGZHDnJAdxuv16JxgwMZOSofYuVPJjtSVKfUEQpxbgYKVcPvrt23EOtXXAeQGYUlK87YTnnUs-zaV9yPrn6dqv4Tok_LtFpW7dthNdk9AT5Xoi0v_g8ysLWpTVhqpkhDZ5UE_5bZfgS_Nw/s72-w619-h192-c/2A3F3E4B-1DAC-466A-8766-39CD086AB284.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>2</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-6985599197547136759</guid><pubDate>Tue, 20 Jun 2023 05:06:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-06-19T22:06:59.770-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">books</category><title>100 Desert Island Books</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJfWCMwFE7lcBHFIAXBzOPN-KRtEuDYtfNrVaylIVmkv-wice_Iimn8ilgN2LAAHPET-pCMLAnX06kIJWLES8A_Tul8QbhbRCl867d7NkMLJmVff0c5R6Z3DuXVM_wOF7vVeUzBd4Zhx3EJwGT9tPdfcPRNqAVzfZY8qo5M-DrnbUdEVHF8yJ2-Q/s1600/168917.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1600&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1112&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJfWCMwFE7lcBHFIAXBzOPN-KRtEuDYtfNrVaylIVmkv-wice_Iimn8ilgN2LAAHPET-pCMLAnX06kIJWLES8A_Tul8QbhbRCl867d7NkMLJmVff0c5R6Z3DuXVM_wOF7vVeUzBd4Zhx3EJwGT9tPdfcPRNqAVzfZY8qo5M-DrnbUdEVHF8yJ2-Q/s320/168917.jpg&quot; width=&quot;222&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Finally got around to making that &quot;100 books I would want on a desert island&quot; list. Another title would be &quot;100 books that I consider essential reading for *my* life&quot;: thus, this is a personal selection. I don&#39;t claim to have this list cover the most important aspects of human life or the universe, nor do I expect &quot;famous&quot; books to be on this list (although some of them are). The list just reflects my personal traditional interests - history and philosophy of science has the most numbers, followed by science textbooks, general history, philosophy and theology and a tiny sliver of fiction (I started reading fiction seriously quite recently). One condition in listing these books was that I should have read them in their entirety: this is true of all of them except &quot;Gödel, Escher, Bach&quot; which I think I am going to keep soldiering through my whole life. I am very privileged to call some of the authors here my friends.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One common thread running through most of these books is that I discovered them early, when I was in high school, college and graduate school, in most cases in either the college or university library or the British Library which was a stone&#39;s throw from where I grew up. Early impressions are often the strongest, so I keep coming back to these volumes and they keep inspiring and instructing me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have thousands of books on my shelf and I always find it hard to give any away. There are many others I haven&#39;t listed here which I love, but if I actually had just these 100 (110 to be precise), I wouldn&#39;t be entirely depressed (just don&#39;t tell my significant other...).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE (INCLUDING BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Richard Rhodes - The Making of the Atomic Bomb&lt;br /&gt;Richard Rhodes - Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb&lt;br /&gt;Freeman Dyson - Disturbing the Universe&lt;br /&gt;Freeman Dyson - Infinite in All Directions&lt;br /&gt;George Dyson - Turing’s Cathedral&lt;br /&gt;George Dyson - Darwin Among the Machines&lt;br /&gt;Edward Wilson - Naturalist&lt;br /&gt;Edward Wilson - Consilience&lt;br /&gt;James Gleick - Chaos&lt;br /&gt;John Horgan - The End of Science&lt;br /&gt;Robert Serber - Peace and War&lt;br /&gt;Jeremy Bernstein - Hans Bethe: Prophet of Energy&lt;br /&gt;Silvan Schweber - In the Shadow of the Bomb&lt;br /&gt;Silvan Schweber - QED and the Men Who Made It&lt;br /&gt;David Kaiser - Drawing Theories Apart&lt;br /&gt;Kip Thorne - Black Holes and Time Warps&lt;br /&gt;Robert Kanigel - The Man Who Knew Infinity&lt;br /&gt;Robert Hoffman - The Man Who Loved Only Numbers&lt;br /&gt;Robert Crease and Charles Mann - The Second Creation&lt;br /&gt;Douglas Hofstadter - Gödel, Escher, Bach&lt;br /&gt;Alice Kimball-Smith and Charles Weiner - Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections&lt;br /&gt;Peter Galison - Image and Logic&lt;br /&gt;Emanuel Derman - My Life as a Quant&lt;br /&gt;Kameshwar Wali - Chandra&lt;br /&gt;John Gribbin - In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat&lt;br /&gt;John Casti - Paradigms Lost&lt;br /&gt;John Casti - The Cambridge Quintet&lt;br /&gt;John Casti - Gödel: A Life in Logic&lt;br /&gt;George Johnson - Strange Beauty&lt;br /&gt;Roger Penrose - The Emperor’s New Mind&lt;br /&gt;Roger Penrose - The Road to Reality&lt;br /&gt;Richard Dawkins - Climbing Mount Improbable&lt;br /&gt;Gerald Durrell - My Family and Other Animals&lt;br /&gt;Konrad Lorenz - King Solomon’s Ring&lt;br /&gt;Robert Laughlin - A Different Universe&lt;br /&gt;Horace Freeland Judson - The Eighth Day of Creation&lt;br /&gt;Peter Michelmore - The Swift Years: The Robert Oppenheimer Story&lt;br /&gt;Richard Feynman - Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman&lt;br /&gt;Stanislaw Ulam - Adventures of a Mathematician&lt;br /&gt;Laura Fermi - Atoms in the Family&lt;br /&gt;Werner Heisenberg - Physics and Philosophy&lt;br /&gt;Ronald Clark - Einstein&lt;br /&gt;Steven Pinker - The Blank Slate&lt;br /&gt;David Deutsch - The Beginning of Infinity&lt;br /&gt;Steven Weinberg - Dreams of a Final Theory&lt;br /&gt;J. Robert Oppenheimer - The Open Mind&lt;br /&gt;Stuart Kauffman - Reinventing the Sacred&lt;br /&gt;Barry Werth - The Billion Dollar Molecule&lt;br /&gt;Oliver Sacks - On the Move&lt;br /&gt;Carl Sagan - The Demon-Haunted World&lt;br /&gt;Max Perutz - I Wish I’d Made You Angry Earlier&lt;br /&gt;Jonathan Allday - Quarks, Leptons and the Big Bang&lt;br /&gt;Philip Ball - H2O: A Biography of Water&lt;br /&gt;Philip Ball - The Self-Made Tapestry&lt;br /&gt;Alan Lightman - Einstein’s Dreams&lt;br /&gt;Alan Lightman - The Accidental Universe&lt;br /&gt;Brown, Pais and Pippard - Twentieth Century Physics (3 volumes)&lt;br /&gt;Ed Regis - Who Got Einstein’s Office?&lt;br /&gt;C. P. Snow - The Physicists&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;TEXTBOOKS&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ira Levine - Quantum Chemistry&lt;br /&gt;Peter Atkins - Molecular Quantum Mechanics&lt;br /&gt;Lubert Stryer - Biochemistry&lt;br /&gt;Albert Lehninger - Biochemistry&lt;br /&gt;George Simmons - Introduction to Topology and Modern Analysis&lt;br /&gt;George Simmons - Differential Equations&lt;br /&gt;Richard Feynman - The Feynman Lectures on Physics&lt;br /&gt;David Griffiths - Introduction to Electrodynamics&lt;br /&gt;John Lee - Inorganic Chemistry&lt;br /&gt;Samuel Glasstone - Sourcebook on Atomic Energy&lt;br /&gt;Samuel Glasstone - Thermodynamics for Chemists&lt;br /&gt;Arthur Beiser - Concepts of Modern Physics&lt;br /&gt;Gautam Desiraju - The Weak Hydrogen Bond&lt;br /&gt;Linus Pauling - The Nature of the Chemical Bond&lt;br /&gt;Linus Pauling and Edward Bright Wilson - Introduction to Quantum Mechanics&lt;br /&gt;Clayden, Warren, Reeves and Wothers - Organic Chemistry&lt;br /&gt;Eric Anslyn and Dennis Dougherty - Modern Physical Organic Chemistry&lt;br /&gt;Wells, Wells and Huxley - The Science of Life&lt;br /&gt;Goodman and Gilman - The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics&lt;br /&gt;Jerry March - Advanced Organic Chemistry&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;HISTORY&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Barbara Tuchman - The Guns of August&lt;br /&gt;William Shirer - The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich&lt;br /&gt;James Swanson - Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer&lt;br /&gt;David McCullough - Truman&lt;br /&gt;James Scott - Against the Grain&lt;br /&gt;James McPherson - Battle Cry of Freedom&lt;br /&gt;Gordon Wood - Empire of Liberty&lt;br /&gt;John Barry - Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul&lt;br /&gt;Bernard Bailyn - The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution&lt;br /&gt;Robert Caro - The Years of Lyndon Johnson (Vols. 1-4)&lt;br /&gt;Rick Atkinson - An Army at Dawn&lt;br /&gt;Will Durant - Our Oriental Heritage&lt;br /&gt;Russell Shorto - The Island at the Center of the World&lt;br /&gt;Nick Bunker - An Empire on the Edge&lt;br /&gt;Brad Gregory - Rebel in the Ranks&lt;br /&gt;Cornelius Ryan - The Longest Day&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sam Harris - The End of Faith&lt;br /&gt;David Edmonds and John Eidinow - Wittgenstein&#39;s Poker&lt;br /&gt;Plato - The Republic&lt;br /&gt;Matthew Stewart - The Courtier and the Heretic&lt;br /&gt;Isaiah Berlin - The Proper Study of Mankind&lt;br /&gt;Bertrand Russell - Unpopular Essays&lt;br /&gt;Bertrand Russell - Why I am Not a Christian&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;FICTION&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vasily Grossman - Life and Fate&lt;br /&gt;Haruki Murakami - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running&lt;br /&gt;Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian&lt;br /&gt;Cormac McCarthy - The Road&lt;br /&gt;Isaac Asimov - Asimov’s Mysteries&lt;br /&gt;Cordwainer Smith - No, No, Not Rogov! (this is a single story but it is very striking in its vividness and poetry and made a deep impression)&lt;br /&gt;Leo Tolstoy - War and Peace&lt;br /&gt;Fyodor Dostoevsky - Notes from the Underground&lt;br /&gt;William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying&lt;br /&gt;H. G. Wells - The Time Machine&lt;br /&gt;Chekhov - Stories&lt;/span&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2023/06/100-desert-island-books.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJfWCMwFE7lcBHFIAXBzOPN-KRtEuDYtfNrVaylIVmkv-wice_Iimn8ilgN2LAAHPET-pCMLAnX06kIJWLES8A_Tul8QbhbRCl867d7NkMLJmVff0c5R6Z3DuXVM_wOF7vVeUzBd4Zhx3EJwGT9tPdfcPRNqAVzfZY8qo5M-DrnbUdEVHF8yJ2-Q/s72-c/168917.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>3</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-3078850887370674697</guid><pubDate>Tue, 16 May 2023 16:08:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-05-16T09:08:21.461-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">biology</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Freeman Dyson</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">history of science</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">John von Neumann</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Schrodinger</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">sydney brenner</category><title>Brenner, von Neumann and Schrödinger</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgobQIBx8hC4K2iA9USuz4vjGIpqnQISqAh43EYNX1uUaU9qgfzTmtoMxVvfBRJrbAiMq0VdA2iJUAw9nuPH37-TepWWo7YmHcgs99ssPfHk9w9fCLopVhiYZazWLcDbPDJ40jK5uYhCJFqVxPneNZzisqgQj5xQWmNqhsex7Azu0Iq774uv9I/s2000/1140732.webp&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2000&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1590&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgobQIBx8hC4K2iA9USuz4vjGIpqnQISqAh43EYNX1uUaU9qgfzTmtoMxVvfBRJrbAiMq0VdA2iJUAw9nuPH37-TepWWo7YmHcgs99ssPfHk9w9fCLopVhiYZazWLcDbPDJ40jK5uYhCJFqVxPneNZzisqgQj5xQWmNqhsex7Azu0Iq774uv9I/s320/1140732.webp&quot; width=&quot;254&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;&quot;&gt;Erwin Schrödinger&#39;s book, &quot;What is Life&quot;?, inspired many scientists like Crick, Watson and Perutz to go into molecular biology. While many of the details in the book were wrong, the book&#39;s central message that the time was ripe for a concerted attack on the structure of the genes based on physical principles strongly resonated.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;&quot;&gt;However, influence and importance are two things, and unfortunately the two aren&#39;t always correlated. As Sydney Brenner &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ictxz1XCiY&quot;&gt;recounts in detail here&lt;/a&gt;, the founding script for molecular biology should really have been John von Neumann&#39;s 1948 talk at Caltech as part of the Hixon Symposium, titled &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vordenker.de/ggphilosophy/jvn_the-general-and-logical-theory-of-automata.pdf&quot;&gt;The General and Logical Theory of Automata&lt;/a&gt;&quot;. In retrospect this talk was seminal and far-reaching.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;Brenner is one of the very few scientists who seems to have appreciated that von Neumann&#39;s influence on biology was greater than Schrödinger&#39;s and that &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4_JfLpZpnI&amp;amp;fbclid=IwAR0KpR2DoUmK6L4fFt4N4Zb9YGyTK8ycyx9kwm4X6S2peC2KOQ6q6rk8-3k&quot;&gt;von Neumann was right and Schrödinger wrong&lt;/a&gt;. Part of the reason was that while many biologists like Crick and Watson had read Schrödinger&#39;s &quot;What is Life?&quot;, almost nobody had read von Neumann&#39;s &quot;General and Logical Theory of Automata&quot;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;&quot;&gt;As Brenner puts it, Schrödinger postulated that &lt;a style=&quot;color: #385898; cursor: pointer;&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;the machinery for replication (chromosomes) also included the means of reproducing it. Von Neumann realized that the machinery did not include the means themselves but only the *instructions* for those means. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;&quot;&gt;That&#39;s a big difference; the instructions are genes, the means are proteins. In fact as Freeman Dyson says in his &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Origins-Life-Freeman-Dyson/dp/0521626684&quot;&gt;Origins of Life&lt;/a&gt;&quot;, von Neumann was the first to clearly realize the distinction between software (genes) and hardware (proteins). Why? Because as a mathematician and a generalist (and pioneer of computer science), he had a vantage point that was unavailable to specialist biologists and chemists in the field.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;&quot;&gt;Unfortunately abstract generalists are often not recognized as the true originators of an idea. It&#39;s worth noting that in his lecture, von Neumann laid out an entire general program for what we now call translation, five years before Watson, Crick, Franklin and others even solved the structure of DNA. The wages of the theoretician are sparse, especially those of the one, as mathematician John Casti put it, who solves &quot;only&quot; the general case.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2023/05/brenner-von-neumann-and-schrodinger.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgobQIBx8hC4K2iA9USuz4vjGIpqnQISqAh43EYNX1uUaU9qgfzTmtoMxVvfBRJrbAiMq0VdA2iJUAw9nuPH37-TepWWo7YmHcgs99ssPfHk9w9fCLopVhiYZazWLcDbPDJ40jK5uYhCJFqVxPneNZzisqgQj5xQWmNqhsex7Azu0Iq774uv9I/s72-c/1140732.webp" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>4</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-831025464084554309</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Mar 2023 17:31:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-03-20T10:32:27.571-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">personal</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">philosophy of science</category><title>On change</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #333333;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW7PdD9N9RyBzHRsN4SnHx9jToOgExWK1jAQN9uCNjE7GEIe72SD2ST6-CtYx5huuup8UoI9PdrCVDhUdTAH5otZbG3vnf8xVZAT62aq37crQGV_JQC_DvbgdhLdp9LrOb-KoEBSks6Aazw6Lmraf8JvL6z7jALRFukVsr75hvymJlZhWnuEg/s4032/IMG_0874.jpeg&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW7PdD9N9RyBzHRsN4SnHx9jToOgExWK1jAQN9uCNjE7GEIe72SD2ST6-CtYx5huuup8UoI9PdrCVDhUdTAH5otZbG3vnf8xVZAT62aq37crQGV_JQC_DvbgdhLdp9LrOb-KoEBSks6Aazw6Lmraf8JvL6z7jALRFukVsr75hvymJlZhWnuEg/s320/IMG_0874.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Two weeks ago, outside a coffee shop near Los Angeles, I discovered a beautiful creature, a moth. It was lying still on the pavement and I was afraid someone might trample on it, so I gently picked it up and carried it to a clump of garden plants on the side. Before that I showed it to my 2-year-old daughter who let it walk slowly over her arm. The moth was brown and huge, almost about the size of my hand. It had the feathery antennae typical of a moth and two black eyes on the ends of its wings. It moved slowly and gradually disappeared into the protective shadow of the plants when I put it down.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Later I looked up the species on the Internet and found that it was a male Ceanothus silk moth, very prevalent in the Western United States. I found out that the reason it’s not seen very often is because the males live only for about a week or two after they take flight. During that time they don’t eat; their only purpose is to mate and die. When I read about it I realized that I had held in my hand a thing of indescribable beauty, indescribable precisely because of the briefness of its life. Then I realized that our lives are perhaps not all that long compared to the Ceanothus moth’s. Assuming that an average human lives for about 80 years, the moth’s lifespan is about 2000 times shorter than ours. But our lifespans are much shorter than those of redwood trees. Might not we appear the same way to redwood trees the way Ceanoth moths or ants appear to us, brief specks of life fluttering for an instant and then disappearing? The difference, as far as we know, is that unlike redwood trees we can consciously understand this impermanence. Our lives are no less beautiful because on a relative scale of events they are no less brief. They are brief instants between the lives of redwood trees just like redwood trees’ lives are brief instants in the intervals between the lives of stars.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I have been thinking about change recently, perhaps because it’s the standard thing to do for someone in their forties. But as a chemist I have thought about change a great deal in my career. The gist of a chemist’s work deals with the structure of molecules and their transformations into each other. The molecules can be natural or synthetic. They can be as varied as DNA, nylon, chlorophyll, rocket fuel, cement and aspirin. But what connects all of them is change. At some point in time they did not exist and came about through the union of atoms of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus and other elements. At some point they will cease to be and those atoms will become part of some other molecule or some other life form.&lt;span id=&quot;more-230087&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Sometimes popular culture can capture the essence of science and philosophy well. In this case, chemistry as change was captured eloquently by the character of Walter White in the TV show “Breaking Bad”. In his first lecture as a high school chemistry teacher White&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDPad7BIQpU&amp;amp;ab_channel=BreakingBad%26BetterCallSaul&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;says&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;“Chemistry is the study of matter. But I prefer to think of it as the study of change. Now, just think about this. Electrons change their energy levels. Elements, they change and combine into compounds. Well, that’s…that’s all of life, right? It’s the constant, it’s the cycle, it’s solution, dissolution, just over and over and over. It’s growth, then decay, then transformation. It is fascinating, really.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Changes in the structure of atoms and molecules are ultimately dictated by the laws of atomic physics and the laws of thermodynamics. The second law of thermodynamics which loosely states that disorder is more likely than order guarantees that change will occur. At its root the second law is an argument from probability: there are simply many more ways for a system to be disordered than to be ordered. The miracle of life and the universe at large is that complex systems like biological systems can briefly defy the second law, assembling order from disorder, letting it persist for a few short decades during which that order can do astonishing things like make music and art and solve mathematical equations enabling it to understand where it came from. The biologist Carl Woese once gave an enduringly beautiful metaphor for life, comparing it to a child playing in a stream.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;“If not machines, what are organisms? A metaphor far more to my liking is this. Imagine a child playing in a woodland stream, poking a stick into an eddy in the flowing current, thereby disrupting it. But the eddy quickly reforms. The child disperses it again. Again it reforms, and the fascinating game goes on. There you have it! Organisms are resilient patterns in a turbulent flow—patterns in an energy flow.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Woese’s metaphor perfectly captures both the permanence and impermanence of life. The structure is interrupted, but over time its essence persists. It changes and yet stays the same.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;eaa-wrapper eaa_post_between_content eaa_desktop&quot; id=&quot;eaa_post_between_content&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px -20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;eaa-ad&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Although thermodynamics and Darwin’s theory of evolution help us understand how ordered structures can perform these complex actions, ultimately we don’t really understand it at the deepest level. The best illustration of our ignorance is the most complex structure in the universe – the human brain. The brain is composed of exactly the same elements as my table, my cup of coffee and the fern plant growing outside my window. Yet the same elements, when assembled together to create a fern, somehow when assembled in another, very specific way, create a 3-pound, jellylike structure that can seemingly perform miracles like writing ‘Hamlet’, finding the equations of spacetime curvature and composing the Choral Symphony. We have loose terminology like ’emergence’ to describe the unique property of consciousness that arises when human brains are assembled together from inanimate elements, but if we were to be honest as scientists, we must admit that we don’t understand how exactly that happens. The ultimate example of change that makes the essence of us as humans possible is still an enduring mystery. Will we ever solve that mystery? Even some of the smartest scientists on the planet, like the theoretical physicist Edward Witten, think we may not. As Witten&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2016/08/physicist-ed-witten-on-consciousness-i.html&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;puts it&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;em style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;“I think consciousness will remain a mystery. Yes, that’s what I tend to believe. I tend to think that the&amp;nbsp;workings&amp;nbsp;of the conscious brain will be elucidated to a large extent. Biologists and perhaps physicists will understand much better how the brain works.&amp;nbsp;But why something that we call consciousness goes with those workings, I think that will remain mysterious.&amp;nbsp;I have a much easier time imagining how we understand the Big Bang than I have imagining how we can understand consciousness…”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;In other words, what Witten is saying is that even if someday we may understand the how and the what of consciousness, we may never understand the why. One of the biggest examples of change in the history of the universe may well remain hidden behind a veil.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I think about change a lot not just because I am a chemist but because I am a parent. Sometimes it feels like our daughter who is now two and a half years old has changed more in that short time than a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. Her language, reasoning, social and motor skills have undergone an amazing change since she was born. And this is, of course, a change that is observed by every parent: children change an incredible amount during their first few years. Some of that change can be guided by parents, but other change is genetic as well as idiosyncratic and unpredictable. Just like you can coax simple arrangements of atoms into certain compounds but not others, as a parent you have to make peace with the fact that you will be able to mold your child’s temperament, personality and trajectory in life to a certain extent but not beyond that. As the old alchemists figured out, you cannot change mercury into gold or gold into mercury no matter how hard you try. And that’s ultimately for the better because, just like the diversity of elements, we then get a diversity of novel and surprising life trajectories for our children.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Children undergo change but they are are also often the best instruments for causing it. Recently I finished reading Octavia Butler’s remarkable “Parable of the Sower” which is set in a 2024 California that is racked by violence and arson by desperate, homeless people who break into gated communities and burn, murder and rape. The protagonist of the story is a clear-eyed, determined 18-year-old named Lauren Olamina who, after her family is murdered, starts out by herself with the goal of starting a new religion called Earthseed amidst the madness surrounding her. Earthseed sees God as a changeable being and embraces change as the essence of living. Lauren thinks that in a world where people have to deal with unpredictable, seismic, sometimes violent change, a religion that makes the very nature of change a blueprint for God’s work can not just survive but thrive. For an atheist like myself, Earthseed seems as good a religion as any for us to believe in if we want to thrive in an uncertain world. Butler’s story tells us that just like they always have, our children exist to fix the problems our generation has created.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Change permeates the largest scales of the universe as much as it does ourselves, our children and our bodies and brains. One of the most philosophically shattering experiences in the development of science was the realization by Galileo, Brahe, Newton and others that the perfect, crystalline, quiet universe of Aristotle and other ancients was in fact a dynamic, violent universe. In the mid 20th century, astrophysicists worked out that stars go through a life sequence much like we do. When they are born they furiously burn hydrogen into helium and form the lighter elements. As they age they can go in one of several directions. Stars the size of the sun will first blow up into red giants and then quietly settle into the life of a white dwarf. But stars much more massive than the sun can turn into supernovae and black holes, ending their lives in a cosmic show of spectacular explosion or fiery gravitational contraction.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;When our sun turns into a red giant, about 6 billion years from now, its outer shell will expand and embrace the orbits of Mercury, Venus and Earth. There is no reason to believe that those planets will survive that encounter. By that time the human race would either be extinct or would have migrated to other star systems; the worst thing that it could do would be to stay put. Even after that we will not escape change. The science of eschatology, the study of the ultimate fate of the universe, has mapped out many changes that will be unstoppable in the far future. At some point the Andromeda galaxy will collide with our Milky Way galaxy. Eventually the stars in the universe will run out of fuel and cease to shine; the universe will become a quieter and darker place. Soon it will only contain black holes and at a further point even black holes will evaporate through the process of Hawking radiation. And way beyond that, the laws of quantum mechanics will ensure that the proton, usually considered a stable particle, will decay. Matter as we know it will dissolve into nothingness. The accelerated expansion of our universe will ensure that most of these processes will inevitably take place. The exact fate of the universe is too uncertain to predict beyond these unimaginable gulfs of time, but there is little doubt that the universe will be profoundly different from what it is now and what it has been before.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The elements from which my body and brain are composed will one day be given back to the universe (I like to think that they will perhaps become part of a redwood tree). That fact does not fill me with a feeling of dread or sadness but instead feels me with peace, joy and gratitude. The ultimate death of the universe described above causes similar feelings to arise. Sometimes I like to sit back, close my eyes and imagine a peaceful, lifeless universe, the galaxies receding past the cosmic horizons, the occasional supernova going off. The carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and other heavier elements in my body came from such supernova explosions a long time ago; the hydrogen came from the Big Bang. Those are astounding facts that science has discovered in the last few decades. Of all the things that could have happened to those elements forged in the furnace of a far off supernova, what were the chances that they would assemble into the exact specific arrangements that would be me? While we understand now how that happens, it could well have gone countless other ways. I feel privileged to exist as part of that brief interval between supernova explosions, to be able to understand, in my own modest way, the workings of our universe. To be a tiny part of the change that makes the universe what it is.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2023/03/on-change.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW7PdD9N9RyBzHRsN4SnHx9jToOgExWK1jAQN9uCNjE7GEIe72SD2ST6-CtYx5huuup8UoI9PdrCVDhUdTAH5otZbG3vnf8xVZAT62aq37crQGV_JQC_DvbgdhLdp9LrOb-KoEBSks6Aazw6Lmraf8JvL6z7jALRFukVsr75hvymJlZhWnuEg/s72-c/IMG_0874.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>3</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-6315238256124433415</guid><pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2023 17:54:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-01-25T09:56:08.951-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">book review</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">technology</category><title>Book Review: Chip War: The Fight for the World&#39;s Most Critical Technology</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTm7G0riDmHxyuRLprJ-7EhH9qOjlOX15ErKJ6UkKaIgRxPZnJ_JEDL0C8s_x7OmQuwymz6z-GS2NKxXVNpM-Bm2TLb1VKT4N7e_QSRKbCKvyob2YQmTNNlxLBPbLM85O1QrostvorjsKdPVYVQXmIm4_FNFZ0mLdExNxbl7WWeJ4oKq_OD40/s500/41TjmwjwcYL._AC_SY780_.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;500&quot; data-original-width=&quot;331&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTm7G0riDmHxyuRLprJ-7EhH9qOjlOX15ErKJ6UkKaIgRxPZnJ_JEDL0C8s_x7OmQuwymz6z-GS2NKxXVNpM-Bm2TLb1VKT4N7e_QSRKbCKvyob2YQmTNNlxLBPbLM85O1QrostvorjsKdPVYVQXmIm4_FNFZ0mLdExNxbl7WWeJ4oKq_OD40/s320/41TjmwjwcYL._AC_SY780_.jpg&quot; width=&quot;212&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;n the 19th century it was coal and steel, in the 20th century it was oil and gas, what will it be in the 21st century? The answer, according to Chris Miller in this lively and sweeping book, is semiconductor chips.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;There is little doubt that chips are ubiquitous, not just in our computer and cell phones but in our washers and dryers, our dishwashers and ovens, our cars and sprinklers, in &lt;a style=&quot;color: #385898; cursor: pointer;&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;hospital monitors and security systems, in rockets and military drones. Modern life as we know it would be unimaginable without these marvels of silicon and germanium. And as Miller describes, we have a problem because much of the technology to make these existential entities is the province of a handful of companies and countries that are caught in geopolitical conflict.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Miller starts by tracing out the arc of the semiconductor industry and its growth in the United States, driven by pioneers like  William Shockley, Andy Grove and Gordon Moore and fueled by demands from the defense establishment during the Cold War. Moore&#39;s Law has guaranteed that the demand and supply for chips has exploded in the last few decades; pronouncements of its decline have often been premature. Miller also talks about little-known but critically important people like Weldon Ward who designed chips that made precision missiles and weapons possible, secretary of defense Bill Perry who pressed the Pentagon for funding and developing precision weapons and Lynn Conway, a transgender scientist who laid the foundations for chip design. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Weldon Ward&#39;s early design for a precision guided missile in Vietnam was particularly neat: a small window in the tip of the warhead shined laser back to a chip that was divided into four quadrants. If one quadrant started getting more light than the other you would know the missile was off-course and would adjust it. Before he designed the missile, Ward was shown photos of a bridge in Vietnam that was surrounded by craters that indicated where the missile had hit. After he designed his missile, there were no more craters, only a destroyed bridge.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;There are three kinds of chips: memory chips which control the RAM in your computer, logic chips which control the CPU and analog chips which control things like temperature and pressure sensing in appliances. While much of the pioneering work in designing transistors and chips was spearheaded by American scientists at companies like Intel and Texas Instruments, soon the landscape shifted. First the Japanese led by Sony&#39;s Akio Morita captured the market for memory or DRAM chips in the 80s before Andy Grove powerfully brought it back to the US by foreseeing the personal computer era and retooling Intel for making laptop chips. The landscape also shifted because the U.S. found cheap labor in Asia and outsourced much of the manufacturing of chips.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;But the real major player in this shift was Morris Chang. Chang was one of the early employees at Texas Instruments and his speciality was in optimizing the chemical and industrial processes for yielding high-quality silicon. He rose through the ranks and advised the defense department. But, in one of those momentous quirks of history that at the time sound trivial, he was passed over for the CEO position. Fortunately he found a receptive audience in the Taiwanese government who gave him a no-strings-attached opportunity to set up a chip manufacturing plant in Taiwan. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The resulting company, TSMC, has been both the boon and the bane of the electronics age. If you use a device with a chip in it, it has most probably been made by TSMC. Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Intel, all design their own chips but have them made by TSMC. However it does not help that TSMC is located in a company that both sits on top of a major earthquake fault and is the target for invasion or takeover by a gigantic world power. The question of whether our modern technology that is dependent on chips can thrive is closely related to whether China is going to invade Taiwan.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The rest of the supply chain for making chips is equally far flung. But although it sounds globalized, it&#39;s not. For instance the stunningly sophisticated process of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) that etches designs on chips is essentially monopolized by one company - ASML in the Netherlands. The machines to do this cost more than $100 million each and have about 500,000 moving parts. If something were to happen to ASML the world&#39;s chip supply would come to a grinding halt.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;The same goes for the companies that make the software for designing the chips. Three companies in particular - Cadence, Synopsys and Mentor - make 90% of chip design software. There are a handful of other companies making specialized software and hardware, but they are all narrowly located.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Miller makes the argument that the future of chips, and therefore of modern technology at large, is going to depend on the geopolitical relationship especially between China and the United States. The good news is that currently China lags significantly behind the U.S. in almost all aspects of chip design and manufacturing; the major centers for these processes are either in the U.S. or in countries which are allies of the U.S. In addition, replicating machinery of the kind used for etching by ASML is hideously complicated. The bad news is that China has a lot of smart scientists and engineers and uses theft and deception to gain access to chip design and making technology. Using front companies and legitimate buyouts, they have already tried to gain such access. While it will still take years for them to catch up, it is more a question of when than if.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;If we are to continue our modern way of life that depends on this critical technology, it will have to be done through multiple fronts, some of which are already being set in motion. Intel is now setting up its own foundry and trying to replicate some of the technology that ASML uses. China will have to be brought to the bargaining table and every attempt will have to be made to ensure that they play fair. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div dir=&quot;auto&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;But much of the progress also depends on funding basic science. It&#39;s worth remembering that much of the early pioneering work in semiconductors was done by physicists and chemists at places like Bell Labs and Intel, a lot of it by immigrants like Andy Grove and Morris Chang. Basic research at national labs like Los Alamos and Sandia laid the foundations for ASML&#39;s etching technology. Attempts to circumvent Moore&#39;s Law will also have to be continued to be made; as transistors shrink down to single digit nanometer sizes, quantum effects make their functioning more uncertain. However there are plans to avoid these issues through strategies like stacking them together. All these strategies depend on training the next generation of scientists and engineers, because progress on technology ultimately depends on education.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2023/01/review-chip-war-fight-for-worlds-most.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTm7G0riDmHxyuRLprJ-7EhH9qOjlOX15ErKJ6UkKaIgRxPZnJ_JEDL0C8s_x7OmQuwymz6z-GS2NKxXVNpM-Bm2TLb1VKT4N7e_QSRKbCKvyob2YQmTNNlxLBPbLM85O1QrostvorjsKdPVYVQXmIm4_FNFZ0mLdExNxbl7WWeJ4oKq_OD40/s72-c/41TjmwjwcYL._AC_SY780_.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-7881890304452265486</guid><pubDate>Mon, 28 Nov 2022 17:55:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2022-11-28T09:55:51.661-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">philosophy of science</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Thanksgiving</category><title>A Science Thanksgiving</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in the U.S., and there’s an informal tradition on Thanksgiving to give thanks for all kinds of things in our lives. Certainly there’s plenty to be thankful for this year, especially for those of us whose lives and livelihoods haven’t been personally devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. But I thought I would do something different this year. Instead of being thankful for life’s usual blessings, how about being thankful for some specific facts of nature and the universe that are responsible for our very existence and make it wondrous? Being employed and healthy and surrounded by family and friends is excellent, but none of that would be possible without the amazing unity and diversity of life and the universe. So without further ado and in no particular order, I present an entirely personal selection of ten favorites for which I am eternally thankful.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I am thankful for the value of the resonance level energy of the excited state of carbon-12: carbon-12 which is the basis of all organic life on earth is formed in stars through the reaction of beryllium-8 with helium-4. The difference in energies between the starting materials (beryllium + helium) and carbon is only about 4%. If this difference had been even slightly higher, the unstable beryllium-8 would have disappeared long before it had transmuted into carbon-12, making life impossible.&lt;span id=&quot;more-224134&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I am thankful for the phenomenon of horizontal gene transfer (HGT): it allowed bacteria during early evolution to jump over evolutionary barriers by sharing genetic material between themselves instead of just with their progeny. The importance of HGT for evolution may be immense since regular HGT early on might have led to the universality of the genetic code. HGT mixed and matched genetic material in the cauldron of life, eventually leading to the evolution of multicellular organisms including human beings.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I am thankful for the pistol shrimp: an amazing creature that can “clap” its pincers and send out a high-pressure bubble with lightning speed to kill its prey. This sonication bubble can produce light when it collapses, and the speed of collapse is such that temperature inside the bubble can briefly approach the surface temperature of the sun. The pistol shrimp shows us that nature hides phenomena that are not dreamt of in our philosophy, leading to an inexhaustible list of natural wonders for us to explore.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I am thankful to the electron: an entire universe within a point particle that performs the subtlest and most profound magic, making possible the chemistry of life; giving rise to the electromagnetic force that holds ordinary matter together; ultimately creating minds that can win prizes for studying electrons.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;eaa-wrapper eaa_post_between_content eaa_desktop&quot; id=&quot;eaa_post_between_content&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px -20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;eaa-ad&quot; style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 24px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I am thankful to the cockroach: may humanity have the resilience to survive the long nights of our making the way you have.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I am thankful to the redwoods: majestic observers and guardians of nature who were here before us, who through their long, slow, considered lives have watched us live out our frantic, anxious lives the way we watch ants live out theirs, and whose survival is now consequentially entwined with our own.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I am thankful to the acetyl group, a simple geometric arrangement of two carbon and one oxygen atoms whose diverse, myriad forms fueling life and alleviating pain – acetylcholine, acetyl-coenzyme A, acetaminophen – are tribute to the ingenuity of both human minds and nature.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I am thankful to i, the square root of minus one: who knew that this diabolical creature, initially alien to even the abstract perception of mathematicians, would be as “real” as real numbers and more importantly, underlie the foundation of our most hallowed descriptions of nature such as quantum theory.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I am thankful to the black hole: an endless laboratory of the most bizarre and fantastic wonders; trapping light but letting information escape; providing the ultimate playground for spacetime curvature; working relentlessly over billions of years as a clearinghouse and organizing principle for the universe’s wayward children; proving that the freaks of the cosmos are in fact the soul food of its very existence.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 27px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;I am thankful for time: that elusive entity which, in the physicist John Wheeler’s words, “keeps everything from happening all at once”; which waits for no one and grinds kings and paupers into the same ethereal dust; whose passage magically changes children every day before our very eyes; whose very fleeting nature makes life precious and gives us the most to be thankful for.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2022/11/a-science-thanksgiving.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-4216744949246175175</guid><pubDate>Tue, 01 Nov 2022 00:47:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2022-10-31T17:51:10.646-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">mathematics</category><title>Book review: A Divine Language: Learning Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus at the Edge of Old Age, by Alec Wilkinson</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSxmJBX-wqYI4zsIb3CVGTbVPnNuuLGtfCoqh8w0c7paULQtm3qNa-T80DasTO6qEuRaAv_EBloZFm4mgOfMoRF0Di8uc1jr9qtAML9IPXwCIMR0a4eSu4OeNxh4wF-Y16HfCHBtYUAjQPkJhpahwsHz2oHZXae5Q7C0QaCzqtpL7vVcwrTU/s500/416v53J5c9L._AC_SY780_.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;500&quot; data-original-width=&quot;324&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSxmJBX-wqYI4zsIb3CVGTbVPnNuuLGtfCoqh8w0c7paULQtm3qNa-T80DasTO6qEuRaAv_EBloZFm4mgOfMoRF0Di8uc1jr9qtAML9IPXwCIMR0a4eSu4OeNxh4wF-Y16HfCHBtYUAjQPkJhpahwsHz2oHZXae5Q7C0QaCzqtpL7vVcwrTU/s320/416v53J5c9L._AC_SY780_.jpg&quot; width=&quot;207&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;A beautifully written &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Language-Learning-Geometry-Calculus/dp/1250168570/ref=sr_1_1?crid=WPVW0ODR01JO&amp;amp;keywords=alec%20wilkinson&amp;amp;qid=1667262260&amp;amp;qu=eyJxc2MiOiIyLjMzIiwicXNhIjoiMS4zMiIsInFzcCI6IjEuMzUifQ%3D%3D&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;sprefix=alec%20wilkinson%2Cstripbooks%2C141&amp;amp;sr=1-1&amp;amp;fbclid=IwAR0kP2WZyq6_SSRA3aqvccWy1Hp_sNFGlX6e0aaaXJ7WtvfSiWxlQ-Rxb-4&quot;&gt;account&lt;/a&gt; of mathematics lost and found. The author got &quot;estranged&quot; from mathematics in school and now, at the age of 65 and after a distinguished writing career, has taken it upon himself to learn the fundamentals of algebra, geometry and calculus. The book is by turns funny and sad even as Wilkinson recounts his struggling attempts to master material that would be child&#39;s play for many bright teenagers. He is helped in his efforts by his niece Amie Wilkinson, an accomplished mathematician at the University of Chicago. I myself could empathize with the author since I too had an estrangement of sorts with the subject in high school because of a cruel, vindictive teacher, and it took me until college when, thanks to brilliant and empathetic teachers, I clawed myself back up to start appreciating it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div data-block=&quot;true&quot; data-editor=&quot;49iun&quot; data-offset-key=&quot;cno3t-0-0&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;_1mf _1mj&quot; data-offset-key=&quot;cno3t-0-0&quot; style=&quot;direction: ltr; position: relative;&quot;&gt;&lt;span data-offset-key=&quot;cno3t-0-0&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;But while he may struggle even with high school mathematical skills (and he I share a particular loathing for word problems), Wilkinson brings a poetic, philosophical sensibility acquired through a long career to bear on the topic that no young 15-year-old whippersnapper genius in math could commit to paper. He ruminates on the platonic beauty of math and wonders whether and how some people&#39;s minds might be wired differently for it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;span data-offset-key=&quot;fpogt-0-0&quot;&gt;He &lt;/span&gt;does&lt;span data-offset-key=&quot;fpogt-2-0&quot;&gt; not always understand how his brilliant mathematical niece Amie always &quot;gets it&quot; and she in turn doesn&#39;t always understand why her uncle has trouble with ideas that are second nature to her.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;&quot; data-block=&quot;true&quot; data-editor=&quot;cvv8c&quot; data-offset-key=&quot;1squp-0-0&quot; style=&quot;font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, &amp;quot;system-ui&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;.SFNSText-Regular&amp;quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div data-block=&quot;true&quot; data-editor=&quot;49iun&quot; data-offset-key=&quot;410ue-0-0&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;_1mf _1mj&quot; data-offset-key=&quot;410ue-0-0&quot; style=&quot;direction: ltr; position: relative;&quot;&gt;&lt;span data-offset-key=&quot;410ue-0-0&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br data-text=&quot;true&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div data-block=&quot;true&quot; data-editor=&quot;49iun&quot; data-offset-key=&quot;fq356-0-0&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;_1mf _1mj&quot; data-offset-key=&quot;fq356-0-0&quot; style=&quot;direction: ltr; position: relative;&quot;&gt;&lt;span data-offset-key=&quot;fq356-0-0&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Often quoting from eloquent mathematicians and physicists like Bertrand Russell, G. H. Hardy and Roger Penrose, Wilkinson brings a fresh, beautiful perspective to the utility and beauty of mathematics; to the struggle inherent in mastering it and the rewards that await those who persevere. I would highly recommend the book to those who may have lost faith in mathematics in high school and want to pick up some of the concepts later, or even to young students of math who may be wizards at solving equations but who might want to acquire a broader, more philosophical perspective on this purest of human endeavors.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2022/10/book-review-divine-language-learning.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSxmJBX-wqYI4zsIb3CVGTbVPnNuuLGtfCoqh8w0c7paULQtm3qNa-T80DasTO6qEuRaAv_EBloZFm4mgOfMoRF0Di8uc1jr9qtAML9IPXwCIMR0a4eSu4OeNxh4wF-Y16HfCHBtYUAjQPkJhpahwsHz2oHZXae5Q7C0QaCzqtpL7vVcwrTU/s72-c/416v53J5c9L._AC_SY780_.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-2073746698727563219</guid><pubDate>Tue, 18 Oct 2022 22:12:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2022-10-18T15:16:50.979-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">education</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">mathematics</category><title>Temple Grandin vs algebra</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;There&#39;s a rather strange &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/against-algebra/671643/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; by Temple Grandin in the Atlantic, parts of which had me vigorously nodding my head and parts of which had my eyebrows crawling straight up. It&#39;s a critique of how our school system tries a one-size-fits-all approach that does a lot of students disservice, but more specifically takes aim at algebra.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;First, let me say how much I admire Temple Grandin. A remarkable woman who had severe autism for most of her childhood (there&#39;s a very good profile of her in Oliver Sacks&#39;s &quot;An Anthropologist On Mars&quot;), she rose above her circumstances and channeled her unusual abilities into empathy for animals, becoming one of the world&#39;s leading experts in the design of humane housing and conditions for livestock. She has without a doubt demonstrated the value of what we can call &#39;non-standard&#39; modes of thinking, teaching and learning that utilize visual and tactile ability. So she starts off strong enough here:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;As a professor of animal science, I have ample opportunity to observe how young people emerge from our education system into further study and the work world. As a visual thinker who has autism, I often think about how education fails to meet the needs of our very diverse minds. We are shunting students into a one-size-fits-all curriculum instead of nurturing the budding builders, engineers, and inventors that our country needs.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;So far so good. In fact let me digress a bit here. When I was in high school I was very good at geometry but terrible at algebra; I still remember this one midterm where I got an A and in fact the highest points-based grade in the class in geometry but almost flunked algebra. It took me a long time to claw back to a position where algebra made sense to me. In fact this appreciation of visual explanations was what drew me in part to chemistry, so I perfectly appreciate what Grandin is saying about being sympathetic to students who might have more of a visual capacity.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;But further down the pages she takes a detour into the evils of algebra that doesn&#39;t make sense to me. Again, some of what she says is spot on; for instance the fact that algebra (and math in general) can be taught much better if you can relate it to the real world. Too often it&#39;s presented simply as abstraction and symbol manipulation. But then there&#39;s this:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cognitive skills may simply not be developed enough to handle abstract reasoning before late adolescence, which suggests that, at the very least, we’re teaching algebra too early and too fast. But abstract reasoning is also developed&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;box-sizing: inherit;&quot;&gt;through&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;experience, which is a good argument for keeping all those extracurriculars.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;This part may make more of a case for tying algebra to specific real-world applications than doing away with the abstractions per se. The fact of the matter is that math is abstract; in fact it&#39;s precisely this abstraction that makes it a powerful general tool. And there are good and bad ways of teaching that abstraction, but the solution isn&#39;t to get rid of it or delay it. In fact, that kind of thinking feeds into the popular belief seen in some quarters these days that algebra and calculus both need to be optional classes.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;It&#39;s when she gets to the end of the piece, however, that Grandin completely loses me:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;No two people have the same intelligence, not even identical twins. And yet we persist in testing—and teaching—people in the same way. We don’t need Americans to be better at algebra, per se. We need future generations that can build and repair infrastructure, overhaul energy and agriculture, develop robotics and AI. We need kids who grow up with the imagination to invent the solutions to pandemics and climate change. When school fails them, it fails all of us.&quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;Say what? Building and repairing infrastructure, overhauling energy and agriculture and - especially - developing robotics and AI do not need algebra? In fact most of these professions involve a very solid grounding in abstract aspects of algebra and calculus. I think Grandin is treading very handily from saying that algebra should be taught better to saying that we should get rid of it or make it optional. Two very different things.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana;&quot;&gt;My concern based on this article and others I am reading these days is that, in our drive to reform the system, we want to consider it unnecessary. That is a grave mistake. Algebra and calculus and for that matter music and art are things that, even beyond the practical utility of the first two, help us appreciate our place in society and the cosmos better and in general teach us to be more human. Make them better we certainly should, but let&#39;s not burn the building down in our zeal.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2022/10/temple-grandin-vs-algebra.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Wavefunction)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item></channel></rss>

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