Fermi paradox?

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DF96

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I'm sure Feynman was well aware that magnetism is simply the Lorentz transformed version of electrostatic forces. Spin is a greater mystery, as there is no classical analogue - spin emerges from relativistic quantum mechanics. Electrons and other spin-half particles are particularly non-intuitive, as you have to turn them around by 720 degrees to get them back in the state they started in. Don't ask me to explain that! It just is.

Feynman may have been referring to the magnetic moment associated with spin, or the way spins couple and align in a ferromagnetic domain. I can't remember when the theory for that was worked out.
 
M Gregg

M Gregg

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Joined 2010
DF96 said:
the way spins couple and align in a ferromagnetic domain. I can't remember when the theory for that was worked out.
Click to expand...

Yes,
That was the topic of conversation, and reference to what was the actual force between two poles and why it could be felt at a distance. ie what was between the poles that could not be seen that was having a physical effect. (What is a magnetic field made of ..particles or other)

This sort of idea..
http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=414

Regards
M. Gregg
 
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DF96

R.I.P.
Joined 2007
myweb.tiscali.co.uk/g8hqp/
You keep flipping between magnetism and spin. Magnetism is understood. Spin is more mysterious. A magnetic field is made of (mainly virtual) photons. So what? If you want to understand all this stuff then all you need to do is a 4-year physics degree - QED may begin to appear in the 3rd or 4th year. The equivalent in private reading is likely to take a bit longer.
 
PlasticIsGood

PlasticIsGood

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Joined 2012
DF96 said:
You keep flipping between magnetism and spin. Magnetism is understood. Spin is more mysterious. A magnetic field is made of (mainly virtual) photons. So what? If you want to understand all this stuff then all you need to do is a 4-year physics degree - QED may begin to appear in the 3rd or 4th year. The equivalent in private reading is likely to take a bit longer.
Click to expand...

What's needed for the understanding of physics is experience in making reliable predictions. A physics degree is one beginning but there are others.

Much recent knowledge is of things outside the range of common perception. Too small, too far away, or otherwise not observable by everyone. A raft of mathematical relationships may seem like knowledge but it's not real for me if I can't grapple with the actual stuff. Science goes where utility leads it, and now it is in the hands of relatively few people working for large corporations.

I find uninformed philosophical speculation annoying, but I'm finding science fantasy less irksome. As long as we're not actually working in the field, what does it matter?
 
D

DF96

R.I.P.
Joined 2007
myweb.tiscali.co.uk/g8hqp/
PlasticIsGood said:
What's needed for the understanding of physics is experience in making reliable predictions.
Click to expand...
No. That is merely what the instrumentalists will tell you. Read David Deutsch "The Beginning of Infinity". I don't agree with everything he says, but his approach to physics is right IMHO.

A physics degree is one beginning but there are others.
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I can't think of any others, apart from doing the equivalent in private reading. Do you know a better way to learn physics, or are you rejecting physics as an explanation for physical phenomena?

A raft of mathematical relationships may seem like knowledge but it's not real for me if I can't grapple with the actual stuff.
Click to expand...
Are you an engineer, or for some other reason need a mechanical analogy for everything? Mathematics is the language of physics, just as English/French/Russian etc. are the languages of literature/law etc. No maths = no physics. Sorry, the universe is just like that. Symmetry (maths), broken symmetry (more maths), conservation laws (maths), orthogonal basis sets (maths) all seem to be at the heart of it.

Science goes where utility leads it, and now it is in the hands of relatively few people working for large corporations.
Click to expand...
No. Most fundamental science is still done by large numbers of people funded by governments. Science goes where the evidence leads it. The industrial spin-off comes later. Fortunately most governments still understand this.

I find uninformed philosophical speculation annoying, but I'm finding science fantasy less irksome. As long as we're not actually working in the field, what does it matter?
Click to expand...
Provided you and your readers know it is fantasy all is well.
 
M Gregg

M Gregg

Disabled Account
Joined 2010
PlasticIsGood said:
What's needed for the understanding of physics is experience in making reliable predictions. A physics degree is one beginning but there are others.

I find uninformed philosophical speculation annoying, but I'm finding science fantasy less irksome. As long as we're not actually working in the field, what does it matter?
Click to expand...

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed."

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."
Albert Einstein


Regards
M. Gregg
 
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M Gregg

M Gregg

Disabled Account
Joined 2010
Does everything there is to know already exist?

Can we make something that has not already been made or are we changing the universe in a way that has not already happened...

What does it mean to be aware..do we need to understand something to be aware of something? We know about gravity..do we understand it? We know about dark matter...etc

What does it mean to be "Unique"? is the Human race unique?

What could another alien species know that we don't? If they did know something, we don't seem to have evidence. If time travel existed where are the time travelers alien or other?

In the world as we know it how many other species have a society like the human race?
What kind of society would "they" have?
Assuming they did exist is there some other life thinking about other life as we speak?

We assume ethics and moral behaviour are intergalactic..for a species to have technology some sort of structured society must exist.. Where is the evidence? How could this happen on a world anything like the other planets in our solar system? If it could shouldn't it already be there?

Just for fun..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dRr-fnPCwM


Regards
M. Gregg
 
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