Technobriefs
November 18, 2007
A new theory of everything?: science usually proceeds in a series of small deliberate steps, each publication building incrementally on an earlier publication. Except when a giant leap disturbs this gradualism, like punctuated equilibrium in evolution. The problem is that when a new idea appears out of left field, it is often very hard to tell if it is so different because the author is a crackpot, or because the author has had a tremendous insight. Typically only time can tell. There is a lot to be said for being very cynical about bold new claims that deviate from the status quo -- unless of course they are correct! How are the scientific politics affect if the author of an "out of left field" paper is a vagabond surfer with a Ph.D. in physics? See this article in the Telegraph: Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything. This work has been compared to Mendeleev's periodic table, which used a geometrical device to organize the chemical elements. Lisi's work applies the mathematical object known as E8 to describe relationships between elementary particles and the four basic forces of nature. An important aspect of this work is that it predicts 20 new particles, making it a falsifiable hypothesis, the most concrete kind of scientific theory. Lisi has certainly received the "crackpot" treatment: he initially uploaded his preprint An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything to the standard eprint archive (as most physicists do these days) then it was moved by the moderators of the archive from "the section on high energy theory section (hep-th)...to a section designated for 'non-serious contributions.'" For background see this animated tour of the E8 object and Lisi's interpretation. Also there is a long discussion at Slashdot including this well written post: An attempt at a summary which points out that the title of Lisi's paper is a pun. Ya gotta love this guy! In the words of the noted philosopher Blutarsky: TOE-GUT, TOE-GUT!
Aviation and space: news from sky and space: Incredible Comet Bigger than the Sun, Photos: From the moon to the Earth--in HD, Future Mars Craft Inspires High-Tech Spy Plane and WWII P-38 Fighter Discovered in Wales. I've always been a fan of NASA-speak, NASA: Spacesuit's Smoky Smell Prompts Spacewalk Ban includes the quote: "Thus, the on-orbit EMUs are No Go." I imagine it was something similar that led Arthur C. Clark to have HAL in 2001 say his (chilling in retrospect) line: "I suggest we replace the Alpha-Echo-35 unit and allow it to fail."
From webisode to network TV: just last Wednesday I heard NPR's David Bianculli waxing enthusiastic about the new episodic drama Quarterlife now playing on the web. Told in 8 minute webisodes, Quarterlife is a story of six young twenty-somethings growing up in the age of MySpace (which, knock me over with a feather, is cross-promoting the webisodes). The show is by TV veterans Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, creators of thirtysomething and My So-Called Life. Then on Friday came NBC's announcement that they were picking up Quarterlife, packaging 6 webisodes into an hour of broadcast TV, to be aired in spring of 2008: NBC brings Web series "Quarterlife" to TV network. See also Sad Truths and Sad Lives of Generation Blog.
Games: in its third edition, this non-tradition game series has great legs: Why 'Guitar Hero' is rockin' the game charts. Information for the bewildered parent of game playing kids: What They Play, via Parents have no clue what their kids are playing. Here are some fun Video of New Research Conducted with PlayStation Eye in the group where I work, largely by the annoyingly productive "new guy" who sits across from my office. (In the final video you can briefly see me hunched over my computer, trying to ignore all the fun going on a few feet away.)
Technobits: FCC Urged to Stop ISP Traffic 'Throttling' ("A Web-based video distributor asks the FCC to set up rules for broadband network traffic management.") --- Put up or shut up, RIAA told --- Beatles Catalog to Finally Go Digital in ’08 --- Netflix Prize: Close, But No Million Cigar --- Digital Actors in Beowulf Are Just Uncanny --- BBC on climate-change denialists: Climate scepticism: The top 10 --- Robot 'pied piper' leads roaches --- Multics, the pioneering operating system used at MIT when I was there was under appreciated in its day and ever since, yet was more secure than typical modern systems: MIT Releases the Source of MULTICS, Father of UNIX --- Turing WWII computer rides again: Colossus cracks codes once more.