Space Between Philosophy and Physics
When I studied history of science, my teachers — especially Ken Manders and Paolo Palmieri — hammered two principles like drill sergeants: Always read the original manuscripts; Always pay attention…
Bill Unruh’s recent collection on black hole analogues begins, Deep beneath the great encircling seas of the Discworld lived a species of hyper-intelligent fish. (Unruh 2007, p.1) Unusual, but inspiring:…
Roger Penrose came to Pittsburgh on Friday, presenting his new picture of cosmology. It was my first time seeing a Penrose presentation, and I was delighted to find it filled…
The unfolding of time is typically described as a sequence of spatial regions: one region of space gets realized, and then another, and then another. For example: consider a region…
There is a lot of literature about how it is that important successes in science apparently stemmed from false belief. Belief in the existence of caloric is a common example:…