Monthly Archives: November 2012

Wave or particle?

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I’ve been meaning to write about the recent news regarding a new experiment tackling the wave-particle duality of quantum objects – in this case using “relatively large phthalocyanine (C32H18N8) and derivative molecules (C48H26F24N8O8)” rather than the typical photons.

The idea is to try and pinpoint where classical (macro) physics ends and where quantum effects (micro) take over and using larger particles gives scientists a chance to do this. That’s an interesting idea to be sure.

I don’t want to get into that particular experiment per se, but rather to unpack the language and explore the general implication of a ‘wave-particle duality’.

This article and most other writings on the subject use phrases similar to ‘sometimes like a particle and sometimes like a wave’ when describing the actions and interactions of quantum particles. I’ve even seen the uncertainty principle invoked in ways that make it sound as if the photon or other particle ‘chooses’ what to be as it goes. (Please someone save us all from anthropomorphic particles!) Or that photons exhibit both qualities simultaneously. The implications of these observations seem to always end up being something like the sub-atomic world is ‘stranger than fiction’ or some such sentiment.

This quality of ‘weirdness’ and duality has its root, I think, in the fallacy of empty space. If light can travel through a vacuum, and it exhibits both wave and particle properties, then we have to invoke the phrase ‘sometimes like a particle and sometimes like a wave’ because empty space contains none of the mass necessary to propagate waves in a classical sense.

So to me the implication is far simpler: it implies a medium of some kind. Call it ether or dark matter or whatever, but as a hard determinist and physical infinity proponent, I subscribe to the notion that there can be no empty space. Therefore it’s ‘particles all the way down’ as it were. If this is the case, then light is simply particles compressing on each other in different ways to form what we call light or radio waves, etc.

All the arguments against ether (or gravity construed as a particle effect) usually get poo-pooed because of drag – too much frictional heat for the idea to be plausible. That’s just a non-sequitur. Just because drag occurs with air particles, doesn’t mean that the interaction of these very small particles – that we know little about – works the same way.

Particle or wave? Waves are made by particles. By definition. That’s either true, or we need different words to describe what scientists are seeing in these double-slit experiments.

New Star Wars. Go big or go home.

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I am a man of a certain age, an age that puts me square in the Star Wars wheelhouse. I turned three the year the original film hit theaters. But I still managed to see it in the theater when I was four. That movie stayed in theaters FOREVER.

I had all the toys. The greatest Christmas of my childhood involved the Millennium Falcon that everyone wanted. My older brother patiently applied all the stickers in the right places for me. Galaxy-hopping bliss ensued.

Then in 1981 there was Empire in all its sister-kissing, father-revealing, cliff-hanger-y glory. I was 10 when Jedi came out. I managed to see that one in the theater four times. Couldn’t believe the story was over. Didn’t want to.

We all believed that there would be more movies. Me and my friends were convinced the story wasn’t over. Too popular. They would think of something. There were the rumors of VII, VIII, and IX. But years went by, empty of fresh Star Wars content (I watched the Ewok TV movies, but I am not proud of this fact), we gave up.

Then Lucas opened up the post-Jedi timeline to novelists. The books are great, the few that I’ve read anyway, particularly the original Tim Zahn trilogy. As good as they are, they suffer from a fatal flaw, an air-duct-on-a-Death-Star type flaw: they aren’t movies! Star Wars is movie-ness and movie-osity incarnate. They are perhaps the movie-est of all movies.

College. That’s when the prequels hit. It wasn’t what we all wanted, but we convinced ourselves it would be awesome. It wasn’t as awesome as most hoped, but for me, the prequels weren’t as bad as people seem to believe. I think that they were different to us mainly because we were different. Older. There’s a huge difference between exposure to stories as children than as adults. The former is formative, the latter subject to the often unkind filters of adult experience coupled with suspect childhood memories and emotions.

But when Lucas sold to Disney and announced the next trilogy, there was a huge freak out in my childhood and adult selves. Finally new content in movie form! This is right, this is good. And Lucas is only overseeing. This is good. The script writer has cred, and the movie will benefit from a director that can work with actors.

People will no doubt complain about the quality. They’ll hate the actors or directors, the script, the comic relief characters… Forget all that crap. The 10-year-old in me wants Star Wars and wants to like it. So that’s what I’m going to do.

Here’s hoping that the Star Wars brain trust pulls out all the stops. Give us another story that’s huge and intimate at the same time. Give us believable eye-candy. Gives us a kick-ass soundtrack.

Go big, or don’t bother.

New coach, new system… but will Kobe adapt?

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It as never my intention for this to be a political blog so I’m going to start fixing this today. How about some basketball?

After the glacial 1-4 start for the hometown Lakers, the cries were growing for Mike Brown’s ouster. During games, cries for Phil Jackson echoed off the banners in Staples Center. And so Brown got the axe, lickety-split.

And everyone thought that Phil would get the job – even Phil. But Lakers brass went with another rumored name: Mike D’antoni.

From the first rumor, I thought that D’antoni would be a weird choice. The run-and-gun transition style that he made famous with the Phoenix Suns might be fine for the young bench players (who need every advantage they can get), but would kill the aging starting five the Lakers are relying on. But maybe not – they system also is heavy on pick-and-roll, which even ancient ballers can handle.

A lot of pixels have been spilled writing about how D’antoni has learned from his stint with the Knicks and will adapt his system, and how his teams aren’t nearly as bad defensively as everyone thinks they are (they gave up more points because their pace-of-play generated more possessions for not only themselves, but for their opponents as well).

Will it make a difference? The interim coach, Bernie Bickerstaff basically just got out of the way, and the Lakers immediately started playing winning ball (though they haven’t played a decent team since the Clippers (is that right?!)). So clearly talent, knowledge, and experience can do a lot on its own. Having a dedicated offensive system will help. Getting Steve Nash back from his fractured knee knob will also do wonders.

But there’s only one thing that will ultimately make this all work: how will Kobe adapt? Will Kobe adapt?

This, I think matters more than the coach, the system, the other starters, the bench… anything. If Kobe is happy with his role, the Lakers will do well. If not, not.

He’s shown a willingness to adapt to new styles of play, but this is a man that wants the ball in his hands, needs the ball in his hands to feel like himself. He’s led the league in usage for like…. ever.
Can he be satisfied with the ball in Nash’s hands? Will he be happy camped in the corner or setting screens? Of course he should be, and he’ll say he is. But how patient will he be this time?

As Kobe goes, so go the Lakers. Period.

Popping the bubble?

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Like many other people around the internet, I’ve been trying to process my thoughts and feelings about the election results. My team won, so on the one hand I’m relieved and elated. But as the week wore on, I identified another feeling: disbelief. Let me explain.

The intelligentsia on the right also seemed to be espousing disbelief after the election: disbelief that they could possibly lose. (And in Karl Rove’s case, it happened in real time.) I know that the right has been drinking its own Koolaid for years, but until this week, they always seemed to be able to explain losses away and go on about their merry way, maintaining a certain relevance.  But if this election proved nothing else, it proved that the right cannot continue to live in their stainless steel, Halliburton-constructed, bubble-shaped echo chamber and hope to win future elections on the national level or help the country at any level.

The United States of America is not the lily white, center-right place it once was. People of color matter now and they know it. Gay people matter and they know it. Women and young people as well. I’m a straight, white male, and unlike conservatives in that category, I know the USA is different as well.

What does this mean? Lots of things. But mostly I hope that the right finally has that long, dark night of the soul that they’ve been threatening to have and that they evolve. (They irony of that word choice is not lost on me.) I hope this because we need a full complement of reality based problem-solvers in our government that stand ready to make the country better for all of its citizens – not just the well-to-do white ones. The right needs to acknowledge the world around them and deal with what they actually find… not what they wish was there. Otherwise they are going to end up obsolete.

I wonder if they can do it. I wonder if they can pop the bubble. I’ll believe it when I see it.

The Collective Will to Political Happiness

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Tomorrow, everyone that hasn’t voted early or voted by mail (like me) will schlep off to their polling place and attempt to exert their collective will on our county. (Unless you live in a swing state. In that case, good luck to you!) If I’m fortunate, my team will win, but then you folks on the other side of the fence will have country that feels diametrically opposed to what you want. If your team wins, I’ll feel the same way and threaten to move to the nearest country that seems vastly superior to ours.

So since I don’t want to be sad and angry, please exert your collective will for my guy!

I’m iggy2112, and I approved this message.