The Most Interesting Man in the World

I may think that this blog is great, but apparently you don't have to take my word for it. The most interesting man in the world seems to agree :)

Hat tip to Tony!

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Is Pluto a Planet?

A few days ago we saw that Joe the Plumber (representing the view of thousands or millions of Americans) prefers the Bible to science books because science books go through constant revisions while the Bible contains eternal, unchanging truth.

Of course, Joe the Plumber and company probably don't realize that, over the last few thousands of years, the Bible has gone through countless revisions, additions, omissions, translations, translations of translations, etc. And many of these, of course, are based on either innocent human error at best or ideological manipulation at worst.

When genuine science books come up with revisions, on the other hand, the reason is that new evidence has been shown to challenge some of our former ideas, and there is no sense in holding on to ideas that have been empirically shown to be deficient or at least inconsistent with other things we have evidence to believe are true.

Today we have a simple example of this idea: why Pluto got "demoted" from the status of planet to the master of the Kuiper Belt:

And if you want a more detailed explanation of our changing views of Pluto (and the reasons why), NASA has a nice video. And if Neil deGrasse Tyson is more your style, you can check him out talking about the whole Pluto debacle, including all the hate mail he's been getting from second graders, or you can check out his NOVA documentary The Pluto Files.

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E.O. Wilson - Advice to Young Scientists

"The world needs you, badly." That's how celebrated evolutionary biologist and entomologist E.O. Wilson (also known as Darwin's heir, or the Lord of the Ants) begins this fascinating, amusing and inspirational TEDTalk presentation encouraging you, yes, you, to pursue a career in science and scientific research.

You may be apprehensive. You may think you're not smart enough, you may be uncomfortable with your own level of mathematical literacy, you may think that there's little you could discover, etc. Don't worry. Wilson himself is a prime example of modest beginnings overcoming adversity to achieve academic greatness, and as someone who's had to struggle with many things throughout his own professional life, he's gathered some tips and ideas that he's graciously willing to share with you, in the form of a few general principles, to help motivate you and guide you into the fascinating, meaningful and rewarding field of scientific research and discovery.

And in case you're wondering, yes, I am aware of the whole selfish-gene/inclusive fitness vs multi-level selection brouhaha that's recently exploded between people like E.O and D.S. Wilson on the one hand, and Richard Dawkins, Jerry Coyne, PZ Myers and Steven Pinker on the other. My own ignorant take: E.O. Wilson is wrong to reject kin selection, and Dawkins and company are wrong to reject multi-level selection.

Still, the debate is fascinating, and as a public debate (and except when those involved resort to cheap ad hominem attacks), the ideas presented by both sides are raising the level of intellectual discourse to levels not common for the ordinary reader. Agree or disagree with his point of view, for instance, Dawkins' recent review of E.O. Wilson's latest book, while harsh, manages to provide a clear and powerful explanation of the nature of the debate, as well as his defense of the selfish gene hypothesis and inclusive fitness. Of course, things didn't end there, because then D.S. Wilson did his own review of Dawkins' review. Don't you just love it when things get meta? :)

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Getting to Mars - Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror

On their own right, the semi-autonomic rovers that explore the surface of Mars for us are great feats of engineering. The fact that they do what they do (from such a long distance away it's virtually impossible for us to really wrap our heads around) ought to be enough to impress anyone, but have you wondered how it is that they get there in the first place?

As you may recall from memory or a little history, landing on Mars is no easy feat. Its gravity is relatively similar to our own, but its atmosphere is too thin and light, so even if you get the angle of entry right (and that's a huge challenge in its own right), you still have to contest with the fact that you're falling at vertiginous speeds without much to slow you down sufficiently for a smooth touchdown.

So, how do you do it without smashing to smithereens all the equipment you want to use? Once it hits the atmosphere, the rover has an infamous seven minutes of terror to deploy a number of very delicate and specifically programmed functions about which you'll learn in the following pretty dramatic animation:

How would you do it?

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Joe the Plumber on Why He Prefers the Bible to Science

I have no problem with Joe the Plumber as a person. Even though I disagree with virtually his entire ideology, I'm sure he's a decent fellow who means well. The problem is he's not smart enough to realize he's not very smart. So, when he decides to open up his mouth and pontificate on matters about which he knows virtually nothing (and about which he's most likely dead-wrong), I sort of feel bad for him because he doesn't realize he's making a fool of himself in front of the entire world, and he probably thinks that when people laugh, they're laughing with him and not at him...

I am angry, however, with the media that continues to treat his ignorant brain droppings, knowing they're worthless, as if they were worth anyone's time, and who continue to pollute the airwaves and the interwebs with the opinions of a man who could probably get schooled by a fifth-grader.

Of course, the irony of my dedicating this blog entry to him is not lost on me, but the purpose here is to showcase the fact that there is a great difference between being popular, for whatever reason (and especially for bad reasons), and having something worth saying or listening to. When he was asked about his thoughts on the Bible and science, for instance, this is the kind of stupefying answer he came up with:

I don't even know where to start dissecting the deepity just inflicted on all of us, but I feel like my IQ just dropped significantly, derp!

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Breaking the Code - The Biography of Alan Turing

Computers don't grow on trees, and even though they are ubiquitous today, that wasn't always the case. In fact, they've only been around for less than a hundred years, and although there are certain folks to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude for laying down the conceptual foundations (the philosopher Leibniz for inventing the binary language system upon which programming depends, for instance, or the enchantress of numbers Ada Lovelace's brilliant insight into the power of computation rather than mere calculation), the individual most directly responsible for modern computation is Alan Turing.

His was a remarkable life, full of genius, insight, inspiration, courage and intellectual creativity. His contributions during World War II (like the fact he broke the Nazi code and was privy to the information sent in secret messages to Hitler and his thugs even before they received it) may be directly responsible for saving hundreds of thousands of lives, and of accelerating the end of the war.

For all of his importance, however, his life was also very tragic. Because of the top-secret nature of his mathematical work during the war, he was never officially recognized. And to add insult to injury, his homosexuality was used to ban him from his own work, to treat him worse than a common criminal, and eventually it led to his suicide. This is his life:

For more on Turing's mathematical and philosophical importance, check out two of my favorite documentaries in this whole blog: Dangerous Knowledge with David Malone, and The Secret Life of Chaos with Jim Al-Khalili.

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Diane Kelly - What We Didn't Know about Penis Anatomy

Penises... they're great. In my case, we're best friends. I never leave home without mine. Do you?

It may seem pretty obvious what they're for (what, with their relentless one-mind track), but there are still many mysteries surrounding these anatomical masterpieces. For instance, how come lots of species sport a bone in theirs while humans (and a few other mammalian species) do not? How come felines have barbed phalluses and ducks have... well, you can check out that weirdness for yourself.

But even if we stick with boring human subjects, how exactly do they work? How is erection achieved? Is it merely an inflatable tube? If so, why can't it bend? How come it's so hard? And how exactly does it stay erect?

If you've ever wondered about any of these questions, it seems that Diane Kelly can answer at least a few of them in the following TEDTalk presentation:

I think I'm going to go play with mine for a while, all in the name of science, of course :)

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Slinky Magic in Slow Motion

If you've been following this blog for a while, then you probably already know the answer (and the explanation) to the following question: if you hold on to one end of a slinky and let the other side hang down until it stops moving, what would happen to the bottom end exactly when you let go of the top? Does it move up because the spring is no longer being stretched? Does it stay still? Does it fall because gravity is pulling down on it and there's nothing holding the slinky any longer?

If you haven't checked out that entry, go right now. But because this sort of thing is just too cool, today we have another video on the topic, with the added beauty of a longer slinky and some incredible slow motion photography:

And for more awesome photography, visit our awesome time lapse tag.

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This Is the Best Sermon You'll Hear Today. Amen!

I know I sometimes tend to rant against religious dogmatism and bigotry, but credit has to be given where it's due, and the following sermon by Pastor Frederick Haynes III absolutely deserves props, so kudos!

Why? Well, consider this... he's a black man and a Christian Baptist minister. So if he's talking about homosexuality, you'd think he'd go the double-whammy homophobic route and preach to the intolerant choir (sorry, but come on, you know that's how it goes).

Instead, however, he delivers one of the clearest, bravest and most eloquent articulations of the idea behind the separation of church and state I've seen religious commentators make, all before getting into the theological question of what Christian attitudes ought to be toward homosexuality given what Jesus said about it. If you declare Jesus Christ to be your lord and savior, you might want to pay attention to his teachings before you start passing judgment or throwing stones at other people  Can I get an Amen!? :)

Hallelujah!

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What's Up with Pythagoras?

The first time I read Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy, I could not get over the chapter on Pythagoras. As Russell claims, "Pythagoras... was intellectually one of the most important men that ever lived, both when he was wise and when he was unwise. Mathematics, in the sense of demonstrative deductive argument, begins with him." This is probably the aspect of Pythagoras that's well known. The unwise part comes from his weird and wacky mysticism (which he managed to intertwine with his mathematics both to great success and to halt its own progress) and to his dogmatism: you did not want to upset the guy or threaten the beauty and perfection of his rational philosophy.

The guy who did, by pointing out the existence of irrational numbers as a logical consequence of Pythagoras' own rational theorem, angered Pythagoras and his posse, and got himself viciously killed by them.

So how do irrational numbers flow out of the Pythagorean theorem? Well, the awesome Vi Hart explains in her deliciously unique way in today's episode of the doodling in math series.

And if you're curious about some of the rules of the Pythagorean order, check these out:

1. To abstain from beans
2. Not to pick up what has fallen - sorry grandma!
3. Not to touch a white cock - I guess once you go black... sorry, but isn't that racist :)
4. Not to stir the fire with iron - being that iron is a metal, I'll let that slide

And if you want to inspire your friends, family, kids, students, co-workers, you can also show them how the late and beloved Jacob Bronowski explains the mathematical, philosophical and historical significance of this great discovery. Trust me, it's inspirational...

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When did this blog become (semi) popular?

This little one-man operation usually gets about a thousand hits a day. I can't tell you how pleased that makes me, especially considering that we're not associated with any cool, popular or powerful organization at all. Hell, I don't even have ads here!

This is exclusively a product of love. Think of it as my little contribution to the world, trying to enrich those curious enough to want to explore new ideas.

About a year ago, the readership was around 200 folks a day, and somehow that grew five-fold over the past twelve months. I don't know how these things work; I'm just glad that the ideas explored here are reaching people interested in cool ideas, philosophy, science, history, mathematics, and learning in general. Who said you can't be an autodidact? :)

So if two hundred people got me all smiley a year ago, imagine my surprise when over the past few days, our hits went from the regular one grand or so to almost 6,000 hits yesterday!

Of course, this may all be some unintended glitch, but either way, it feels nice that lots of people, most of whom I'll probably never meet, may be getting something out of stumbling by here. So, if you have friends of family that may benefit from browsing around here, do invite them. Hopefully we have a little something for everyone (except stupid people) :)

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When Aliens Read the Socratic Dialogues

Apparently they get a different satisfaction from reading Plato:

Of course, that might either mean that they are intellectually superior to us, or that maybe they're semi-autistic engineers. Oh snap! :)

To be fair, at least two humans, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, got the joke, except Nietzsche didn't find it very funny...

Via Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

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Three Minute Philosophy - Aristotle

When scholars refer to you as "the philosopher" for about two thousand years, and everyone understands what that means, you're kind of a big deal. That's exactly what happened to Aristotle because, let's face it, the man's depth and breath of intellectual sophistication simply blew everyone out of the water for two millennia.

If you want a nice introduction to his thought, you could go the comedic route with Mark Steel. For the more ambitious of you, there's always the eloquent Martha Nussbaum discussing Aristotle with Bryan Magee, or Barry Schwarts lecturing on Aristotle's virtue ethics and practical wisdom, or Michael Sandel's teaching his excellent Harvard course on Justice.

But if you have absolutely no idea who Aristotle was, give us 3 minutes:

Ok, so he's too important to distill in only 3 minutes, so give us 3 more:

And to get an even better idea, here is an explanation of Aristotle's four causes:

If you liked that, check out the excellent History of Philosophy podcast; your brain will thank you.

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Frans de Waal - Moral Behavior in Animals

As you probably know, one of the most popular arguments for the existence of God is known as the moral argument. There are variations on the theme, but one of the general ideas is that the human moral sense cannot be successfully explained by mindless naturalistic principles, partly because human morality seems to be an altogether unique phenomenon in the biological world, without any antecedents in our ancestors or parallels in our living cousins. Even some prominent biologists believe this!

But is it really true that there are no antecedents or parallels of a moral sense in other animals, or is that really just a straw man created by creationists and theologians to rationalize their beliefs? Well, whenever someone makes claims that can be easily verified empirically, we can simply turn to the evidence and see how such claims stand up to experimental scrutiny, and as world-renowned primatologist Frans de Waal shows in the following TEDTalk presentation, there are all kinds of examples of moral behavior in the animal world, often including two crucial components of morality: fairness and empathy.

And yes, since de Waal is a primatologist, you can expect to see plenty of examples of monkey moral behavior, and since we're dealing with monkeys, of course there will be some hilarity :)

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Measuring the Universe

If you read/watched our recent entry on the majesty, beauty and scientific importance behind the Transit of Venus, you may have come to realize that scientists are a clever bunch: give them two or three things, and they'll give you a whole world full of goodies. How's that for a return on your investment? Suck it, Wall Street!

Right, so the scientific importance behind the transit has to do with the question of how we manage to measure things in space (like the distance between the Earth and Sun), but have you wondered exactly how it is that scientists manage to measure even greater distances, like how far away other galaxies are, or even how old the universe is? Well, wonder no more because here's a quick little introduction to the general idea:

And if you want the more serious treatment about how scientists have figured out the age of the universe, you might want to check out In Our Time, with Melvyn Bragg.

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The Prisoner's Dilemma

One of the interesting aspects of social interactions is that our interests are not always aligned with those of other agents, and when the result of an interaction is a function of your choice and that of someone else whose motives may be different from your own, you face a dilemma... what to do?

Well, you kind of know what you'd like to do, but you also know what he'd like to do, and you know that he knows what you'd like to do, and so you think about what he's going to think you're going to do, so you try to anticipate that by doing something else, except that he probably realizes you're going to try to cheat him, so he's going to try to get you before you get him, lather, rinse, repeat ad infinitum and you're not one step closer to figuring out what to do.

One of the fascinating and paradoxical implications of trying to rationally maximize your own utility function is that, when confronted with certain scenarios, such as the famous prisoner's dilemma, and by virtue of pursuing your own individual interests, you end up screwing yourself more than if you simply decided to cooperate. Oh, but it's never that simple. Anyway, here's a basic introduction to the idea of the prisoner's dilemma:

Now, you may think that because you now understand how this dilemma works, you could beat it if you were to find yourself in such a scenario, but as Dilbert shows, that's not quite right (which is exactly why such scenarios are so interesting and why so many academics in all sorts of disciplines have devoted so much of their time to think about and research such cases):

In political philosophy, one of the most famous instances of a philosopher recognizing the nature of these interactions was Thomas Hobbes, who argued (a few centuries before game theory was actually invented... isn't it awesome how philosophy is so often way ahead of its time?) that the way to solve these problems is to make sure there is some sort of mechanism to enforce cooperation.

Hobbes' particular solution was that all rights should be transferred to a sovereign who would have a monopoly on power (and the violence that could be inflicted on defectors), but as the following absolutely brilliant and gripping game-show example demonstrates, there can be other ways to ensure cooperation:

Was that brilliant or what?!?

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The Transit of Venus

The Transit of Venus has been all over the news recently, mainly because this is the last opportunity to see it for virtually everyone who is alive today. The next one will not occur until 2117.

But do you know its historical and scientific importance? That's right, this isn't just a pretty light show. Over the last four hundred years, this rare occurrence held the key to determine the size of our solar system, and as the following primer shows, the individual pieces required to put the whole together spanned the gamut of scientific and mathematical thinking, and involved some incredible minds:

But this general idea goes far beyond merely determining the size of an astronomical unit: it can be used to detect and measure planets in other solar systems too:

And here it is, in all its spectacular beauty, footage of the 2012 Transit of Venus:

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Colbert and Stewart Disagree on Sugary Drinks Ban

When Mayor Bloomberg announced that he wanted to ban the sale of oversized 16-ounce sugary drinks in NYC, everyone went ape shit. Sure, while the idea to try to force people to become more conscious about choices affecting their own health is well-intentioned, it's not exactly the sort of thing you can set as a legal precedent, enforceable by law, without it blowing up in your face.

But it strikes me as telling that the idea received such vociferous responses from all directions, and it makes me wonder whether the explanation for such vitriol comes from our reluctance to admit that this is a more complex issue than it may appear at first glance. After all, one does have to admit that it would be good for citizens if they drank less soda... and that the evidence shows that, when they get to make the choice, they go for the ridiculously large stuff that's going to bring them that much closer to obesity and diabetes.

Jon Stewart points to the ridiculousness of the ban, since "it would combine the draconian government overreach people love with the probable lack of results they expect."

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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And then moves on to show what such a law ought to entail if we were to apply it consistently:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Stephen Colbert, on the other hand, has a very different reaction:

The Colbert Report
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Sex: An Unnatural History - The Church

One of the ways in which religions have managed to control their followers is by controlling their sexuality, telling them what's allowed, what's forbidden, what they can be punished for eternally, what the purpose of sex is, and so on. And for a very long time, religions managed to do this quite well, primarily because they also controlled the means of indoctrination and communication, but then modernity and education happened...

Few events have shocked the church quite the way the introduction of the anti-contraceptive pill did because, for the first time in history, sexuality became democratized and people finally had some control over their own reproduction, control that had previously been the dominion of the church.

With the sexual revolution of the sixties, and the general secularization of the zeitgeist over the last few centuries, orthodox traditional religious restrictions on sexuality (like their adherence to natural law theory and its injunctions against birth control, abortion and homosexuality), though still strongly supported by church officials, have been mainly ignored by the faithful, and the church has lost its grip on the conscience and soul of its constituents.

But is sex only about physical gratification, or is there some important spiritual component to it over which the church really ought to have something to say? Or can such components be achieved without it? Does the very idea of sex as metaphorical forbidden fruit enhance the sexual experience? Are atheists missing out?

And check out a brief summary of the history of the church and child sexual abuse.

Or check out the Unnatural History of Sex (The Revolution and Love).

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