Administrators Tom Wetmore Posted July 14, 2010 Administrators Posted July 14, 2010 Gravity is not all it's cracked up to be - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13gravity.html?no_interstitial Quote "Absurdity reigns and confusion makes it look good." "Sinless perfection is such a shallow goal." "I love God only as much as the person I love the least." *Forgiveness is always good news. And that is the gospel truth. (And finally, the ideas expressed above are solely my person views and not that of any organization with which I am associated.)
Members abelisle Posted July 14, 2010 Members Posted July 14, 2010 But you must admit that the author's thesis that gravity is a byproduct of nature's propensity to maximize disorder is original and fits very neatly into the great 2nd law, that of entropy. Alex (is there an equation for that?) Quote We are our worst enemy - sad but true. http://abelisle.blogspot.com
SivartM Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 Very interesting! I'm partial to the whole curved space idea, though, so this does come as something of a shock. It would be helpful if the article included a clear summary of what Dr. Verlinde's theory is. He loses me after the whole hair analogy. I can sympathize with the physicists who don't understand his paper... And I read books about physics for fun... :\ Quote "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde�Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." - Jesus
Moderators Bravus Posted July 14, 2010 Moderators Posted July 14, 2010 Pinched for elsewhere, but will discuss here. It should be possible to access the original paper, SivartM, rather than a science journo's attempt to explain it to a lay audience. Gimme a minute... Yep, here 'tis: http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1001/1001.0785v1.pdf Quote Truth is important
SivartM Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 Oh, thanks! It will probably be even more confusing than the article, but I'll give it a shot. Maybe then I can make a contribution to this conversation besides sharing how much I love curved space. Quote "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde�Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." - Jesus
Moderators Bravus Posted July 14, 2010 Moderators Posted July 14, 2010 Teenaged boys (yes, and older ones too) loving curves... no big surprise there. Quote Truth is important
SivartM Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 Space, curved space! Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming... :) Quote "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde�Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." - Jesus
Moderators Bravus Posted July 14, 2010 Moderators Posted July 14, 2010 I got to about the end of page 3 of the paper - you know, the bit before the math started! One needs some understanding of holography to really get it, but it's a profoundly exciting paper, from one of the godfathers of string theory. He deduces both Newton's and Einstein's descriptions of gravity from thermodynamics in quite simple and elegant ways: if it's not true, it ought to be. Quote Truth is important
Members abelisle Posted July 14, 2010 Members Posted July 14, 2010 I've always been intrigued by entropy. Now someone else sees its relevance also Alex (things just keep falling apart :) Quote We are our worst enemy - sad but true. http://abelisle.blogspot.com
Moderators Bravus Posted July 14, 2010 Moderators Posted July 14, 2010 Indeed, but in this instance it's things falling apart that makes things fall together! Quote Truth is important
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