1. On the Number of Possible Dimensions

    “An intriguing feature of string theory is that it involves the prediction of extra dimensions. The number of dimensions is not fixed by any consistency criterion, but flat spacetime solutions do exist in the so-called “critical dimension”. Cosmological solutions exist in a wider variety of dimensionalities, and these different dimensions—more precisely different values of the “effective central charge”, a count of degrees of freedom which reduces to dimensionality in weakly curved regimes—are related by dynamical transitions.

    One such theory is the 11-dimensional M-theory, which requires spacetime to have eleven dimensions, as opposed to the usual three spatial dimensions and the fourth dimension of time. The original string theories from the 1980s describe special cases of M-theory where the eleventh dimension is a very small circle or a line, and if these formulations are considered as fundamental, then string theory requires ten dimensions. But the theory also describes universes like ours, with four observable spacetime dimensions, as well as universes with up to 10 flat space dimensions, and also cases where the position in some of the dimensions is not described by a real number, but by a completely different type of mathematical quantity. So the notion of spacetime dimension is not fixed in string theory: it is best thought of as different in different circumstances.

    Nothing in Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism or Einstein’s theory of relativity makes this kind of prediction; these theories require physicists to insert the number of dimensions “by both hands”, and this number is fixed and independent of potential energy. String theory allows one to relate the number of dimensions to scalar potential energy. Technically, this happens because a gauge anomaly exists for every separate number of predicted dimensions, and the gauge anomaly can be counteracted by including nontrivial potential energy into equations to solve motion. Furthermore, the absence of potential energy in the “critical dimension” explains why flat spacetime solutions are possible.

    This can be better understood by noting that a photon included in a consistent theory (technically, a particle carrying a force related to an unbroken gauge symmetry) must be massless. The mass of the photon which is predicted by string theory depends on the energy of the string mode which represents the photon. This energy includes a contribution from the Casimir effect, namely from quantum fluctuations in the string. The size of this contribution depends on the number of dimensions since for a larger number of dimensions; there are more possible fluctuations in the string position. Therefore, the photon in flat spacetime will be massless—and the theory consistent—only for a particular number of dimensions.

    When the calculation is done, the critical dimensionality is not four as one may expect (three axes of space and one of time). The subset of X is equal to the relation of photon fluctuations in a linear dimension. Flat space string theories are 26-dimensional in the bosonic case, while superstring and M-theories turn out to involve 10 or 11 dimensions for flat solutions. In bosonic string theories, the 26 dimensions come from the Polyakov equation. Starting from any dimension greater than four, it is necessary to consider how these are reduced to four dimensional spacetime.”

    - String Theory, (Wikipedia Entry)


  2. “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Photo Credits: Dan Mountford


  3. “We build the tools, then they build us.”

    - Marshall McLuhan (Canadian educator, philosopher and scholar)

    Photo Credits: Chazen, Edward Burtynsky, Michael Wolf


  4. The First Diagram of the Universe

    Euclidian“…as though in a miraculous hour it has become aware of the law that shapes it and begins to strive toward the fulfillment of its being.”

    - Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962, swiss poet, novelist and painter.)

    The very first picture of everything, recorded by the self proclaimed “star-counter,” William Herschel. Euclidian geometry suggests that space is finite, but does space really have bounds, or is it simply the space in which things occur? Is there such thing as the infinite?


  5. The Singularity

    “I am not sure when I first became aware of the Singularity. I’d have to say it was a progressive awakening. In the almost half century that I’ve immersed myself in computer and related technologies, I’ve sought to understand the meaning and purpose of the continual upheaval that I have witnessed at many levels. Gradually, I’ve become aware of a transforming event looming in the first half of the twenty-first century. Just as a black hole in space dramatically alters the patterns of matter and energy accelerating toward its event horizon, this impending Singularity in our future is increasingly transforming every institution and aspect of human life, from sexuality to spirituality.

    What, then, is the Singularity? It’s a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed. Although neither utopian nor dystopian, this epoch will transform the concepts that we rely on to give meaning to our lives, from our business models to the cycle of human life, including death itself. Understanding the Singularity will alter our perspective on the significance of our past and the ramifications for our future. To truly understand it inherently changes one’s view of life in general and one’s own particular life.”

    – Ray Kurzweil (From his book, “The Singularity is Near”)


  6. On Ideas

    “Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world.”

    “Only through the pure contemplation … which becomes absorbed entirely in the object, are the Ideas comprehended; and the nature of genius consists precisely in the preeminent ability for such contemplation… . This demands a complete forgetting of our own person.”

    - Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860, German Psychologist and Philosopher)



  7. On the nature of space and time…

    “To be sure, it has been pointed out that the introduction of a space-time continuum may be considered as contrary to nature in view of the molecular structure of everything which happens on a small scale.

    It is maintained that perhaps the success of the Heisenberg method points to a purely algebraical method of description of nature, that is to the elimination of continuous functions from physics. Then, however, we must also give up, by principle, the space-time continuum. It is not unimaginable that human ingenuity will some day find methods which will make it possible to proceed along such a path. At the present time, however, such a program looks like an attempt to breathe in empty space.”

    - Albert Einstein


  8. Fractals generated in-browser in real-time 3d. http://fractal.io/

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

    - Arthur C. Clarke (From “The Lost Worlds of 2001”)


  9. Identity As Individuality: The MIT Media Lab’s new brand.

    “The new visual identity of the MIT Media Lab is inspired by the community it comprises: Highly creative people from all kinds of backgrounds come together, inspire each other and collaboratively develop a vision of the future.This unique offering of the MIT Media Lab is reflected in the logo design. Each of the three shapes stands for one individual’s contribution, the resulting shape represents the outcome of this process: A constant redefinition of what media and technology means today.

    The logo is based on a visual system, an algorithm that produces a unique logo for each person, for faculty, staff and students. Each person can claim and own an individual shape and can use it on their business card a personal website. The design encompasses all collateral, business cards, letterhead, website, animations, signage etc. A custom web interface was developed to allow each person at the Media Lab to choose and claim an own individual logo for his/her business card, as well as a custom animation software which allows to create custom animations for any video content the lab produces.”

    MIT Media Lab Identity
    Designer: The, Richard (site)



  10. On Nature:

    “When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty.. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” - Buckminster Fuller



  11. Curiosity keeps me alive.

    “A garden is a complex of aesthetic and plastic intentions; and the plant is, to a landscape artist, not only a plant - rare, unusual, ordinary or doomed to disappearance - but it is also a color, a shape, a volume or an arabesque in itself…”

    Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994, brazilian landscape artist)


  12. Puddle Thinking

    Photography by Camille Seaman 

    “Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, “This is an interesting world I find myself in, an interesting hole I find myself in, fits me rather neatly, doesn’t it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!” 

    This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, it’s still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything’s going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise. I think this may be something we need to be on the watch out for.”

    - Douglas Adams (1952-2001, english writer)


  13. One More Reason

    “Planetary exploration satisfies our inclination for great enterprises and wanderings and quests that has been with us since our days as hunters and gatherers on the East African savannahs a million years ago. By chance—it is possible, I say, to imagine many skeins of historical causality in which this would not have transpired—in our age we are able to begin again.Exploring other worlds employs precisely the same qualities of daring, planning, cooperative enterprise, and valor that mark the finest in military tradition. Never mind the night launch of an Apollo spacecraft bound for another world. That makes the conclusion foregone. Witness mere F-14s taking off from adjacent flight decks, gracefully canting left and right, afterburners flaming, and there’s something that sweeps you away—or at least it does me. And no amount of knowledge of the potential abuses of carrier task forces can affect the depth of that feeling. It simply speaks to another part of me. It doesn’t want recriminations or politics. It just wants to fly.”

    - Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space)



  14. Augmented Reality, not the flash gimmick, isn’t being overlooked in it’s future use. How will machine impact our decision making? How does it already?


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