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Showing posts from May, 2013

[Book of May] The Theory of Everything

A lot of theories of everything - that is the state of science in these modern times. There is a classical theory of physics describing the motion of macroscopic objects like you, me and the millions of cars buzzing around us.  And there is a quantum theory that cuts the atoms into pieces million million (for exact measurement check out here ) times smaller until it starts behaving like strings in a space where more than four dimensions are compressed in their wavy dance! There are a few theories out there that are trying to explain the creation of universe. Ever since Edwin Hubble observed that universe is expanding the scientists, physicists, astronomers and almost everybody else is talking about the Big Bang . There is almost a theory of everything. A theory goes that our universe is like a soap bubble in a bath of soap bubbles - a multiverse . The number of universes in a multiverse are infinite. Is the multiverse itself infinite? In this infinite universe ...

The Thought Experiment

I'm not a Physicist. However the wondrous nature of the universe entices me rather than the complexity and uncertainty of the mathematics that is used to describe the rules that govern the universe we live in. Apologies to my mathematician friends but I don't "feel" the equations yet. Christian Huygens attributed certain characteristics of light, like change of speed in different medium and refraction, to the wave-like behaviour of light. Sir Issac Newton firmly believed in the particle-like nature of light based on his observations on the phenomenon of reflection & refraction. Maxwell, Planck and Einstein later provided sufficient mathematical, empirical and theoretical evidence to convince the scientific to sing the song of wave-particle duality. It's a strange behaviour to say the least, something that behaves in two different ways simultaneously; kinda like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde of R. L. Stevenson. It's a cumbersome process to come up...

Ancient Alien v/s Ancient Ingenuity

I am fascinated by the idea of aliens. I do believe in the line from the movie Contact - if we're all alone in this universe, it sure seems like an awful waste of space . On a humorous side note, even Steven Spielberg believes in aliens ; didn't surprise me at all! The idea of alien seems to bifurcate the otherwise open-minded scientific community into 'Hmm-not-so-sure' and 'We-should-keep-looking'. The proof of life is evident in conditions labeled hazardous by homo sapiens' norms. In fact, Biology has a word for organisms that survive in extreme conditions - extremophile. Microbes were found thriving in extreme conditions of Mariana Trench , 11 kilometers deep and a pressure of over 1000 times we human beings face on surface. "Life finds a way", said Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum's character in the movie Jurassic Park). Despite being afflicted with cardinal sins and many more; us humans are capable of reaching highest of achievements. ...

[Books of April] The Long Tail of My Life - Why The Future of Life is in Doing More of Less

The book of April has spilled over to May. I have been a bit lazy and busy at the same time. I wonder I am lazy because I'm busy or busy because I'm lazy! I haven't figured that out yet. The month of April started with a plan to finish a long overdue book - The Long Tail by Chris Anderson . It's an interesting and enticing concept - the long tail. Apparently you can find a long tail of almost everything; whether it's iTunes, Rhapsody or Google.  Although the book concentrates on the business side of this concept, I had a rather quirky insight when I read in one of the chapters that most of the writers (include self-publishers on Kindle, bloggers, personal websites etc) are there for the passion of writing. I can imagine you shaking your head in dismay and probably shouting "show me the money!". I would personally prefer "where's my compensation?" from Jason Bateman's character in State of Play. Either way everyone of us ha...