Some Videos on Physics

Just some simple popular science talks for some spare time in between:

Sean Carroll on the origin of the universe and the arrow of time

Part 1



Part 2



Brian Greene on String Theory

Writing systems and non-linearity

Some time ago I posted some links, one of them pointing to a non-linear, graph like writing system called Ouwi; meanwhile I spent some time reading up on the topic of writing systems and have some more pointers:

Pinuyo is a pictorial language which indicates grammatical function of the ideograms by placement and surrounding symbols.

I also found a long, but sometimes deviating thread on 2-dimensional writing systems on the conlang mailing list archive. Unfortunatelly many of the links are now dead, the thread is from 2005.

Omniglot is a nice website about alphabets, writing systems and languages. It contains some constructed systems, like block script, a sylabic alphabet for the english language which combines letters to blocks (like the korean script for example). Most of them are linear ones.

I'm still wondering if there are some languages/alphabets optimized for reading speed. Most are either evolved, natural languages, which certainly are a compromise between reading and writing and the constructed ones optimized for speed like the morse code or shorthand.

In an edit, let me just add a few more links, somewhat related:

Láadan, a feminist language designed for countering male-centering of natural languages.
The gripping language, not spoken but transmitted by touching of the hands.

Random Numbers and Certified Randomness

A rather recent edition of the ACM TechNews contained a short report/link on a German team which developed a hardware random number generator [1], that

uses an extra layer of randomness by making a computer memory element, a flip-flop, twitch randomly between its two states 1 or 0. Immediately prior to the switch, the flip-flop is in a "metastable state" where its behaviour cannot be predicted. At the end of the metastable state, the contents of the memory are purely random.

Whereas this device gives me more security, it does not solve the problem of someone sending me supposedly "random numbers" which he might have prepared in advance to even pass statistical tests. A neat solution is provided by quantum mechanics which allows to check randomness of numbers via the violation of the Bell inequality [2] using entangled states.


[1] "A meta-level true random number generator" in Int. J. Critical Computer-Based Systems, 2010, 1, 267-279

[2] Random Numbers Certified by Bell's Theorem

Enthusiasm for Science

I just wanted to point out to a project called 'the symphony of science', available at

http://symphonyofscience.com/videos.html

It consists of a series of music videos, aiming to

"bring scientific knowledge and philosophy to the public, in a novel way, through the medium of music. Science and music are two passions of mine that I aim to combine in a way that is intended to bring a meaningful message to listeners, while simultaneously providing an enjoyable musical experience."

I embed only one of those here:




I really like what the project is aiming for. In my opinion, there is a severe lack of easy accessible material for the general public regarding all fields of science. Publishing in journals and proceedings is good, but doesn't help the non-scientific population at all. Unfortunatelly, writing popular science books isnt' valued in the scientific community at all.

Some results in quantum computing

Just some points to (rather) recent results in complexity theory with regard to quantum computing:

• Quantum Interative Proofs equals Polynomial Space class: QIP = PSPACE
  
• On the relation of the BQP class to the PH class; furthermore a separating decision problem would follow from the Generalized Linial-Nisan Conjecture: BQP vs PH

The Rise of the Creative Class

I purchased a new book, The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life by Richard Florida.

According to this book, the creative class consists of those people who primarily create, combine, modify and extend ideas. This includes artists and musicians, but also ranges to scientists and engineers even some managers are included. Taking a look at the class and its composition, Florida argues how companies and countries can react to the growing importance and influence of creative workers. It turns out that there is a strong correlation between places with many gays, artists, cultural/ethic mixture and a strong creative industry/economy.
Furthermore he argues that people tend to cluster at places they like rather than to prefer places the industry chooses to build their factories. Consequently cities and counties should take measures to ensure those people will cluster.

Reading it (and not having finished it yet) I get the feeling that all that needs to be done is to follow the arguments M. Friedman made: let the free market decide. Deregulation should allow people to cluster whereever they like to and due to democratic systems form their environment according to their likings. The creative class contains up to one third of all employees - being not a minority at all, special rules, laws and regulations can be supported by the class itself if necessary. With respect to the backward, conservative US laws, the abolishment of quite some laws seems to be the better alternative.

Cognitive Sciences and unfinished readings

I got the recommendation to read some chapters titled Structures, Learning and Ergosystems (available here) due to its heavy use of mathematical examples and outlined processes of thinking in mathematics. I got kind of upset with reading during the first 40 pages because of some imcomprehensible claims - at least I cannot see the validity of those, maybe it is just my limited and inadequate knowledge of cognitives sciences. It's a collection of facts without stating clear connections between them.
I found a cognitive scientist to whom I can relay questions, so I might post some questions with his answers later.

Meanwhile, I'm not done with the ealier mentioned book about Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity. I was slowed down by a Greman book about philosophy of science and Peter Singer's Practical Ethics.

I will write a short book review for the Quantum Non-Locality book as soon as I finish reading it.