David’s Comments (group member since Dec 13, 2009)

David’s comments from the Science and Inquiry group.

Yemner wrote: "Apparently, I can't post the link, so if you're interested in reading the manuscript, please let me know! Thanks for your time.."

Yemner, I think you should be able to post a link as just a URL. For example:
https://www.wikipedia.org/

Welcome to our group, Yemner!

Bob wrote: "My assertion then is quite simple: I assert that the frequency that life originates is very low. Since the frequencies of the other factors are pretty large, mathematically, the conclusion of the Drake equation depends greatly on only the frequency that life forms. The best evidence? That only happened once here."

Bob, I have a question: How do we know that life originated only once on Earth? Could it not have happened, that a few million years after life first originated on Earth, that an entirely independent event originated life again? Since the first life had time to evolve and adapt better to the environment, the second life might not have had a chance to survive against a stronger competitor.

By the way, Fred Hoyle (see my reference above) speculated that life originated perhaps only once--but not on Earth! Instead, through panspermia life propagated over interstellar space aboard meteors, comets and the like. Today, Hoyle's ideas are not well respected, but who knows?

Jim wrote: "... Religions are so irrational that evidence doesn't matter. ..."

This is so true! Many people don't believe in evolution, but use antibiotic drugs anyway. Some people don't believe in relativity, but ignore that accurate GPS locations rely on the equations of general relativity. Many people are adamantly against vaccines, but ignore the fact that measles can cause irreparable brain damage.

So many people don't understand what a scientific theory is (vs. a hypothesis), and they don't even know what they don't know.

Andrea wrote: "The prospect of extraterrestrial life is fascinating. I find it hard to believe Earth is unique in our vast universe. Plus, I am a Trekkie, and I adore the fantasy of seeking new life and new civil..."

Andrea, there are too many sci-fi books to list on the subject of extraterrestrial life.

Instead, here are a few non-fiction books that I enjoyed very much, and should be even stronger fuel to feed your fantasy!

The Intelligent Universe: A New View of Creation and Evolution
This is an old book, really a classic but controversial, by the famous astronomer Fred Hoyle.

Avi Loeb - Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth - Hardcover
I greatly enjoyed this book by theoretical physicist Avi Loeb. He details a strange, brief visitor to our solar system that exhibited behavior that is not common to comets. Here is my review of the book.

The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life by Paul Davies

What do people think? Is there extra-terrestrial life? Is there extra-terrestrial intelligence?

Perhaps more importantly, will we discover extra-terrestrial life in the near future?

Unmanned missions to Mercury, the Moon and Mars have so far not definitively found life. There may be hope for finding life in the ocean of Europa (one of Jupiter's moons). Why should we search for life on other planets? For the sake of pure intellectual curiosity, or for better understanding of biology on Earth? Will finding extra-terrestrial life have any meaningful impact on religion or philosophy or our worldview?

What do you think?

I started reading The End of Everything. It's a short, pleasant book. Katie Mack writes an engaging, easily-accessible book that is not very technical. There are lots of footnotes that add informative and amusing twists. The style is light, with pleasant humor sprinkled throughout.

As an example, she writes, "I dabbled in experimental particle physics in my misspent youth, playing with lasers in a nuclear physics lab (despite what the records might say, the fire was not my fault) ..."

Nancy, this can be proved in several ways.

The simplest proof that I've found that 1/2+1/4+1/8+... = 1 can be found on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1/2_%2B...

A simple proof that 1+1/2+1/4+1/8 + ... = 2 can be found in the Khan Academy lesson here:
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/ap-c...
Simply substitute a=1 and r=1/2.

It's a bit ironic that I found in one proof a reaction similar to yours:
Calculus Student: "Lim(n→∞)SUM[s_n] = 0 means the s_n are getting closer and closer to zero but never gets there."
Instructor: "ARGHHHHH!"

You rigorously prove the infinite sum = 1 by using the Archimedean principle: define
a_n = (1/2)^2
then the Lim(n->inf) |a_n - 1| = 0
You can find the proof using this principle in many places, for example, here:
https://homepages.math.uic.edu/~saund...

Daniel wrote: "Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality

Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality

If you enjoy science fiction, but you are put off by a lot of hand-waving that tries to get around the laws of physics, you might like Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. The story is far "out there", but is credible, based on real science. I am not aware of any parts of the story that are incompatible with known science. The topics include physics, astronomy, molecular biology, chemistry, thermodynamics, evolution, and relativity. Very enjoyable story with a surprising ending. Here is my review.

I just finished reading the book The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox. It is a wonderful detective story, about archaeology explorations of ancient Crete, a linguistics puzzle of the highest order, and history of the "Linear B" decipherment. Very highly recommended! Here is my review.

I had acquired this book a while ago, started it and then stopped.
Now I am restarting it. While the book is very interesting, it is quite difficult for a non-biologist or a non-chemist.

Nick Lane shows that our understanding of genetics and evolution is not sufficient to explain why organisms evolved the way they did. But the enticing aspect of this book is that it shows how it may be possible to use energy concepts to explain why organisms evolve as they do--in the past and perhaps in the future.

I truly enjoyed the book Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else by Jordan Ellenberg. Here is a book that discusses politics, eigenvectors, Poincare, neural networks, and Euclid! Here is my review.

Welcome to our group, Jolene! If you have any suggestions for books on nanobiophysics, I'd love to hear them!

Welcome to our group, Hector!
Please feel free to join our conversations, and also to start new topics.

My favorite is applications of Bayes Theorem: Tracking, AI, machine learning, fraud detection, medical diagnosis, weather forecasting, stock market analysis.

Mike, I've seen some people using ChatGPT in order to answer important questions. Sometimes, the answers seem to be superficially correct, but a little checking shows them to be clearly incorrect. I've even seen ChatGPT, when asked to give references, responded with a long list of hyperlinked references, that had absolutely nothing to do with the questions being asked.

Hi Matthew -- welcome to our group!
Yes -- go back to school in chemistry, or some field that you are passionate about. Since you have an exploring mind and an engineering detective at heart, that would be great for you!

Anastasia wrote: "The problem with this test and others like it are that they are used in the hiring process."

That is crazy! It sounds like HR people are using tests like this as a crutch, so that they can reduce their effort and responsibility in the hiring process.

Welcome to our group Hanna!
Science and art -- wonderful combination!