Tue 16 Feb 2010
Posted by Cliff under Science, Time
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Three sources are:
1. Evolution – goes in one direction only
2. Entropy – goes in one direction only, disorder, without new energy being added
3. The recession of the galaxies – apparently goes to expansion only, never to return to a singularity.
The above are discussed in G.W.Witrow’s book, “What is Time?.”
Cliff
Thu 9 Apr 2009
Posted by Marcus under Fun & Silliness
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Hollywood Flakes
Hollywood Flakes has decoded the Jabberwocky. I am not sure just how accurate her decryption engine performs. I think that I have a more sinister vision of the Jabberwock – somewhere between Darth Vader and a “fast zombie”.
Tue 17 Mar 2009
Posted by Marcus under Conjecture, Philosophy, Religion
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Blaise Pascal
The French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal wrote in his Pensées, a collection of notes made towards the end of his life, that when making a life wager on the existence of God, belief in God is the best bet. This is known as Pascal’s Wager. Using the first formally structured decision theory and probability theory Pascal started from the proposition that reason and experiment cannot establish the existence or non-existence of God. He developed the proposal that no matter the state of existence of God, it was a better bet to behave as though there was one. In his other writings, Pascal expressed his belief that in comparison to other options, like stoicism, paganism, Islam, and Judaism, the Christian faith is the only one that could be correct. A corollary of Pascal’s thesis is “If it is impossible to know whether God exists, it follows that it is also impossible to know (in the case that God does exist) God’s expectations of us.” This corollary makes Pascal’s belief in the correctness of Christianity unsupported by his own logic.
Pascal’s wager has been attacked and defended by philosophers over the ages, Voltare – treatied it as a proof, as opposed to a pragmatic analysis. Denis Diderot, and J. L. Mackie point out that the same argument could be said about any religion, many of which each claim to be the only true path to salvation. Richard Dawkins further challenges the scope of outcomes by proposing the possibility of a God who rewards honest search for truth, and punishes blind faith. You see, taking these refinements into consideration, the decision matrix no longer supports Pascal’s clear odds.
My contribution to this discussion is to show that there is a third choice. When the decision matrix is evaluated with my “third way”, it can be seen that this is the only sure bet.
Pascal’s original wager can be shown in a formal presentation as:
| God exists (G) | God does not exist (~G) | |
|---|---|---|
| Living as if God exists (B) | +∞ (heaven) | −N (Pointless actions during life) |
| Living as if God does not exist (~B) | ?? not specified perhaps N (limbo/purgatory/spiritual death) or −∞ (hell) |
+N (none) |
Thu 5 Mar 2009
Remnant of SR 1572
Is time immutable, or is it subjective? Philosophers have debated the nature of time, and whether it is intrinsically ordered and has tense. I have devised a mind experiment to show that time depends not only on the observer, but the observer’s position, that before, after and simultaneous are subjective.
Visualize two observers on opposite sides of a town, one north, one south. Both have clocks that were synchronized, and the observers moved slowly apart, so that relativistic effects on their clocks is insignificant, and flash detectors connected to the clocks to properly record the time of lightning flashes.
A storm comes up, and a lightning stroke hits in the middle of the town. The two observer’s flash detectors record the time of the flash, and agree on the time. The light from the flash travels to the flash detectors at the speed of light, producing a time delay of approximately 3.33 microseconds per kilometer. Lets say the the observers are 6 km apart so the delay from the stroke until the observers detect it is 10 microseconds, and both of them agree on the time of the lightning stroke.
Lets now assume that there are two lightning strokes, one near the north observer and the other near the south observer, and from the “god’s eye view” (lets say, from the point of view of an astronaut on the moon) the north stroke took place at Time = T and the south stroke took place at Time = T + 5 us. “God” would say that the north stroke took place first. The north observer would agree, but would claim that the south stroke took place 25 microseconds before the south stroke.
The south observer would disagree, the south stroke took place 15 microseconds BEFORE the north stroke!
The speed of light is the limit of the rate of information flow in the universe, and is the basis for the visualization of the “time cone” where occurances at a distance from an observer are experienced at a later time than it would have been experienced by a proximate observer (more…)
Thu 12 Feb 2009
Posted by Marcus under Current Events, Fun & Silliness
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How many dollars does it take....?
This illustration is courtesy of the CGC Communicator
published by Robert F. Gonsett for California Broadcasters
Thu 5 Feb 2009
Posted by Marcus under Government, History
No Comments
Money
Nothing is as true as Ben Franklin’s quote. We will all die, and the government will have its pound of flesh. Estate taxes involve the confluence of both.
The founding fathers instituted this tax because it inhibits the formation of American aristocracies. If large estates are attenuated by taxes when generations change, then each generation is responsible for replenishing the family fortune – the desired result. If estate taxes destroy family businesses and leave children of the wealthy without the resources to continue their life plan, it is not conserving the American dream.
Conservatives despise the “Death Tax” because it extracts its toll from those seen to be the producers of value in society. In the USA only the 2% of the wealthiest pay estate taxes. This tax effects the conservative constituency heavily because it drains the wealth that can be transferred from generation to generation. Of course, there is no assurance that the beneficiaries of an estate will have the skills, drive and effectiveness of the person who generated the wealth.
The way estate taxes are levied today is troublesome because they are calculated upon the value of the estate, not on the amount received by each beneficiary. It doesn’t matter whether there are fifteen heirs or only one. It doesn’t matter whether the estate is composed of cash and stocks or the family business or farm. (upon which the beneficiaries may depend for their jobs).
As people live longer, there generations overlap more. Lets take the case where Granddad built a business, and left it to his son at age 80. The son, 25 years younger at 55 dies two years later, leaving the business to the grandson of 30. The tax hit from two rounds of estate taxes within two years is unsustainable. If the business was a farm, the farm would be lost, if it was a factory, family control would be lost, and the grandson would be reduced to a simple employee. Even with optimal estate planning, a family business worth $50 Million would be lost.
I suggest an alternative scheme for generational taxes. This plan would protects family businesses and farms, assures a generous “stake” for the children of wealthy, and seems more rational.
First, make the proceeds of an estate taxable to the recipient, with an exemption. If an individual dies with an estate of ten million dollars and has to split it between eight children, each getting a 1/8th share it should not be taxed at the same rate as the same estate divided among two. Under my system, each child in both cases would be assured of receiving a million dollars or so without taxation. Under present rules the estate would be as heavily taxed in case of eight beneficiaries as when there are only two latter, meaning that each of the eight children would receive well less than a million dollars from the estate. Children and student recipients should have an increased exemption to cover costs of education.
Second, when the estate consists of productive assets (such as land, businesses, patents, copyrights, etc., but not publicly traded securities) the taxes due on the net value of those assets would automatically be payable over time. If the period were twenty years, for example, any well managed business can readily finance the tax under these terms. If the property is sold, the outstanding amount becomes due. If the person receiving the asset dies before the taxes are paid, the remaining taxes are forgiven. The goal is that inheritance taxes on productive assets never compound when a generation is less than twenty years.
Reforming estate taxes into inheritance taxes makes a lot of sense. Actuarially, it is easy to make this proposal “revenue neutral”. It will resolve claims of unfairness that are the fodder for calls to abolish estate taxes entirely. It will preserve family businesses and farms, yet still serve the founding father’s goal of averting American aristocracy.
Wed 21 Jan 2009
Posted by Marcus under Conjecture, History, Philosophy
No Comments
Detail of the Pool of Knowledge by Ian Muttoo
John Locke in Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) states that everything we know is from experience. He identifies two fountains of all knowledge – “the observation of external sensible objects”, and ” the internal operations of our minds perceived and reflected on by ourselves.” As a society, we extend the personal experience by reporting the fact of occurrences upon sensible objects such as news of events, scientific reporting, TV, Radio, The National Enquirer, gossip, blogging, etc. We also report the results of the internal operations of our minds, such as sermons, fiction, soap operas, symphonies, publications like Relativity, the Special and General Theory, and The Communist Manifesto.
Each of the sources of community experience comes with its own imprimatur and detractors. The New York Times reporting is considered very factual by many, but political conservatives consider it to be “just a liberal rag”. Those same folks believe that Fox News is “fair and balanced” while liberals decry it as “a conservative propaganda house”.
Educators have instructed their students to use “standard references” because internet sources like Wikipedia are not vetted by experts, and can contain information which is biased or conjectural. Using internet sources other than institutional ones, like cdc.gov, census.gov and redcross.org is verboten.
I believe that the orientation to “standard references” in K-12 education is fatally flawed. Much more important than factual accuracy in eighth grade reports is learning the skills to find and sift the truth in a information environment filled with spin and distortion. (more…)
Tue 20 Jan 2009
Posted by technica under Conjecture, Government, Religion
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The Supreme Court Building
If the test that former Supreme Court Justice O’Connor used to decide Establishment Clause issues relating to the separation of Church and State was:
“Encouragement”; i.e. did the State encourage a religion, and in doing so, made others not of that religion feel ‘excluded’;
Why, then doesn’t the concept of “marriage” (which is the religious ceremony piece of a civil union) violate the same Establishment Clause? Wouldn’t same sex couples feel excluded on the basis of a religious belief?
Perhaps the solution to arguments on same sex marriages is to remove the word “marriage” from the purview of government. If the states and federal government only recognized civil unions, and left marriage to religious and other nongovernmental bodies it moots all the political arguments.
Under this regime, two Individuals who wished to be considered a unit for tax, inheritance, medical, child custody and all other legal and practical matters would enter a civil union. This civil union could be “blessed” and become a marriage by whatever church, lodge, association etc. the parties may choose. As far as the state is concerned, nothing except a civil union is required. A marriage without an underlying civil union would have no force of law, and a marriage ceremony would have no effect on rights or privileges of the couple. The governmental and legal benefits would accrue solely through the civil union.
This concept would simplify the law with respect to polygamy. A person could be a member of only one civil union at any time.
Tue 20 Jan 2009
Posted by Marcus under Philosophy, Science, The Mind, Uncategorized
1 Comment
Numbers are tough to learn as a child. One, two – many. That is how you first see the world, and as how lots of other mammals and birds see the world. Then you learn the numbers and the idea of counting, then connecting the idea that you can count a large number of individual things which makes the number of things. It might seem that we understand numbers as adults, but unfortunately we cannot easily deal with large numbers. Remember poor Carl Sagan with his “Billions and Billions” of stars, atoms, lightyears or whatever else he was talking about. – We had no clue how many suns, galaxies, base pairs, cells or light years he meant, just that it was a lot.
Wed 19 Nov 2008
Posted by Marcus under Government, Philosophy, Religion, Science
No Comments
The goal of this site it to open minds. These are days of change, and the changes should be guided by fact and thoughtful consideration.
Please join in to illuminate the information found here. This is my site, and I want to hear opposing views. Two rules: All posts must be respectful of others and their opinions. No false witness – facts stated here must be true to the best of knowledge of the writer.
