Log24

(Continued.)  Click each image for its source.

The title of the previous post, "For Quantum Mystics,"
suggests a search in this journal for Quantum + Mystic.

That search in turn suggests, in particular, a review of
a post of October 16, 2007 — a discussion of the 
P.T. Barnum-like phrase "deep beauty" used to describe
a topic under discussion at Princeton by physicists.

Princeton, by the way, serves to illustrate the "gutter"
mentioned by Sir Laurence Olivier in a memorable
classroom scene from 1962. 

The title is a quote from Stephen Dedalus during
the Black Mass scene in Ulysses. (See May 12.)

Material related to the Ulysses scene:

Material related to pure reason (also from the above PS1 date):

Comments today on Peter Woit’s weblog entry “Deep Beauty“–

1. chris says:
   October 11th, 2007 at 1:38 am

   once we reach the point at which the templeton foundation – or any other private sponsor for that matter – is the main source of funding in a certain area of science it would be time for society to react. react by outdoing the private source and thus claiming the research topic in question firmly back into the public domain.

   if society chooses to be oblivious – well – then so be it. research in that area will then not be driven by public interest but by private interest. ultimately it is just a reflection of the value commonly assigned to a specific field.

   what i hope this will ultimately achieve is to ring the alarm bell in society that no private organization should take over research funding and direction.

   if this will not happen – well – then we are kind of lost anyways. and funding no matter what agenda behind is still better than no funding, since i firmly believe that ultimately the truth (i.e. true statements about reproducible empirical relations) will ultimately prevail and nothing else.

2. Steven H. Cullinane says:
   October 11th, 2007 at 3:53 pm

   Chris says the truth consists of “true statements about reproducible empirical relations.” He should read William Golding’s Nobel lecture: “When I consider a universe which the scientist constructs by a set of rules which stipulate that this construct must be repeatable and identical, then I am a pessimist and bow down before the great god Entropy. I am optimistic when I consider the spiritual dimension which the scientist’s discipline forces him to ignore.”

“William T. Golden, an investment banker, a philanthropist and a main architect of American science policy in the 20th century who had the idea for a presidential science adviser, died on Sunday [Oct. 7, 2007] in Manhattan. He was 97….

His death, at Mount Sinai Hospital, was announced by the American Museum of Natural History, where he was chairman for five years and most recently chairman emeritus. Mr. Golden had helped found the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

For more than 50 years, Mr. Golden was at the nexus of science and society as a man who knew almost everybody in science and government.

His willingness to ‘buy the first tank of gas,’ as he put it, for worthy projects led him to serve as a trustee or officer or board member of nearly 100 organizations, universities and government agencies….

In 1989, when he bought from Harvard the Black Rock Forest in the Hudson Highlands, which was threatened by development, Mr. Golden explored its nearly 4,000 acres by horseback. He later turned over the forest to a consortium to preserve it.”

— Dennis Overbye, The New York Times, Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007

 
Click for details.

See also the following art,
suggested by the Golden obituary’s
Mount Sinai, Black Rock, and
forest themes, as well as by
the “Deep Beauty” entry from
the date of Golden’s death:

Click for details.

was the title of a symposium on quantum theory at Princeton last week dedicated to the late John von Neumann. The title was left undefined. In honor of von Neumann, here is some material that may help those searching for the title’s meaning: