Big Bang, Black Holes, No Math Physics 289 Jonathan Asaadi

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Big Bang, Black Holes, No MathPhysics
289Jonathan Asaadi
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What are we here to do?

• Some great questions are being asked during
  classunfortunately they needed to be put off
  until we have gotten some of the science first.
• Enter the Jonathan!!!!!

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What are we here to do?

• Today we are going to talk about some of the
  philosophy of the questions that are being asked
  and give a few answers
• I will talk about some of the science in a very
  general waytrusting that Prof Toback will cover
  it more in detail.

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Starts with a story

• The origin of seasons
• according to Mohammad Asaadi

Winter (Farthest from the sun)
Summer (Closest to the sun)
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Why is the sky blue?

• I was told when I was young that the sky was blue
  because it reflected off the waterhowever, when
  I would shine my flashlight on my drinking glass
  I didnt see any blue light

Luckily it was because I was using tap water and
not ocean water.
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What am I getting at?

• I didnt have especially stupid parents, nor were
  my parents trying to pump me full of
  misinformation
• Instead, they were simply putting forward what
  they were told without ever really thinking about
  the model they were presented withand this is
  the problem we face today!!!
• We often believe what we are told without
  questionhowever this will never lead to new
  discovery or technology! Instead we should be
  asking, what are the IMPLICATIONS of what I
  believe to be true.

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Questions

• YOU GOT QUESTIONS, NINJA GOT ANSWERS
• -www.askaninja.com
• Any questions you have about what has been said
  in lecture or reading, now is the time!

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Great Question asked an unanswered

• In the text it says if we came up with a Grand
  Unified Theory of Physics and it was completely
  predictive it would leave no room for free-will,
  what did he mean by that?

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Three Issues to Address

• What is a Grand Unified Theory of Physics?
• Is Physics absolutely predictive and what does
  that mean?
• What is free-will?
• (I doubt Ill be able to give a conclusive answer
  to the third onebut Ill hopefully provide you
  with a definition that will tell you what the
  book means when it uses the term free-will)

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GUT Physics

• Physics is composed of two things
• 1) Forces (We think 4 of them)
• 2) Particles (Not clear how many)
• All other phenomenon in the world is described by
  these two things
• A GUT of Physics in a nutshell is a theory
  that describes all the known forces in physics
  and all the known particles is one simple and
  predictive theory

It was believed in the early part of the 20th
century that if we could infer information about
the early universe from astronomy and apply the
machinery of a Grand Unified Theory, we would be
able to describe all the universe as we currently
see it!
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Said differently

• Newtonian physics says if I know all the
  information about a particle (speed, mass,
  location, ect) then I can tell you at any time
  in the future what that particle will be doing!
• So, if I know everything there is to know about
  the early universe, I should just be able to turn
  the crank on the math and PREDICT humansand
  furthermore PREDICT what they are going to do
  since there bodies and minds are just made of
  particles that I can describe with my GUT!!!!
• Therefore, there is NO FREE WILL only physics
• BLAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Quantum Mechanics to the Rescue!

• Fortunately, this idea about a theory being
  absolutely predictive is just plain wrong!!
• It turns out that due to Q.M we can not make any
  absolute predictions about the future state of a
  particle because we can never know all the
  information about a particle at the same time.
• This idea is sometimes called the uncertainty
  principle and turns out to be a governing rule
  for all of physics and the biggest pain when
  trying to come up with a GUT theory

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Q.M to the rescue?!

• What the hell does this meanProf. Toback will
  cover this more later, but a simple thought
  experiment will help clarify
• When we want to see where something is we shine a
  light on it, how this light bounces off tells us
  where it is
• The problem is that when I hit the something
  with light I give it some speed and it moves,
  thus it is no longer where I thought it was.
• So now I choose a slower (lower energylonger
  wavelength) light particle to hit the something
  with so that it doesnt move as farbut now I
  cant say where the thing is because I have less
  resolution in my looking (the longer the
  wavelength of light the less well I can see
  iti.e. its darker)

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Show the movie!!!
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Physics is not absolutely predictive

• Thus as a fundamental aspect of nature it is
  IMPOSSIBLE to know all the information about a
  particle and thus impossible to predict with 100
  certainty the future of any thing (or anybody)!!
• Need to be carefulfor things that are large
  enough (i.e. Quantum Mechanics doesnt apply to
  themstars, moons, cars, dogs, ect) then we can
  make really good predictions about their motion
  and never have to worry about the uncertainty
  principal

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Free will

• Even though we have shown that physics is not
  capable of robbing us of our free-will (phew!!!).
  It might still be worth while to talk about what
  we mean when we say free will in terms of physics
  talk.
• Let us ask the question, What do we mean by
  free-will?
• Is it the ability to do whatever we want whenever
  we want? (If this is the case then physics does
  prevent us from having free-will)
• Is it simply having a truly infinite number of
  choices available to us at any given moment?
  (Physics might have less to say about this)
• Or, is free-will simply having an uncountable
  number of choices open to us? (This IS different
  then the above choice)
• When physicists speak of free will they are often
  talking about the third choice (since this is the
  one that is predicted by Quantum Mechanicsmore
  on this to come)

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Not a philosophy course(for better or worse)

• Since this isnt a philosophy course we wont go
  too far into this and Ill leave these questions
  and options for later and your own discussionbut
  I am willing to discuss anything said in this
  lecture further in recitation or later outside of
  class.

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Hints for the course!!!

• ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT THE APPLICATION OF WHAT YOU
  ARE LEARNING (Prof Toback loves these)
• DO THE WEBCT QUIZZES QUICKLY AND CHECK WEBCT
  OFTEN
• BE THINKING ABOUT A POPLUAR SCIENCE BOOK YOU
  COULD DO A BOOK REPORT ABOUT (Between Prof
  Toback and myself we have read A LOT of these and
  can give you some recommendations)
• TELL PROF. TOBACK WHAT AN AMAZING T.A. JONATHAN
  IS!!! (If you want to tell him I am also an
  amazing particle physicists I wouldnt be mad at
  that)

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End of Lecture GO HOME!!!