Light and matter have long been seen as separate: spirit vs. flesh, earthy vs. divine. However, according to Wilczek, physics has blurred the line between light and matter, showing that reality is far from permanent, but rather ever-changing.
The 2004 Nobel Prize winner in physics takes a closer look at the very nature of reality, and how our perceptions of reality have changed over time- The Commonwealth Club of California
Bio
Frank Wilczek
Frank Wilczek has received many prizes for his work in physics, including the Nobel Prize of 2004 for work he did as a graduate student at Princeton University, when he was only 21 years old.
He is known, among other things, for the discovery of asymptotic freedom, the development of quantum chromodynamics, the invention of axions, and the exploration of new kinds of quantum statistics (anyons).
Much in demand for public lectures to a wide range of audiences, Frank has been anthologized in the Norton Anthology of Light Verse and twice in Best American Science Writing (2003, 2005). His television appearances include "ghostbusting" for Penn and Teller (2005).
Longing for the Harmonies, a beautiful exposition of modern physics Frank wrote with his wife Betsy Devine, was named a NY Times Notable Book of the Year and has recently been re-issued in paperback. Frank is also the author of Fantastic Realities, a "playful yet profound" (to quote one reviewer) collection of his short pieces on wide-ranging topics, which concludes with a family's-eye view of the Nobel adventures, drawn from Betsy's blog Funny Ha-Ha or Funny Peculiar.
Early reviews have called Frank's latest book, The Lightness of Being, "a lively, playful, and inventive tour de force" as well as "a colorful and masterful treatment of recent developments in fundamental physics." A central theme of this book is that the ancient contrast between celestial Light and earthy Matter has been transcended. In modern physics, all the stuff out there is unified into a "Being" more like the traditional idea of light than the traditional idea of matter.
Frank grew up in Queens, NY and attended the University of Chicago. After getting his Ph.D. from Princeton, he spent time on the faculty there and at the Institute for Advanced Study, as well as at UCSB's Institute for Theoretical Physics, now the KITP. Frank is currently the Herman Feshbach professor of physics at MIT.
Science that deals with the structure of matter and the interactions between the fundamental constituents of the observable universe. Long called natural philosophy (from the Greek physikos), physics is concerned with all aspects of nature, covering the behaviour of objects under the action of given forces and the nature and origin of gravitational, electromagnetic, and nuclear force fields. The goal of physics is to formulate comprehensive principles that bring together and explain all discernible phenomena. See alsoaerodynamics; astrophysics; atomic physics; biophysics; mechanics; nuclear physics; particle physics; quantum mechanics; solid-state physics; statistical mechanics.
Light and matter have long been seen as separate:
spirit vs. flesh, earthy vs. divine.
However, according to Wilczek, physics has blurred the line
between light and matter, showing that...
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Gentlemen
I have only two questions:
First -
Didn’t my parrot fly to you?
Second -
Why does everyone say that all movements are relative
if the speed of quantum of light isn’t relative but
it is an absolute constant in absolute Vacuum ?
P.S.
You can easily find out my parrot. It studied only
two sentences: ‘ there is no absolute movement ’,
‘ there is no absolute reference system ‘
#
Israel Sadovnik Socratus
==== .
Isn't the strength of a black hole governed by its mass? I don't believe we are dealing with anywhere near the mass capable of destroying earth. thats just my very limited understanding speaking, but i do feel this is fear mongering.
socratus, stop speaking out of your ass.
protons and electrons are made up of elementary particles, hence why protons and electrons are no longer elementary particles. Saying these are a dead end of evolution is kind of moot; just because we aren't made up of other types of hadrons doesn't necessarily mean they can't be the basis for life.
The LHC at CERN needs to create a vacuum for these particles to travel in, because if they didn't the particles inside the accelerator would interact with the particle beams they're eventually going to use to conduct their experiment, and thus give them either wonky results, or no results at all.
colliding two particles isn't an imitation of the big bang, but the effects of the two particles smashing together at such high speeds are similar to the predictions made by physicists of what happened nanoseconds AFTER the big bang.
Your question- What came first; the big bang or the vacuum? ( I assumed you meant this, since the big bang was in no way vacuum) I guess it would have to be the vacuum, since a vacuum by definition lacks all matter and particles, and as far as we can tell the big bang put all of the matter in our universe into play.
Also, everyone's concerned about the amount of problems with the LHC. Think of it this way; how many of man's other great inventions were created on the first try? Probably none. Even with most of the greatest scientific minds working on this project, things are bound to go wrong, because this type of machine (or, i should say, a machine of its type of this magnitude) has never been built before. Did the Wright Brothers achieve flight on their first try? Hell no they didn't!
These black holes and mini big bangs that are being created by the particles colliding merely RESEMBLE black holes and the big bang mathematically, that is why they are called as such. These things are stable for something like 10^-15 seconds or something (which, is pretty much a negligible amount of time), so when they say 'there's almost no chance of one staying stable' they mean that they're math tells them it COULD happen, but the chances of it actually happening are so small that it wouldn't happen in the lifespan of the universe.
The mad CERN ’s project.
=== .
In 1906, Rutherford studied internal structure of atoms,
bombarding them with high energy a- particles.
This idea helped him understand the structure of atom.
But the clever Devil interfered and gave advice to physicists
to enlarge the target. Bomb them!
And physicist created huge cannon-accelerators of particles.
And they began to bomb micro particles in the vacuum, in hoping
to understand their inner structure. And they were surprised with
the results of this bombing. Several hundreds of completely new
strange particles appeared. They lived a very little time and do not
relate to our world. Our Earth needs its real constants of nature.
But this was forgotten.
What God carefully created, is destroyed in accelerators.
And they are proud of that. They say: we study the inner structure
of the particles. The clever and artful Devil is glad. He again has deceived man.
Physicist think, that an accelerator - is first of all the presence of huge energy.
And the Devil laughs. He knows, that an accelerator - is first of all the Vacuum.
But this, he has withheld from man.
He has not explained that the Vacuum is infinite and inexhaustible.
And in infinity there is contained an infinite variety of particles.
And by bombing the vacuum, one can find centaurs and sphinxes.
But my God, save us from their presence on Earth.
========= .. ========.
Rutherford was right.
His followers are mistaken.
Why?
Imagine, that I want to plant a small apple- tree.
For this purpose I shall dig out a hole of 1 meter width and 1,20 m depth.
It is normal.
But if to plant a small apple- tree, I shall begin to dig
a base for a huge building (skyscraper),
or if to begin drill ground with 10 km. depth,
will you call me a normal man?
========== .. ===============.
Imagine a man who breaks watches on the wall.
And then he tries to understand the mechanism of the watches
by thrown cogwheels, springs and small screws.
Does he have many chances to succeed?
As many as the scientists have who aspire to understand
the inner structure of electron by breaking them into accelerators.
If not take into account the initial conditions of Genesis,
the fantasies of the scientists may be unlimited.
========== . ======== .
The Nature works very economical.
For example, biologists know 100 ( hundred ) kinds of
amino acids. But only 20 ( twenty) kinds of amino acids
are suitable to produce molecules of protein, from which all
different cells created on our planet. What are about another
80 % of amino acids? They are dead end of evolution.
The physicists found many ( 1000 ) new elementary particles in
accelerators. But we need only one ( 1) electron and one (1 )
proton to create first atom, to begin to create the Nature.
All another elementary particles (mesons, muons , bosons, taus,
all their girlfriends - antiparticles, all quarks and antiquarks…etc)
are dead end of evolution.
============.
What was before - “ the big bang” or the vacuum ?
The physicists created “ Europe’s Large Hadron Colider “
Please, look at how our physicists made this accelerator.
They made the vacuum and after they generated a big reaction
between two colliding particles in some small imitation of the
“big bang”. They didn’t make this process in the reverse.
So, what was prior in the Universe: “ big bang” or vacuum?
==========..
The Universe as whole is Vacuum, first of all.
=== .
Best wishes.
Israel Sadovnik. Socratus.
To call on people´s ignorance is not the same than to call on their stupidity. It´s rather a natural reaction to turn into apocaliptic theories when we instinctively feel that something that may collapse the entire reality principle is about to be revealed. For instance, Peter Sloterdijk, who´s diatribe with Habermas on scientific matters as the eugenics discussion, confirmed him as one of the most brilliant minds questioning human processes and evolution, has recently embarassed himself in public (it´s on youtube...just look for it) making the same amazing remarks that have been made here. So you see...it´s not a matter of stupidity, but simply a matter of ignorance and instictive insecurity about what we are and about the nature of this reality we´ve built. To be affraid of the LHC is not a sign of stupidity, but a natural sign of awareness that something very fundamental is gonna give way...one way or another.
To you don't have to be a physicist to recognize slander. The catastrophists in these posts slander anyone they can't frighten with their otherwise entertaining scenarios. Perhaps that is why Hollywood is shy of them.
dont waste your time explaining to ignorants what is difficult to understand for a normal educated person... Belief is not based on reason.
I concure with your post and will add, like a LHC scientist once said, that it is much more probable that the LHC will spawn a few billions dragons and faeries to play havoc with earth than a single micro black hole that will evaporate as soon as it is created.
What you, SaneScienceOrg, fail to realize, is that what the LHC is doing is happening all the time around us. The only difference is that the LHC is able to monitor the actions in a controlled environment.
I actually read your wall of text, and it was all nothing but alarmist hot air, built on lacking understanding of the LHC.
while i must respectfully differ from both of my other esteemed posting colleagues who appear to be fucking crazy, i must say, what a beautiful and thorough explanation of the inner workings of the universe, and what an inspiring statement to the reach and the breadth of the human mind.
i also find slightly charming that one of the brightest minds on the planet refers to them as "noodles".
member. 
