3 ms·

Water

84 points by MaysonL 2y ago

emmelaich 2y ago
(2013) Good read though!
- raphlinus 2y ago
  There's also a recent Mastodon thread[1] that has the highlights of this blog post and links to it. [1]: https://mastodon.online/@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz/112585796436698527 https://mastodon.online/@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz/11258...
codewiz 2y ago
Near the conclusion of this excellent blogpost: "We live in a semi-barbaric age where science is probing the finest details of matter, space and time—but many of the discoveries, paid for by taxes levied on the hard-working poor, are snatched, hidden, and sold by profiteers."
- GranularRecipe 2y ago
  I agree with his sentiment, but his wording is rather offensive to barbarians. Profiteering is enabled by the fine civilisational invention called "intellectual property".
qudat 2y ago
Not completely related, but I think about the fundamental physics of water a lot, primarily when referencing the chaotic nature of reality. Do we have a mathematical model to predict the properties of water (or other chemical compounds)? How can we predict a chemical mixture is wet? Can it ever be known or is the computation complexity such that it is impossible to calculate inside a computer? Questions that I transpose onto understanding consciousness ... https://bower.sh/consciousness-is-wet https://bower.sh/consciousness-is-wet
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
snthpy 2y ago
I used to be a huge fan of John Baez when I was an aspiring theoretical physicist and into category theory. His weekly finds in mathematical physics column was my HN before HN. Didn't read the post but I wonder whether it relates to this "photomolecular effect" discussed here? https://youtu.be/17Y82tJDk2o?si=YjJAIhP3MkF8N6pT https://youtu.be/17Y82tJDk2o?si=YjJAIhP3MkF8N6pT The high level idea of reducing the cost per molecule of breaking those hydrogen bonds by having whole groups of molecules evaporate makes sense to me.
zem 2y ago
the deadpan "gunther eigen" joke got me :) i thought it was going to be a great new addition to the list of "things that sound like descriptive names but were actually named after people" (e.g. google's "page rank") but it was just the author pulling our legs.
- pfdietz 2y ago
  I'm reminded of Dave Barry's comment on the Diesel engine, which was named after Rudolf Engine.

Water

84 points by MaysonL 2y ago

emmelaich 2y ago

(2013) Good read though!

raphlinus 2y ago
There's also a recent Mastodon thread[1] that has the highlights of this blog post and links to it. [1]: https://mastodon.online/@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz/112585796436698527 https://mastodon.online/@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz/11258...

codewiz 2y ago

Near the conclusion of this excellent blogpost: "We live in a semi-barbaric age where science is probing the finest details of matter, space and time—but many of the discoveries, paid for by taxes levied on the hard-working poor, are snatched, hidden, and sold by profiteers."

GranularRecipe 2y ago
I agree with his sentiment, but his wording is rather offensive to barbarians. Profiteering is enabled by the fine civilisational invention called "intellectual property".

qudat 2y ago

Not completely related, but I think about the fundamental physics of water a lot, primarily when referencing the chaotic nature of reality. Do we have a mathematical model to predict the properties of water (or other chemical compounds)? How can we predict a chemical mixture is wet? Can it ever be known or is the computation complexity such that it is impossible to calculate inside a computer? Questions that I transpose onto understanding consciousness ... https://bower.sh/consciousness-is-wet https://bower.sh/consciousness-is-wet

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

snthpy 2y ago

I used to be a huge fan of John Baez when I was an aspiring theoretical physicist and into category theory. His weekly finds in mathematical physics column was my HN before HN. Didn't read the post but I wonder whether it relates to this "photomolecular effect" discussed here? https://youtu.be/17Y82tJDk2o?si=YjJAIhP3MkF8N6pT https://youtu.be/17Y82tJDk2o?si=YjJAIhP3MkF8N6pT The high level idea of reducing the cost per molecule of breaking those hydrogen bonds by having whole groups of molecules evaporate makes sense to me.

zem 2y ago

the deadpan "gunther eigen" joke got me :) i thought it was going to be a great new addition to the list of "things that sound like descriptive names but were actually named after people" (e.g. google's "page rank") but it was just the author pulling our legs.

pfdietz 2y ago
I'm reminded of Dave Barry's comment on the Diesel engine, which was named after Rudolf Engine.