Heavier and Heavier gets Mr Cox's and Mr Forshaw's book. Having to re-read quite a bit though it is definitely worth it for the Ionian Enchantment though my version of it is like a stuttering lawn-mower engine compared to the well-tuned purr of a Bentley. The current chapter is on Hyperbolic or Minkowski Space where space-time rules rather than just space and suddenly from out of the fuzz that is the perception of the position in the Cosmos of the authors' waking and breakfasts, comes the sudden appearance of the Lorentzian Transformation equation derived in the previous chapter. This is the enchantment - the sudden realization that the laws which govern everything in the Universe are natural and intertwined with each other. Imagine the ecstasy of this for people who really do understand the maths.
Maths is consistent within itself, though of course Godel had something to say about that didn't he? If this incompleteness extends from the abstract world of numbers to the real physical world, what is the implication for A Theory of Everything? I've often wittered on about the retreat of the details so that the more we understand about the detail of something the more it reveals further levels of complexity. Is it possible that one day an intelligence will be able to define everything about the physical world - not only all the "stuff" we already know exists but cannot yet explain the links between but also any possible "stuff" that we don't know about for sure - or are not even aware of? Or will the details keep increasing in a cosmic two-fingers held up to Occam and his razor? One day scientists hope to link our models of the mind to the physical characteristics of the brain through bio-chemistry and electronics. I always wonder whether this is possible. I think that we will keep drilling deeper into both sides, never finding a link point. This can be seen as as inverse analogy to the Seven Layer Network Model. This defines networks from the bottom up - starting with the physical connection and working its ways through various degrees of complexity to the top levels defining the human experience of networking. The mind/brain link starts at the high level using big concepts and builds under that more complex levels of connectivity, hopefully one day to reach a lower limit which relies on simple, small details.
Enough mind, brain and Relativity. I read the phrase "political fugue" the other day. It had no explanation and made me wonder what it actually meant. Ignoring the fact that it might just be a mistype, I suppose it must relate to the psychological condition rather than any complex piece of classical music to celebrate the upcoming democratic festivities. Could it be that we are all in the midst of an "episode" from which we will emerge blinking into the light with no memory of the fight?
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