Gravity's Magic

[Ian Livingston]

There seem to be a number of "singularities" about these days. Kinda gotta
wonder about that. I think it unlikely that Pynchon would have missed the
whole Einstein thing. I mean, Einstein was the biggest celebrity around
during the time of Pynchon's youth. Pynchon is a math-head. C'mon. If he
left any out of GR, it was likely by considered omission.

On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 9:09 PM, Prashant Kumar <
siva.prashant.kumar at gmail.com> wrote:

> The notion of the physicality of infinities?
>
> On 10 May 2012 12:19, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> According to the TV physicists, that couldn't be in reality therefore
>> there is
>> some kind of flaw in Einstein's Theory...
>>
>> But I wouldn't know any further...
>>
>> I do think The Q Bomb and the Tunguska Event in AtD play with these
>> notions.
>>
>>   *From:* Prashant Kumar <p.kumar at physics.usyd.edu.au>
>> *To:* Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
>> *Cc:* pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 9, 2012 8:57 PM
>>
>> *Subject:* Re: Gravity's Magic
>>
>> That's what a singularity is. A point in space in which the force due to
>> gravity is infinite.
>>
>> On 10 May 2012 10:53, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>  Yes, what cannot exist is "infinite gravity" at them......
>>
>>
>>
>>   *From:* Prashant Kumar <p.kumar at physics.usyd.edu.au>
>> *To:* Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
>> *Cc:* Bled Welder <bledwelder at hotmail.com>; "pynchon-l at waste.org" <
>> pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 9, 2012 8:45 PM
>>
>> *Subject:* Re: Gravity's Magic
>>
>> Singularities are a consequence of General Rel.
>>
>> On 10 May 2012 01:23, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>  All I know is a recent TV show on Black Holes sez: Gravity is
>> 'infinite' at the center of a black hole which
>> is The Singularity and cannot exist via Einstein's theory.
>>
>> There we go again.
>>
>>   *From:* Bled Welder <bledwelder at hotmail.com>
>> *To:* pynchon-l at waste.org
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 9, 2012 11:11 AM
>> *Subject:* Gravity's Magic
>>
>>   Has this never occurred to anyone?  Sheesh.  I mean what do we really
>> know about gravity anyway.   It curves space, is that what it does, now?  I
>> should wiki gravitons before I "spout thick blood!"
>>
>> Feed your head.  (For qualified madmen only.)
>>
>> "Our forefathers in the most remote ages  have handed down to their
>> posterity a tradition, in the form of a myth, that these bodies are gods
>> and tat the divine encloses the whole of nature. The rest of the tradition
>> has been added later in mythical form with a view to the persuasion of the
>> multitude and to its legal and utilitarian expediency; they say the gods
>> are in the form of men or like some of the other animals, and they say
>> other things, consequent on and similar to those which we have mentioned.
>> But if one were to separate the first point from these additions and take
>> it alone--that they thought the first substances to be gods, one must
>> regard this as an inspired utterance, and reflect that, while probably each
>> art and each science has often been developed as far as possible and has
>> again perished, these opinions, with others, have been preserved until the
>> present like relics of the ancient treasure.  Only thus far, then, is the
>> opinion of our ancestors and of our earliest predecessors clear to us."
>>  --Aristotle, Metaphysics 1074 b 1-10
>>
>> And yes! the Aristotelians are again among us, breeding their particular
>> forms into our cherished mechanical physics.  R.Sheldrake, he's hellbent on
>> proving the morphic resonance on physical grounds, to test it, and to avoid
>> the dread...falsification!  Not that!  If you're going to be a physicist in
>> our time, you gotta be able to connect your Platonic ideas or Aristotle
>> causes to our tactile satisfaction.  One thing about Sheldrake's inquiry
>> though, for sure, is that it highlights the magnificent *weakness* of
>> what we believe so solidly in *our* science:
>>
>> "'If the chain explored all possible configurations at random by
>> rotations about the various single bonds of the structure, it would take
>> too long to reach the native configuration [damn time!]. For example, if
>> the individual residues of an unfolded polypeptide chain can exist in only
>> two states, which is a gross underestimate, then the number of possibly
>> generated conformations is 10 to the 45 for a chain of 10 amino acid
>> residues.  If each conformation could be explored with a frequency of a
>> molecular rotation (10 to 12 sec. to -1), which is an overestimate, it
>> would take approximately 10 to the 26 years to examine all possible
>> conformations.  Since the synthesis and folding of a protein chain such as
>> that of ribonuclease or lysozyme can be accomplished in about 2 minutes, it
>> is clear that all conformations are not traversed in the folding process.
>>  Instead, it appears that, in response to local interacgtions, the peptide
>> chain is directed along a variety of low-energy pathways (relatvely small
>> in number), possibly passing through unique indeterminate states, towards
>> the conformation of lowest free energy (Anfinsen and Scheraga.)'
>>
>> "...It is thus conceivable that some factor other than energy 'selcts'
>> between these possibilities and thus determines the specific structure
>> taken up by the system." Sheldrake, New Science of Life.
>>
>> The trippy thing is like, wha? no energy?  We can't even conceive of
>> anything that doesn't entail energy.  Thinking entails energy.  I can't
>> then think about anything without at least *that* energy being involved.
>>  It seems that our physics has it right, then, that everything exists in a
>> field of energy.  Then there's magical gravity, with its field.  And now
>> Sheldrake wants to bring in form fields?  It almost makes sense!
>>
>> It's wild, I highly recommend everyone trying it: right when you hit the
>> beginning of middle age, say 37, 38, totally change the way you view the
>> world.  And by that I mean, do it in a way that it comes naturally, by say,
>> if you're qualified, exploring the Cybe.  The Mother has much much, much to
>> say, I've only mentioned parts on here.  Don't force yourself into
>> anything.  Then again, why not?  You've been indocrinated into everything
>> else.  (Just keep away from those Korean corporate owners fuckers....)  I
>> wonder where Aristotle heard that about the ancients?
>>
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-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all creeds
the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the trust in
reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments of darkness
groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates than the simplest
urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
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