“hairball heterarchy of metaphor“
Now there’s a Wikipedia article in need of writing.
On Mon, Jul 3, 2023 at 9:14 AM glen <geprope...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yeah, Sutter triggered me when he said "but you don't have to worry about
> that if you don't know what an integral is". I mean ... maybe? This stuff
> is like heroin to an addict, right? Models upon models upon models. And not
> just in a simple stack, but a hairball heterarchy of metaphor.
>
> You kinda do need to know what an integral is, right? I mean ... [sigh]
> ... I guess that's a rabbit hole, too. The only way you can understand what
> an integral *is* (not merely those pesky aspects like what a particular
> type of integration is *good for* ... noooooo, we don't need to know that,
> we're after the *essence* of integration) is to use it to do work. To
> understand integration, you must integrate some particular thing over some
> particular domain.
>
> That same principle ("What I can't create, I don't understand.") applies
> to Action ... and brewing ... and cleaning your carburetor. You will never
> understand carburetors until you *use* carburetors to do some particular
> thing ... like drive across the country in broken down jalopy.
>
> I feel like there's an analogy waiting to be made between
> [mal|mis|dis]information and the popularization of [physics|math|biology].
> Books like Thiel's "The Straussian Moment" seem similar to books like
> Kaku's "Quantum Supremacy". And the category they compose seems similar to
> arm-chair opining on:
>
> • foreign affairs like Prigozhin's mutiny,
> • epidemiology like the origins of SARS-CoV-2, and
> • deep sea physics and the Titan submersible.
>
> I've probably mentioned this before. But I learned a new word awhile back:
> ultracrepidarian cf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutor,_ne_ultra_crepidam.
> Yes, I'm as guilty as the next shoemaker. But sometimes it's good to simply
> stay in one's lane, at least until you've done some homework.
>
> Just to complete the arc of this rant, am I crazy for getting a distinct
> Cult Prophet vibe circa 13:39 in the video:
> https://youtu.be/UuqpCBZoX3M?t=819 ? When Sutter says, with cadence
> envied by every budding preacher in every small town church across the
> country: "The Least Action Principle is a generator of Physics. The Least
> Action Principle is a Creator of Physics. It is a Mother Principle that
> allows Physicists to generate Laws of Physics and Equations of Motion. It's
> . right . there. Folks you can write down a Lagrangian ..." I mean, that's
> some good ole down home fever-eyed preachin' right there. Reminds me of
> Keith Raniere of the NXIVM sex cult.
>
> Do you see it?!?! Do you?!? It's right there! The Secret <
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_(Byrne_book)> to the universe.
>
> On 7/2/23 23:16, Stephen Guerin wrote:
> > The Action is the integral of the Lagrangian along the whole path, not
> just a single instant.
> >
> > On Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 9:12 PM Nicholas Thompson <thompnicks...@gmail.com
> <mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> > So the difference is at a positive max when the ball hits the ground
> and at a negative maximum when the ball reaches its highest altitude? So
> how am I to understand positive and negative? vectors?
> >
> > Instantaneious Action is at a minimum when the two terms are equal?
> >
> > I have no intuitive sense of what is going on here.
> >
> > But thanks for trying, Frank.
> >
> > N
> >
> >
> >
> > N
> >
> > On Sun, Jul 2, 2023 at 12:27 PM Nicholas Thompson <
> thompnicks...@gmail.com <mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> > Frank,
> >
> > Thanks SO MUCH for forwarding this to me. To any other
> defrocked english majors on Friam, who have listened to these guys blather
> on about LaGrangians for all these years, I highly, HIGHLY recommend the
> video. Pretty short, AND, you might possibly, conceivably understand Steve
> Guerin when you get to the end. Yeah. Really.
> >
> > Nick
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> > From: *Frank Wimberly* <wimber...@gmail.com <mailto:
> wimber...@gmail.com>>
> > Date: Thu, Jun 29, 2023 at 2:53 PM
> > Subject: Fwd: Watch "The Most Important Idea in Physics: The
> Principle of Least Action - Ask a Spaceman!" on YouTube
> > To: Nicholas Thompson <thompnicks...@gmail.com <mailto:
> thompnicks...@gmail.com>>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---
> > Frank C. Wimberly
> > 140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
> > Santa Fe, NM 87505
> >
> > 505 670-9918
> > Santa Fe, NM
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> > From: *Frank Wimberly* <wimber...@gmail.com <mailto:
> wimber...@gmail.com>>
> > Date: Thu, Jun 29, 2023, 12:51 PM
> > Subject: Watch "The Most Important Idea in Physics: The
> Principle of Least Action - Ask a Spaceman!" on YouTube
> > To: Thompson, Nicholas <nickthomp...@earthlink.net <mailto:
> nickthomp...@earthlink.net>>, Barry MacKichan <
> barry.mackic...@mackichan.com <mailto:barry.mackic...@mackichan.com>>
> >
> >
> > https://youtu.be/UuqpCBZoX3M <https://youtu.be/UuqpCBZoX3M>
> >
>
>
> --
> ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ
>
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