To not boldly go anywhere?

This piece is depressing yet very well thought out and well put. I want to believe it's better, but at least consider the apt arguments. The author could have put some attention to advanced details like ion propulsion, not just classical rocket exhaust, but this is thought-provoking:

The Recline and Fall: To not boldly go anywhere.: I wrote this some time back after reading Tom Murphy's blog. I'll publish this as is because it is still worth saying even though it...

How about this, for some simple and reasonably fair Social Security reform:

Remove the cap on earnings subject to FICA, but don't institute any "means testing" other than just making SS benefits taxable by combination with other income. That would get some of the money back from the more wealthy folks, and in a simple way (ie, by not adding a new complex formula to decide how much one is paid SS to start with), without "messing with the system" by changing overall payment protocols, or switching to the odious chained CPI, etc.

My new FQXi essay is available

My entry for the latest FQXi Essay Contest is finally in, it was delayed due to some IT issues. The Contest orienting topic was:

Questioning the Foundations

Which of Our Basic Physical Assumptions Are Wrong?

Well here it is:
Can Repeated Interactions Show More About a Photon Than Current Theory Allows?

Essay Abstract

We explore whether it is possible in principle to find the "circularity" (amount of circular polarization) of a single photon to a degree not allowed in conventional quantum theory. The thought experiment involves passing the same photon many times through a half-wave plate (with intermediate correction) so the tiny "spin" interaction of the photon is amplified enough to transfer measurable angular momentum to the detector HWP. HWPs invert coefficients for RH and LH states instead of "collapsing" the photon into a circular basis. Because passing one photon many times through a HWP should be like passing many photons once each though the plate, the transferred angular momentum would be revealed on a continuum. Such a measurement would violate the projection postulate (which says that only yes/no answers to probabilistic detection questions can be found for a single particle).

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Folks, I need your votes as much as anybody else "running" for some accomplishment that depends on them. Check out the proposal, remember it doesn't have to prove the point, just to be a thought-provoking attempt and exploration. All I ask is for what you think is fair. Thanks.

Older and why-sore ...

A Facebook Friend asked me awhile ago if I felt any wiser on my birthday ("fifty-something" will suffice.) I told him:
Well, somehow both wiser and more foolish. Certainly, I am why-sore: worn out from asking "why" so much!
Heh, any of you other seekers, delvers (I love that word) and paradoxers feel why-sore? Let us know.

Dirty Higgsy says:

I know what you’re thinking: "Did we find five sigma, or only four?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being this is the LHC, the most powerful collider in the world, and would blow your mind clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well do ya, punk?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy and peaceful ☮ St. ♪ Patrick's ☘ Day ♫, everyone, and with all due respect to the ancient culture of the Celts. (I take as my faves, SPD and Halloween!) Don't get too tipsy-turvy ☡ ☺.
 Try this great piece of classic Irish rock:

If the clip doesn't work directly, please go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojKoTjsSks8

A Joke Nobody Gets

OK, this is based on a chicken joke I saw on FB (Jenny's Think Tank and Holistic Comedy Bar - drop in sometime if you can find it.) It's a concept joke, I hope it gets around. But instead of just telling you, I'm making it a riddle.
An entangled particle said to its partner across the lab, "how do I get to the other side?"
What did the other particle say back?

Why?

9/11 ... Sigh. I had a strange dream the night before It happened. I was looking at that kind of art kids make from cutting and pasting different colors of paper to a board. I saw a dark rectangle in front of me against a lighter background. Then something ripped a big tear across it, a bit above the middle. I felt bad enough the next day hearing what happened, but especially creepy to see that footage of one of the planes tipping sideways and leaving that big gash in the tower.

Thank you FQXi, but I have concerns ...

My essay "Our Non-Deterministic Reality Is Neither Digital Nor Analog: Experimental Tests Can Show That Decoherence Fails to Resolve the Measurement Problem" was accepted for the FQXi Essay Contest "Is Reality Digital or Analog," and I am grateful to them for that. My previous post about the article, focussed primarily on the scientific content I presented, generated many comments. There were various prizes offered, and I did not win any (announced June 4.) OK ... I realize readers may therefore take my critique of the process with a grain of salt, but what I have to say ultimately stands or falls on its own. On June 1 I sent an email about my concerns to  FQXi Administrator Brendan Foster. I also told him I planned to reprint it unless told not to. I am taking no response as tacit approval, but reprinting it here instead of as a comment at my Essay or the discussion thread. (I did link here from the contest forum noted below.) The content is quoted below. I have not yet received a reply, which is also disappointing (yet I realize that administrators are busy at the end of the contest.)

I also made some comments at the forum for discussing the contest in general. I and some other commenters expressed some disappointment about there not being award/s for non-professional or amateur submitters (a possibility expressed in the rules for the contest.) However, my concerns go well beyond those issues, as seen below. So, tell me what you think, suggestions, etc. (I am trying to separate discussion of the scientific issues from Essay Contest issues, but I realize they might intermingle: especially since one of my concerns was the inadequate credit given papers - like mine - that proposed experimental tests, the few of them standing out "like sore thumbs" in a field of arm-chair fancy.


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The Born Ultimatum

Hello folks, I'm going to try something different here. The immediate purpose is to provide an outlet for those who want to continue the debate from Chad Orzel's post on the Born Rule in quantum mechanics. A very good reason for continuing elsewhere: comments there are closed now! This post is also for anyone just interested in that subject, and in particular whether we can properly derive the BR from the many-worlds concept.

Well, quantum mechanics is weird so this post will work in a weird way: I first just make this basic outline of the purpose. Then, as time goes on, I will update the post substantially (not just the customary corrections and minor addenda.) So, it will grow along with comments and the development of my thoughts. However, I will put and retain a demarcation line below to show where my initial contribution ended.
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