sun and shadows
i just read this article by the director of the institute for figuring, margaret wertheim. ( i love the name of the institute!)
it is a science and mathematics education organization. the article was titled "sun rises and shadows shrink", printed in the seattle post intelligencer june 21st, 2007. in the article she says nothing can go faster than light except the absence of light - like a shadow. she writes that "according to relativity, no physical substance can exceed the speed of light because it would take infinite energy to accelerate anything to such a velocity. yet the laws of physics pertain only to that which is. that which is not, is not bound by relativity's restraint. from the point of view of relativity, a shadow ( having no mass) is a non-thing, an existential void. .....shadows suggest the limits of all classification schemes, a tension that even modern science cannot compeletly resolve." ms wertheim notes that prior to the invention of clocks, shadows were the most important means for telling time. "weightless and without energy, shadows can nonetheless convey information - though they cannot be used for faster than light communication." she says this is the case because shadows cannot be detected until light arrives.
i also read an article on dark energy. it was by another woman scientist, meg urry, chair of the department of physics at yale. (yeah women in science!) so dark energy makes up 2/3 of the universe and it is called dark because scientists have no clue what exactly it is and because there is no way to directly see it. it is there but unknown and it is apparently speeding up the expansion of the universe.
wertheim writes that the scientific corolary might be light is that which "nothing" is faster than. it could also be said that god is that which nothing is greater than.
hmmmmm!
here's to the light and the dark on this solstice.
otherwise these thoughts are illuminating to me of late:
"extravagant forgiveness"
job description: "wake up!"
motivation: "is it true, is it kind, is it necessary?"
here's some light refractions and reflections that i've been working on:
more news and views on the axis of oh my goodness wings after we return from montreal - performing for cirque du soleil at the mont-tremblant chalet!
here's some pics of us goofing on the beach after our recent shows on long island:
it is a science and mathematics education organization. the article was titled "sun rises and shadows shrink", printed in the seattle post intelligencer june 21st, 2007. in the article she says nothing can go faster than light except the absence of light - like a shadow. she writes that "according to relativity, no physical substance can exceed the speed of light because it would take infinite energy to accelerate anything to such a velocity. yet the laws of physics pertain only to that which is. that which is not, is not bound by relativity's restraint. from the point of view of relativity, a shadow ( having no mass) is a non-thing, an existential void. .....shadows suggest the limits of all classification schemes, a tension that even modern science cannot compeletly resolve." ms wertheim notes that prior to the invention of clocks, shadows were the most important means for telling time. "weightless and without energy, shadows can nonetheless convey information - though they cannot be used for faster than light communication." she says this is the case because shadows cannot be detected until light arrives.
i also read an article on dark energy. it was by another woman scientist, meg urry, chair of the department of physics at yale. (yeah women in science!) so dark energy makes up 2/3 of the universe and it is called dark because scientists have no clue what exactly it is and because there is no way to directly see it. it is there but unknown and it is apparently speeding up the expansion of the universe.
wertheim writes that the scientific corolary might be light is that which "nothing" is faster than. it could also be said that god is that which nothing is greater than.
hmmmmm!
here's to the light and the dark on this solstice.
otherwise these thoughts are illuminating to me of late:
"extravagant forgiveness"
job description: "wake up!"
motivation: "is it true, is it kind, is it necessary?"
here's some light refractions and reflections that i've been working on:
more news and views on the axis of oh my goodness wings after we return from montreal - performing for cirque du soleil at the mont-tremblant chalet!
here's some pics of us goofing on the beach after our recent shows on long island:
posted by the lelavisionaries at 2:07 PM
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