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This is another conversation with Claude.ai that I found enlightening. It allows me to experiment with artificial intelligence and pose questions that I hope are carefully thought through, to see how the app analyzes contemporary society. I’ve changed the format to more conversational, and less like speaking to an automaton. My question below the title is deliberately rendered in italics. As the blog post title suggests, I was looking for an allegory between what humans have experienced in the past and what we’re experiencing now.
Myths, Power, and Billionaire Parallels
Do you see a correlation between the Greek and Roman gods and modern-day billionaires? Were the myths and legends allegorical references to the ancient elites?
The parallels between ancient mythological figures and modern wealthy elites are striking, though the relationship is more complex than direct allegory.
Ancient myths often reflect the social and political realities of their time. The Greek and Roman gods displayed many characteristics we associate with powerful elites: they were capricious, competitive, prone to excess, and operated by different rules than ordinary mortals.Zeus’s serial infidelities, the gods’ petty rivalries, and their casual destruction of human lives when it suited their purposes mirror criticisms often leveled at today’s ultra-wealthy.
However, these weren’t typically direct allegories for specific historical figures. Instead, they represented archetypal patterns of power and human nature that transcend any particular era. The gods embodied both the allure and the dangers of unchecked power – they could be beneficent patrons or destructive forces, often within the same story.
The correlation you’re noticing likely stems from consistent patterns in how concentrated power operates across cultures and centuries. Today’s tech billionaires, reshaping society according to their visions; oil magnates, influencing global politics; or media moguls, controlling the information flow, echo the mythological theme of powerful beings whose personal decisions have vast consequences for ordinary people.
Ancient audiences would have recognized these power dynamics in their societies – wealthy patricians, merchant princes, and political dynasties who seemed to live by different rules. The myths served both as entertainment and as a way to process the reality of extreme inequality and arbitrary power.
So while not literal allegories, these stories do capture enduring truths about how concentrated wealth and power function in human societies, which is why the parallels feel so resonant today.
To Claude.ai: “What is the likely outcome of the United States and Israel attacking the nation of Iran on suspicion of having nuclear weapons?”
An attack on Iran by the US and Israel would likely have severe and far-reaching consequences across multiple dimensions:
**Regional Military Response**
Iran would likely retaliate through its extensive network of proxy forces across the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, various militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen. This could trigger a broader regional conflict involving multiple countries and non-state actors.
**Economic Disruption**
Iran could attempt to close or disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of global oil passes. This would cause significant spikes in oil prices and global economic disruption. Iran might also target critical infrastructure in neighboring Gulf states.
**International Relations**
Such an attack would likely strain relationships with key allies, particularly European nations, and could push Russia and China closer to Iran. It might also complicate relationships with regional partners who prefer diplomatic solutions.
**Nuclear Escalation Risk**
Paradoxically, an attack might accelerate rather than prevent Iranian nuclear weapons development, as Iran could withdraw from international agreements and monitoring entirely. Historical precedent suggests that countries under existential threat often prioritize weapons programs.
**Humanitarian Impact**
Military action would likely result in significant civilian casualties and could destabilize an already fragile region, potentially creating refugee crises and further humanitarian challenges.
**Domestic Consequences**
In Iran, an attack could strengthen hardline elements and undermine moderate voices, while potentially rallying the population around the government despite current internal tensions.
The complexity and interconnectedness of Middle Eastern geopolitics make it difficult to contain the effects of such military action, which is why diplomatic solutions are generally preferred by the international community.
Topics: Civilization, Existentialism, Nanoengineering, Philosophy, Quantum Mechanics, Star Trek
As an undergraduate Engineering Physics major, science classes disabuse you of notions that science fiction might leave you with.
“2001” was released in 1968, the year Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy Sr. were assassinated, the second year of the Star Trek franchise, one year before Apollo 11 landed on the moon, one year before the Trek franchise was canceled, went into syndication, and became a cult phenomenon celebrated and lampooned on Saturday Night Live, featuring William Shatner (“get a life“).
When someone asks me if warp drive is “possible,” I generally say no. Although following the 1994 Alcubierre Metric paper and extensive research into the mathematics of what a warp bubble would “look” like, no one has yet found what would be the Nobel Prize in an effortless lay-up. It would essentially take more energy than the universe produces, and that is an obvious problem that would have to be solved.
The faithful being undaunted, I am challenged by the notion that the “physics for warp drive hasn’t been discovered by Earthlings,” and by the Trek timeline, Zephram Cochrane, or his real-world equivalent, hasn’t been born yet. Neither have we suffered the calamity of a Third World War, as if the first two were simply “practice” for oblivion.
When challenged that aliens have, or may still be, visiting Earth, I point out the vast distances between stars, and how we at this point are 150,000 years from Alpha Centauri at current slow rocket speeds, unless we get to Warp 1 by some stretch of a miracle. An alien species that can cut that into weeks is incredibly more advanced than our current, less than Type I Kardashev technology.
Taking a friend’s argument that aliens have the technology (Type II or greater) to visit our planet, and then might stop us from committing cultural suicide by self-extinction (we hope they’re Vulcans, and not Klingons), I asked Claude.ai the following question:
Would it be possible to construct a spaceship with a Nano-composite meta material, such that a spaceship behaves like a Bose-Einstein Condensate? How would such a spaceship work?
Why did I ask this question? Because my undergraduate is in Physics, my graduate Thesis and Dissertation are in Nanoengineering. By making my spaceship a macro-Bose-Einstein Condensate fashioned with nano-composite metamaterials, I would (hypothetically) make it quantum tunnel from one place to another, that in our three-dimensional fossil-fueled space would seem instantaneous, nay, magical. Or, Flatland, by Edwin Abbott Abbott (yes, his name repeated) written in 1884. The gist: “The book used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to comment on the hierarchy of Victorian culture, but the novella’s more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions.”
Note: This is a thought experiment. I expect a team of theoretical physicists to find flaws with Claude’s conclusions. Maybe it will generate a paper or two. On the other hand, any “arguments” posted online, identified or anonymous, will likely be addressed in the following manner: “Yeah.”
Again, I asked Claude the question, and as usual, Claude delivered. I do see the same boot I wear in the yard stamping ant hills. That’s more Klingon than Vulcan.
BEC-Like Spaceship: Critical Analysis of Quantum Metamaterial Propulsion
Theoretical Foundation
What Would a BEC-Like Spaceship Mean?
Source: Claude.ai
A Bose-Einstein Condensate spacecraft would theoretically exhibit quantum coherence at macroscopic scales, where the entire vessel behaves as a single quantum entity. This could enable revolutionary propulsion and navigation capabilities by exploiting quantum mechanical effects scaled up to engineering dimensions.
Critical Analysis of Feasibility
The Fundamental Challenges
1. Temperature Requirements
Natural BECs require temperatures near absolute zero (nanokelvin range)
Challenge: Maintaining quantum coherence in space environment
Potential solution: Metamaterial-induced artificial quantum states
2. Scale Paradox
BECs typically involve thousands to millions of atoms
Spaceship scale: ~10²⁶ atoms or more
Critical question: Can quantum coherence survive at macroscopic scales?
Photonic Crystals: Control electromagnetic field interactions
Plasmonic Networks: Collective electron oscillations
Topological Insulators: Protected quantum states
Critical Innovation Required:
Materials that maintain quantum coherence at room temperature
Structures that amplify rather than destroy quantum effects
Self-healing quantum states resistant to environmental decoherence
Hypothetical Propulsion Mechanisms
1. Quantum Tunneling Propulsion
Entire spacecraft could theoretically tunnel through spacetime barriers
Bypass traditional momentum conservation limitations
Enable instantaneous position changes without acceleration
2. Casimir Effect Amplification
BEC state could coherently manipulate vacuum fluctuations
Create asymmetric pressure differentials in quantum vacuum
Generate thrust without reaction mass
3. Spacetime Curvature Manipulation
Quantum coherent mass-energy distribution
Potentially influence local gravitational fields
Create “warp-like” effects through quantum geometry
Operational Characteristics
Navigation and Control
Quantum State Steering:
Coherent manipulation of the entire vessel’s quantum state
Navigation through quantum state superposition
Possible multiple simultaneous trajectories
Information Processing:
Entire ship acts as quantum computer
Instantaneous information transfer throughout structure
Collective decision-making at quantum level
Energy Requirements
Power Sources:
Zero-point energy extraction (highly speculative)
Quantum coherence maintenance systems
Superconducting energy storage and distribution
Critical Technical Barriers
Materials Science Challenges
1. Room-Temperature Quantum Coherence
Current metamaterials show limited quantum effects at practical temperatures
Need breakthrough in quantum error correction at material level
Requires fundamentally new understanding of decoherence
2. Structural Integrity
Quantum materials often have different mechanical properties
Must maintain both quantum coherence AND structural strength
Engineering paradox: rigidity vs. quantum flexibility
3. Manufacturing Complexity
Precise atomic-level assembly required
Quality control at quantum scale
Scalability from laboratory to spacecraft dimensions
Fundamental Physics Questions
1. Macroscopic Quantum Mechanics
Unclear if quantum mechanics applies unchanged at spacecraft scales
Possible emergence of classical behavior through complexity
May require new physics beyond current quantum theory
2. Relativity Interactions
How would quantum coherence interact with relativistic effects?
Spacetime curvature impacts on quantum states
Potential conflicts between quantum mechanics and general relativity
Hypothetical Design Architecture
Core Systems
1. Quantum Coherence Engine
Central BEC maintenance system
Continuous cooling and isolation
Quantum error correction networks
2. Metamaterial Hull
Layered quantum composite structure
Self-repairing quantum states
Environmental shielding systems
3. Navigation Quantum Computer
Integrated throughout ship structure
Collective quantum processing
Real-time spacetime analysis
Operational Modes
1. Classical Mode
Standard propulsion and navigation
Quantum systems in standby
Emergency backup systems
2. Quantum Coherent Mode
Full BEC-like operation
Advanced propulsion capabilities
Enhanced computational processing
3. Hybrid Mode
Partial quantum coherence
Selective quantum effects
Balanced performance and stability
Critical Assessment
Likelihood of Success
Optimistic Scenario (50+ years):
Breakthrough in room-temperature quantum materials
New understanding of macroscopic quantum mechanics
Revolutionary manufacturing techniques
Realistic Assessment:
Fundamental physics barriers may be insurmountable
Engineering challenges exceed current technological trajectory
May require completely new theoretical framework
Alternative Approaches
1. Quantum-Enhanced Conventional Craft
Quantum sensors and computers
Metamaterial components with limited quantum effects
More achievable near-term goals
2. Hybrid Classical-Quantum Systems
Selective use of quantum effects
Conventional structure with quantum subsystems
Gradual integration of quantum technologies
Conclusion
While a true BEC-like spaceship remains highly speculative, the concept drives important research directions in quantum materials and macroscopic quantum mechanics. The most promising near-term approach may be quantum-enhanced spacecraft that exploit specific quantum effects rather than achieving full macroscopic quantum coherence.
Critical Insight: The boundary between quantum and classical physics at macroscopic scales remains one of the deepest unsolved problems in physics. A BEC spaceship would require not just engineering breakthroughs, but fundamental advances in our understanding of quantum mechanics itself.
Practical Path Forward: Focus on metamaterials that exhibit quantum properties at increasing scales, while developing theoretical frameworks for macroscopic quantum systems. Even partial success could revolutionize both space technology and our understanding of quantum mechanics.
“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” Arthur C. Clarke, author of “2001: A Space Odyssey.“
I was intrigued by a Medium article using Claude.ai that posed a question:
“You are a member of the United States Senate Budget Committee. Your task is to design a budget for the next ten years that will produce a budget surplus and, in the long run, eventually permit the United States to pay down its national debt. You may consider any combination of spending and tax policy changes, but you must ensure that these changes have minimal negative impacts on employment, consumer confidence, and investor confidence.”
I reused the same question in my query.
Claude produced, for the Medium article, and in my app: “10-Year Budget Surplus Strategy: Critical Analysis & Implementation Plan.” It seemed reasonable, and frighteningly rational, in comparison to current government policy proposals, if you can call them that.
Here’s my stab at it. Next week, I will literally post my “Out of This World” conversation with Claude. I’ll give you background when I post next weekend.
10-Year Budget Surplus Strategy: Critical Analysis & Implementation Plan
Source: Claude.ai
Executive Summary
This analysis presents a fiscally responsible path to budget surplus within 10 years while maintaining economic stability. The strategy combines gradual revenue enhancement, strategic spending optimization, and growth-promoting investments to achieve sustainable debt reduction without triggering economic disruption.
Current Fiscal Landscape Assessment
Baseline Assumptions (2025):
Federal deficit: ~$1.8 trillion
National debt: ~$34 trillion
GDP growth: 2-3% annually
Interest rates: 4-5% range
Unemployment: ~4%
Critical Challenge: The U.S. faces a structural deficit requiring approximately $200-250 billion in annual deficit reduction to achieve balance, scaling to surplus.
Strategic Framework: The “Gradual Convergence Model”
Phase 1: Stabilization (Years 1-3)
Target: Reduce deficit by 40%
Revenue Enhancement ($400B over 3 years)
Corporate Tax Optimization
Raise corporate rate from 21% to 25% (gradual 1.3% annually)
Close international tax loopholes (estimated $60B annually)
Implement minimum tax on largest corporations
High-Income Tax Adjustments
Restore top marginal rate to 39.6% for income >$400K
Capital gains parity with ordinary income for >$1M earners
Close carried interest loophole
Digital Economy Taxation
Implement digital services tax on tech giants
Strengthen cryptocurrency transaction reporting
Strategic Spending Optimization ($300B over 3 years)
Defense Efficiency Initiative
Reduce weapons system redundancies ($40B annually)
Consolidate overseas base operations
Maintain personnel and readiness levels
Healthcare Cost Management
Medicare drug price negotiation expansion
Administrative efficiency improvements
Preventive care investment (reduces long-term costs)
$200B annual investment (self-financing through economic multiplier)
Focus on broadband, transportation, green energy grid
Estimated 1.5x return on investment over 10 years
Education and Workforce Development
Community college partnership expansion
STEM education incentives
Apprenticeship programs with private sector
Revenue System Modernization
Carbon Pricing Mechanism
Gradual implementation starting Year 4
Revenue-neutral with tax credits for middle class
Estimated $100B annual revenue by Year 7
Financial Transaction Tax
Minimal rate (0.1%) on high-frequency trading
Estimated $50B annually with minimal market impact
Phase 3: Surplus Achievement (Years 8-10)
Target: Generate 1-2% GDP surplus
Debt Service Optimization
Refinance existing debt during favorable rate periods
Establish debt ceiling mechanism tied to GDP growth
Create automatic stabilizers for economic downturns
Critical Risk Analysis
Economic Stability Safeguards
Employment Protection Measures
Gradual implementation prevents shock
Infrastructure investment creates jobs
Workforce retraining programs for affected sectors
Consumer Confidence Maintenance
Middle-class tax stability (no increases for <$200K income)
Enhanced EITC and child tax credits
Healthcare cost protections
Investor Confidence Assurance
Predictable, gradual policy implementation
Maintain investment incentives for R&D
Clear long-term fiscal trajectory communication
Contingency Mechanisms
Economic Downturn Protocols
Automatic spending stabilizers
Tax relief triggers during recession
Flexible timeline adjustment authority
Political Sustainability
Bipartisan deficit reduction commission
Automatic implementation unless overridden
Performance-based adjustments
Implementation Strategy
Year 1 Priorities
Pass comprehensive tax reform package
Establish infrastructure investment authority
Begin Medicare cost containment measures
Create deficit reduction oversight mechanism
Monitoring Metrics
Monthly deficit tracking
Quarterly employment and confidence indices
Annual GDP growth assessment
Debt-to-GDP ratio progression
Long-term Debt Reduction Projection
10-Year Outlook:
Year 5: Budget balance achieved
Year 8: 1% GDP surplus ($280B annually)
Year 10: 2% GDP surplus ($600B annually)
Debt reduction: $2-3 trillion over decade
Debt-to-GDP ratio: Reduced from 120% to 95%
Critical Success Factors
Gradual Implementation: Prevents economic shock while building momentum
Investment-Led Growth: Infrastructure and education spending drives economic expansion
Broad-Based Approach: Combines revenue and spending measures for sustainability
Automatic Adjustments: Built-in flexibility for economic conditions
Stakeholder Buy-in: Protects middle class while ensuring shared responsibility
Conclusion
This framework provides a realistic path to fiscal sustainability while protecting economic stability. The gradual convergence model balances ambitious deficit reduction with practical implementation, ensuring that fiscal responsibility enhances rather than undermines long-term economic prosperity.
Key Principle: Sustainable deficit reduction requires economic growth, not just spending cuts or tax increases alone. This comprehensive approach positions the United States for long-term fiscal health while maintaining its competitive economic position globally.
As the US government slashes Harvard University’s funding, the damage to research at the institution is becoming clearer. Nature has learnt that researchers there have lost nearly 1,000 grants, worth more than US$2.4 billion.
An e-mail to Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) lists 193 grants worth nearly $150 million combined as being terminated, and one from the US Department of Defense (DoD) logs 56 grants worth $105 million. Other cuts are smaller: for instance, the US Department of Agriculture and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development each terminated three grants. But by far the largest tranche comes from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world’s largest funder of biomedical science: it is cutting more than 600 grants worth about $2.2 billion over multiple years. The cuts do not include awards to Harvard-affiliated hospitals.
Through research grants, the US government funds about 11% of Harvard’s annual $6.4-billion budget, and these cancellations will be devastating, researchers say. “Harvard cannot, even with its vast resources, just make up for this loss of federal funding,” says Joseph Loparo, a biological chemist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, who lost two NIH grants for studying repair processes in DNA, totaling $ 4.3 million.
Topics: African Americans, Civics, Civil Rights, Democracy, Existentialism, Human Rights
It’s been a while since I’ve posted.
I’ve been busy at my federal work, a large part of it after rescinding all previous telework agreements. I am now commuting an hour and ten minutes to and from my work site five days a week, in good traffic. Some of my coworkers drive two and two-and-a-half hours one way, five days a week, four to five hours daily. It could be worse than it is.
Regardless, I’m exhausted, and that, per the OMB director, seems to be the point. However, recalling the sage wisdom of our ancestor, General Colin Powell:
“You need to understand, if you take out a government, take out a regime, guess who becomes the government and regime and is responsible for the country? You are. So if you break it, you own it.“
Meaning (to me at least), the consequences of “traumatizing federal workers” will be felt in myriad ways. We are experiencing some of that ownership in how flights are no longer routine, safe, and guaranteed to land without spectacular crashes. Foreign countries and private entities are soliciting fired federal workers with Master’s and PhDs with the assurance that their work will continue. There are legions of federal workers between your FEMA relief, your Social Security checks, and your VA benefits. Once this delicate balance of competency and bureaucracy is broken, it will take a generation to convince the best and brightest to consider federal work. For those who complain that federal workers are lazy or stupid, it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy as only the stupid will dare apply.
“I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to a size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” Grover Norquist, Interview on NPR’s Morning Edition, May 25, 2001. “Mission accomplished.”
1865 to 1945 is 80 years, as is 1945 to 2025. At the end of the Second World War, my father was still a second-class citizen. Soldiers and sailors of color were offered “trade school,” while their Anglo-Saxon counterparts were given the full GI Bill for education through their doctorates, VA loans to purchase homes, and build wealth. The inequality was built into the system my father had to endure, but he, and African American veterans like him, from Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell, have endured time and again, save this republic for the promissory note written in the Declaration of Independence: if “all men are [not] created equal,” they should have stated so clearly from the nation’s beginning. In 80 years of Civil Rights, led initially by African American veterans like Medgar Evers, we still struggle with this false hierarchy created in this country when Europeans became “white.”
I have decided to limit posts to weekends, off the clock, as I am on this federal holiday.
I am still proud to be the son of Robert Harrison Goodwin. I am still proud of his service.
Masaki Kashiwara—Abel Prize Laureate 2025. Peter Badge/Typos1/The Abel Prize
Topics: Abel Prize, Mathematics, Modern Physics, Research
Masaki Kashiwara, this year’s Abel Prize winner, co-founded a new field of mathematics called algebraic analysis.
One of the landmarks of Kyoto, the home of mathematician Masaki Kashiwara, is the Kamo River. At certain points, there are stepping stones that allow residents to cross the river away from the bridges. If you take a closer look at these stones, you can see how the water forms swirls and small eddies around them. Describing this flow of a liquid is not easy. You have to solve complicated equations that have been known for centuries but still pose many mysteries today: Do the equations always have a solution? How can they be calculated? And what properties do they have? It seems that mathematicians have reached a limit with the tools of their trade. To make progress, a new toolbox is needed. The Japanese mathematician Masaki Kashiwara developed such a toolbox for similarly difficult questions in the 1970s.
Kashiwara introduced proven methods from algebra into analysis—the theory underlying calculus that explores functions, limits, and other concepts—and, together with his colleagues, founded an entirely new branch of mathematics: algebraic analysis. This led to significant advances in various fields. For example, Kashiwara succeeded in solving one of the problems posed by mathematician David Hilbert in the early 20th century and developed new techniques that are now used in modern physics.
Kashiwara “has proved astonishing theorems with methods no one had imagined. He has been a true mathematical visionary,” read a recent press release from the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, which honored him with this year’s Abel Prize—one of the highest honors in mathematics.
Kashiwara was born near Tokyo in 1947. He discovered his passion for mathematics at an early age through traditional Japanese puzzles known as tsurukamezan. These puzzles involve correctly calculating the number of cranes and turtles: Suppose x heads and y legs are visible. How many cranes and turtles are there? Kashiwara’s parents didn’t have much exposure to the abstract subject, but the young Masaki enjoyed solving this problem using algebraic methods.
A branching blood vessel network fabricated using the ESCAPE process to form complex tissues. This image shows the cell nuclei color-coded based on height.
Credit: Subramanian Sundaram, Boston University and Wyss Institute, Harvard University
Topics: 3D Printing, Additive Manufacturing, Biology, Tissue Engineering
The manufacturing technique known as 3D printing, now being used everywhere, from aircraft manufacturers to public libraries, has never been more affordable or accessible. Biomedical engineering has particularly benefited from 3D printing as prosthetic devices can be produced and tested more rapidly than ever before. However, 3D printing still faces challenges when printing living tissues, partly due to their complexity and fragility.
Now, with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation, a research team at Boston University (BU) and the Wyss Institute at Harvard University has pioneered the use of gallium, a metal that can be molded at room temperature, to create tissue structures in various shapes and sizes.
This innovative approach to fabrication, engineered sacrificial capillary pumps for evacuation (ESCAPE), was highlighted in a recent study published in Nature, where the team used gallium casts to mold biomaterials. The scaffolds left behind by these casts are then filled with cells cultured to form tissue structures. Vascular structures were some of the first produced using ESCAPE, particularly because of the challenges faced due to blood vessel complexity. Few techniques exist to build large (millimeter-scale) and small (micrometer-scale) structures in scaffolds made of natural materials, making this multiscale fabrication capability a novel approach.
“ESCAPE can be used on several tissue architectures, but we started with vascular forms because blood vessel networks feature many different length scales,” said Christopher Chen, director of BU’s Biological Design Center and senior author on the study. Chen is also the deputy director of CELL-MET, an NSF Engineering Research Center at BU funded by a $34 million award from NSF, and co-principal investigator on the award for the NSF Science and Technology Center for Engineering MechanoBiology at the University of Pennsylvania. “Our blood vessel demonstrations include trees with many branches, including dead ends and portions that experience fluid flow. This allows us to model a range of healthy structures as well as diseased abnormalities.”
An entry in Munch’s diary, dated 22 January 1892, recorded the inspiration for The Scream: “I was walking along the road with two friends – the sun went down – I felt a gust of melancholy – suddenly the sky turned a bloody red. I stopped, leaned against the railing, tired to death – as the flaming skies hung like blood and sword over the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends went on – I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I felt a vast infinite scream through nature.” — What is the meaning of The Scream? Alastair Sooke, BBC, 3 March 2016
If you feel exhaustion from the weeks of nonsense, let me give you some perspective.
In my family, I’ve experienced two members of my family who had mental health issues. Both were older than me, so by age and station I wanted to afford them respect. One in particular had substance abuse issues. The other was my direct caretaker, as I was too young to have a key to our home. This person did the most bizarre things, like eating chips all day on a couch that attracted mice, the ones I could see scurrying under the couch. Asking why they would do that would engender a defensive argument where no cogent points of logic were used, just emotion, irrationality, and hutzpah. My substance abuse relative was my father’s nephew, who couldn’t live on his own, so when he got back from Vietnam, he retired to his old bedroom and abused alcohol. When he needed money to get more liquor, he would attack my aunt, and my father often had to intervene.
When you deal with individuals who have mental health issues, they exhaust you because you’re constantly trying to get to a modicum of normalcy. You exhaust a considerable amount of brain power trying to come up with the argument, the “zinger” that will put the matter to rest, that will “win” an argument with a sociopath. You’d have better luck playing chess with Hannibal Lecter, hoping not to be in his next pâté.
It always comes to a head.
My cousin decided it was a great idea to break a beer bottle over my father’s head. My cousin had the sudden, painful reminder (the hard way) that Pop was ranked Middle Weight Golden Gloves in the United States Navy in World War Two. It wasn’t pretty.
My caretaker, in an argument with my mom and me, found a wooden mallet in an old toy tool chest I had and tried to hit my mother! I was big enough to put her in a “full Nelson” like I saw on the National Wrestling Federation. My caretaker was fired, and put on a bus to relatives in Washington. My mother gave me a key with the pronouncement “You’re GROWN!” The next day, I opened the house to peaceful, and studious solitude.
Everything in this insanity will come to a head. Reality, whether beer bottle, mallet, new pandemic, war, recession, or depression, will have to be confronted. Gaslighting is the tool of an abuser, but it has zero effects on financial markets, or physics.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin
It will be exhausting, like the storm that hit North Carolina Wednesday: a small tornado touched down in Winston-Salem, there was a watch in Greensboro, and torrential rain where I was sitting in Durham. My three friends and I decided to stay inside and have lunch in the cafeteria. It was a wise choice. After the storms: sunlight and clear skies. As the BBC article eludes in bold and quotes, “We all scream.” In confronting insanity, this is normal.
There will be a price for confrontation, and always a prize for confrontation.
Push to sunlight, clear skies past the storm, and off-year elections and midterms.
That is the meaning of “The Scream.” We all scream, before sunlight, and clearer skies.
Argonne researchers have developed a cutting-edge technique to study atomic vibrations near material interfaces, opening doors to new quantum applications in computing and sensing.
Scientists are racing to develop new materials for quantum technologies in computing and sensing for ultraprecise measurements. For these future technologies to transition from the laboratory to real-world applications, a much deeper understanding is needed of the behavior near surfaces, especially those at interfaces between materials.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have unveiled a new technique that could help advance the development of quantum technology. Their innovation, surface-sensitive spintronic terahertz spectroscopy (SSTS), provides an unprecedented look at how quantum materials behave at interfaces.
“This technique allows us to study surface phonons — the collective vibrations of atoms at a material’s surface or interface between materials,” said Zhaodong Chu, a postdoctoral researcher at Argonne and first author of the study. “Our findings reveal striking differences between surface phonons and those in the bulk material, opening new avenues for research and applications.”
In materials such as crystals, atoms form repeating patterns called lattices, which can vibrate in waves known as phonons. While much is understood about phonons in the bulk material, little is known about surface phonons — those occurring within nanometers of an interface. The team’s research reveals that surface phonons behave differently, enabling unique quantum behaviors such as interfacial superconductivity.
Physics and Nano 