Thomas Krens, Director of the Guggenheim Foundation, argued that beauty does not live in the objects themselves, but in the interaction between the object and the viewer. He feels museums need to change, to be agents of change. Today they’re an 18th century idea, embedded in a 19th century box (usually a palace) , trying to live in the 21st century. Guggenheim’s latest project is to be in Abu Dhabi.
A stunningly interesting approach to the theme question came from Garrett Lisi, the surfer physicist. Physicists have been searching for the Elusive Theory of Everything to unite classical mechanics, quantum field theory, and gravitation. Lisi came at his theory by plotting characteristics of all the elementary particles in various dimensions. He twisted the view like a kaleidoscope to produce beautiful symmetric patterns, finally arriving at the so-called E8 pattern. E8 needs 12 particles to fill in the symmetry. One of these is the Higgs particle, which other theory has proposed but is yet to be discovered; the other 11 are Lisi’s candidates to enable his Unified Theory.
Lisi has eschewed the academic environment since completing his PH.D. in physics, he disdains string theory, and lives in a van, camping by surfing beaches in Maui. He published his theory in late 2007 and caused great controversy. If he's right, it would be the upset scientific story of our time – the non-establishment maverick having the break-through insight. As a mathematician, I was trained to believe that what is elegant is often or usually right. Clearly I don’t understand the physics at this level, but sentimentally, you gotta root for this underdog. And how appropriate to the theme “Is Beauty Truth?”
Sunday, March 2, 2008
What is Life? - Memes
Susan Blackmore, psychologist and student of consciousness
Blackmore presented and clarified some ideas that were new to me – the concept of memes as another structural level on which evolution can take place, just like species. She distilled Darwin down to the simple of idea that if you have creatures that vary, if there is a struggle for life such that almost all die, and if the few that survive pass on characteristics, then those descendents are better suited to the environment. This constitutes an algorithm for evolution. Blackmore’s point is that with variation, selection, heredity you must get evolution – you don’t need a designer, it just happens.
Blackmore stated that this applies to memes just as it does to genes. Memes are cultural information, such as ideas, habits, songs, or even fashions, that get transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Memes are replicators just as genes are. Blackmore characterized TED as a meme-fest!
Just as genes can treat organisms as simple tools for their own survival and evolution, so can memes. While other species are just gene machines, humans are also meme machines. I must confess this was my first in-depth thought about memes, despite having heard the word. Blackmore’s presentation definitely prompted me to put more reading on memes on my list.
She then went on to propose the existence of a third replicator – the technomeme, or teme. Whew – just starting to understand memes and now got to go my head around temes.
Blackmore presented and clarified some ideas that were new to me – the concept of memes as another structural level on which evolution can take place, just like species. She distilled Darwin down to the simple of idea that if you have creatures that vary, if there is a struggle for life such that almost all die, and if the few that survive pass on characteristics, then those descendents are better suited to the environment. This constitutes an algorithm for evolution. Blackmore’s point is that with variation, selection, heredity you must get evolution – you don’t need a designer, it just happens.
Blackmore stated that this applies to memes just as it does to genes. Memes are cultural information, such as ideas, habits, songs, or even fashions, that get transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Memes are replicators just as genes are. Blackmore characterized TED as a meme-fest!
Just as genes can treat organisms as simple tools for their own survival and evolution, so can memes. While other species are just gene machines, humans are also meme machines. I must confess this was my first in-depth thought about memes, despite having heard the word. Blackmore’s presentation definitely prompted me to put more reading on memes on my list.
She then went on to propose the existence of a third replicator – the technomeme, or teme. Whew – just starting to understand memes and now got to go my head around temes.
American News' representation of the world
Alisa Miller, President and CEO of Public Radio International (NPR), gave an amazing 3 minute talk on how American media presents the rest of the world. She was dramatically showing the miniscule proportion of American news that covers the rest of the world. You really must catch her talk at www.pri.org/ted.html.
One couldn’t help but link her talk to an interchange during the World Debate on Wednesday night. Mwenda (remember he was the Managing Editor of The Independent in Kampala) threw out a question to the audience, asking Forrest Whittaker the change in his attitude about Uganda after being on location there to film The Last King of Scotland. Whittaker responded that he not only had his stereotype of Uganda shatter, he also changed his attitude and interest in other countries. It’s always seemed to me that the world would be a better place, if every single American could travel outside their own country……
One couldn’t help but link her talk to an interchange during the World Debate on Wednesday night. Mwenda (remember he was the Managing Editor of The Independent in Kampala) threw out a question to the audience, asking Forrest Whittaker the change in his attitude about Uganda after being on location there to film The Last King of Scotland. Whittaker responded that he not only had his stereotype of Uganda shatter, he also changed his attitude and interest in other countries. It’s always seemed to me that the world would be a better place, if every single American could travel outside their own country……
What is Life?
On to the next big question, What is Life?
This session was kicked off by Craig Venter, describing, in his deceptively boring voice, how close his team was to creating life. The questions he's investigating are:
This session was kicked off by Craig Venter, describing, in his deceptively boring voice, how close his team was to creating life. The questions he's investigating are:
- What is Life?
- Can we pare it down to its most elemental components?
- Can we digitize it?
- Can we regenerate a new life out of the digital model?
They've been trying to find the minimal genome that could represent life by working with the micoplasma genitalium. They've knocked out about 100 of its 500 genes that individually seem irrelevant, but feel that what's left could not be booted up to life.
However, they've worked on building up the single circular chromosome of m.g. (about 500,000 letters long). They've used material from the tens of thousands of labs that can produce genes on demand. They build strings about 50 letters long, with overlaps, then splice them together, then splice together those results, until they build the entire 500,000 long chromosome. The next step is to insert the resultant chromosome into another organism to see if it will boot up. Many species have hosted such extra chromosomes and have gone on to reproduce offspring with the new characteristics.
Venter's vision is to custom produce new species with desired characteristics. He says they're about 18 months away from creating an organism that could take CO2 directly from a feedstock and creating biofuel from it, that could completely replace the petrochemical industry - a modest goal. Or design antibiotics or vaccines directly from components.
He assured the audience that self-destruct genes were built into these organisms as a safety factor. In responding to ethical concerns about 'messing with nature' he claimed he was just 'discovering what was already there' (which hasn't stopped him from patenting these discovers, of course!)
Venter was followed by Paul Rothemund, who went into more detail on the origami chromosomes of last year. By writing strings of genetic letters, like coding a program, he can get DNA to fold in interesting patterns - like the whimsical smiley faces he showed us last year.
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