Category: General

Science questions

  1. If the Higgs is an infinite field with a local value of 246 GeV, where does this infinite energy come from?
  2. Why is the infinite energy of Higgs field necessary to create the smallest possible mass and for things to “simply exist”?
  3. Why does the Higgs field interact differently with different particles with masses?
  4. Where does the mass of neutrinos come from?
  5. How many fields exist in empty space?
  6. As two gluons can occupy the same space, why should they “interact” to create a Higgs Boson?
  7. How do we see colors in our dreams when our eyelids are closed and no light enters past them? If vision can happen without the eye or light, why should we correlate reality what is observable?
  8. How do we hear speech in our dreams when we sleep in a room with pin drop silence?
  9. How do we explain consciousness, out-of-body experiences, near death experiences, premonition?
  10. Explanations of dark matter, dark energy and why they predominate the known universe
  11. Can supersymmetry be proved?
  12. What type of experiments will need to be designed to prove matter is made of strings?
  13. What kind of computing power is needed to solve 13 dimensional string theory problems with possible 10^500 compactifications?
  14. What are the correct values for vacuum energy?

Fields and reality

The world is really made out of fields. Sometimes the stuff of the universe looks like particles, due to the peculiarities of quantum mechanics, but deep down it’s really fields. Empty space isn’t as empty as it looks. At every point there is a rich collection of fields, each taking on some value or another—or more precisely, due to the uncertainty that accompanies quantum mechanics, a distribution of possible values we could potentially observe.

The fields themselves aren’t “made of” anything—fields are what the world is made of. We don’t know of any lower level of reality. (Maybe string theory, but that’s still hypothetical.) Magnetism is carried by a field, as are gravity and the nuclear forces. Even what we call “matter”—particles like electrons and protons—is really just a set of vibrating fields. The particle we call the “Higgs boson” is important, but not so much for its own sake; what matters is the Higgs field from which it springs, which plays a central role in how our universe works. Astounding indeed.

Sean Carroll, The particle at the end of the universe

Don’t look: waves. Look: particles.

The physicist John Wheeler once proposed a challenge: How can you best explain quantum mechanics in five words or fewer? In the modern world, it’s easy to get suggestions for any short-answer question: Simply ask Twitter, the microblogging service that limits posts to 140 characters. When I posed the question about quantum mechanics, the best answer was given by Aatish Bhatia (@ aatishb): “Don’t look: waves. Look: particles.” That’s quantum mechanics in a nutshell.

Sean Carroll, The particle at the end of the universe

Notes on Satkaryavada

  • Sat-karya-vada: The argument of eternal action
  • Source: Samkhya Sutras of Kapila
  • Satkāryavāda (सत्कार्यवाद, “form”) refers to the Sāṃkhya’s concept of causation.—Satkāryavāda (the doctrine that the effect pre-exists in its cause), presents the three fundamental qualities (i.e. triguṇa) as the grounds for an argument by asserting that the diversity of the phenomenal world is also nothing but the transformation of the three qualities according to the relative superiority or inferiority among their forces. In this case, an aspect of superiority or inferiority among the three qualities is expressed in the concept of saṃsthāna.
  • If something exists, it exists because of preexisting potentiality. Even if this potentiality is beyond grasp, it is considered to exist in an unmanifest state before it becomes manifest at the right time.
  • Only nothing comes from nothing
  • Something cannot be created from nothing
  • The effect (manifest) is immanent in the cause (unmanifest) and emerges from it.
  • Prakriti (manifest) in Sāñkhya philosophy is the feminine energy of the Purusha (Unmanifest). She is fully capable of producing everything, but She produces it based on purusha’s will. The prakriti is not inert, or unconscious; She rather has a subordinate will.
  • What is not meant to be, will never be – like ungrown horns on a man which will never become a reality.
  • Things cannot arise haphazardly, things can only be produced by what is capable of producing them.
  • Because the making is possible [only] of what [the cause] is capable of
  • Whatever happens, happens according to a rule.
  • Everywhere, always, everything is possible. (Samkhya Sutra 1.116)
  • User (purusha) and instrument (prakriti) are powerful to contain the causes and effects in themselves.
  • Desire causes creation

Source: Shodhganga: A study of Nyāya-vaiśeṣika categories (samkhya)
Satkāryavāda (सत्कार्यवाद) refers to one of the philosophical systems regarding the cause and effect relation prevalent in Ancient India.—Satkāryavāda is upheld by the Sāṃkhya-Yoga and Advaita Vedānta philosophers. According to Satkāryavāda the effect already exists in the cause in a potential condition. So, it is not basically new creation and different from the material cause. But effect is only an explicit manifestation of that which are contained in its material cause. For example, a pot is not different from the clay, a cloth is not different from the threads.

There are two divisions of Satkāryavāda—a) Pariṇāmavāda and b) Vivartavāda.
Pariṇāmavāda: Effect is a real transformation of its cause.
Vivartavāda: Effect is unreal

Sāṃkhya-Yoga’s view is known as Prakṛti-Pariṇāmavāda, Rāmānuja’s view is known as Brahma-Pariṇāmavāda, Śaṃkara is Vivartavādin.

It is the Sāṃkhyas who have actually established the theory satkāryavāda by different arguments. Īśvaṛakṛṣṇa has discussed the theory of satkāryavāda in his Sāṃkhyakārikā. He gives five arguments to prove this theory. The five arguments are discussed here as follows:

  • asadakaranād
  • upādāna-grahaṇāt
  • sarvasambhavābhāvāt
  • śaktasya-śakyakaraṇāt
  • kāraṇabhāvāt