First Blog

My dad used to say if you want a serious problem to solve, find one that no one has yet solved. Knowing now that the best minds work on the hardest problems, these unsolved or open problems must be difficult. In this short piece, we talk about time, its elusive meaning, and its close cousin of order. The God Problem.  Is there or isn't there?  Those that believe do believe on faith, an inner sense of knowing.  Those that don't mostly believe it is only a matter of time and the endeavors of science to solve there is no God.  But suppose such a solution is offered?  The universe is this way or that...  But who made the universe is the next level.  But suppose the universe is this way or that?  Then how were the laws created?  And when this is resolved, how did the laws come into place?  In short, what ever is resolved, the next question is "Why's that? Who did that?"  The God Problem is one of infinite regression for the scientist, but solvable by act of faith alone

For years now, various parties both inside the USA and out have been claiming the Iranians are getting close to having sufficient fissionable materials to build a nuclear bomb. From 2012 onwards this party or that has made claims of three months, six months, up to a year or more to reach that milestone.  In the meantime, Iran seems to have increased their numbers of functioning centrifuges - needed to separate the heavier versions of uranium.  Lately, estimates are two-three months, six months, and up to a year or more.  Hmmm... So far, no one has suggested the Iranians already have enough such material. Do the math.  Even accounting for the wildest estimates from 2012 on, it seems certain or certainly plausible the milestone has been reached.  I conjecture Iran is working now toward multiples of critical mass materials.  Of course, they won't tell us, and even if we (i.e. the govt) knows, they won't tell us. Other countries, particularly those with sophisticated intelligenc

Many robots, at the industrial, home, and combat levels now exist.   They are becoming more powerful almost at a Moore’s law rate of doubling capacity every 18 months.   For decades now, many movies have depicted robots at more human levels.   Many of these films and let’s say “philosophers of robotics” suggest robots exceeding human capacity in almost every way.   One recent movie, “The Machine”, illustrates a robot vastly more powerful that humans, intellectually and emotionally, but also more human that humans.   They can pass the Turing test (Imitation game*) easily.   Ray Kurzweil** suggests that computer intellectual capacity will exceed humans by 2050,   easily passing the Turning test, and that by 2099 clear distinctions between humans and machines will no longer exist.   This is a tall order, if only considering the aspects of problems solving.***     Steven Hawking**** suggests that robots may be the next evolutionary step of humanity, and that perhaps humans have co

It may be widely believe that knowledge progresses gradually, in small steps, in gentle increments, or in slight gradations.  It may be not so, even for us as individuals.  New knowledge or understanding often begins with insights.  When you gain an insight, and it is true, it becomes applicable and remains so from then on.     This changes one’s problem solving game. This insight provides a new tool or rule, but importantly   it creates a discontinuity in your problem solving methods.    So, we might ask whether insights can come gradually?   In some cases, probably yes, though examples are difficult to furnish.  The emergence of infinity, often credited to Cantor, took centuries of dancing around the edges by philosophers.  The germ theory of disease so often attributed to Pasteur was anticipated almost with the invention of the microscope.   On the other hand plate tectonics seemed to arise by a simple insight by a single person, Alfred Wegener, in 1912 and took a mere half