Reasons for Pessimism

Author and theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss thinks their are reasons to be pessimistic, but that's no reason to be gloomy. Here in a short little insight on BigThink, he explains why the universe doesn't care about you... and that's a good thing. 

I love the part at the end where he emphasizes the importance of knowing how the world actually is. After all, I'm a magician. Some people say I spend my time trying to convince people of things which aren't true. Rather, it's better to say I spend my time trying to get people to to question and doubt what they see and realize that not everything around them is the way it appears intuitively.

Anyways... off to go create some meaning and purpose... and magic.

More Magical Mathematics

This will be the first of a series of three posts dedicated to mathematics, for no other reason then the coincidence that they all appeared in my life more or less at the same time. I'll begin with an interview with Persi Diaconis on The 7th Avenue Project. It's actually a little bit out of date (over a year old) and it relates, ostensibly, to his 2011 book Magical Mathematics (co-written with Ron Graham) Professor Persi Diaconis is a remarkable figure in magic who falls into that category of "greatest magicians no one has ever heard of." Provided you're willing to allow being interviewed for podcasts, being a published author and appearing on the front page of the New York Times never being heard of.

The interview is fascinating (and long). Perhaps it's the confirmation bias talking, but he seems to spend a great deal more time discussing magic than math — not that I would think of complaining. It also highlights the important but subtle difference between magical mathematics and mathematical magic. I noticed when the interviewer tripped up on the title and realized that there really is an important difference.

The stories involving Dai Vernon and Ricky Jay are also moving. Enjoy.

A Surprising Twist on a Science Demonstration

I stumbled across this while watching the Walter Lewin MIT Physics lectures. Fortunately, it also appears as a stand alone video (isn't YouTube wonderful?) so you don't have to watch an hour on kinetic friction coefficients. But you could if you wanted to. In magic there is a dramatic device known as the "kicker ending", which involves adding on an additional incongruous climax following the apparent ending to a trick. For example, you remove a pack of cards from its box, perform a brief trick and when you try to return the cards to the box, you discover that it is now filled with a block of ice. Essentially, you turn your magic show into an episode of Family Guy.

Magicians will sit up in bars and coffee shops for ridiculous amounts of time debating the merits of this type of dramatic structure. But I never thought I would see it used in a physics demonstration. Just trust me when I say, you will not see this ending coming: