The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson
Containing His Articles, Observations, Thoughts,
Meanderings,
and some would say Wisdom (and some would say not).
Science Articles
The following are articles that I, Mark W. Dawson, have written
on scientific topics with an emphasis on Atomic Physics,
Astronomy, and Engineering (these being the
areas with which I am familiar and knowledgeable). I would like
to note that science and engineering is often viewed by the
general public as cold and dispassionate. It is not! While the
results of science and engineering are presented in a cold and
dispassionate manner the process is anything but. The process of
science and engineering is very human, with it utilizing the
imagination and creativity of an artist, and the resulting foils
and conflicts of any human endeavor. As such, I have tried in
these articles to highlight the human side of science and
engineering whenever possible. The men and women of science and
engineering are as passionate, and sometime more passionate, as
any other men and women. They are driven to understand the
workings of nature and increase the human knowledge of the
universe. I personally believe that if you want to know what
nature is made of, where it came from, how it works, and how it
came to be then you need to know and understand science, and
look to science for the answers of nature. But science cannot
answer all the question of the universe as some questions are
outside the scope of science. Questions such as the meaning of
intelligent life and its purposes, its morality and ethics, the
nature of mind versus the brain, and if God exists and if so the
nature of God. These questions, and many others are outside the
scope of science. For these answers you must look to
philosophers, moralists and ethicists, and theologians. By
combining science with these other arenas you can hope to
achieve a better understanding of the universe and our place in
it.
I am also reminded of the words of one of the greatest
scientists in history, and one of the greatest science
popularizers of the last half of the 20th century.
"Science is not only
compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of
spirituality." - Carl Sagan
"Science without religion
is lame, religion without science is blind." - Albert Einstein
I should point out that I am NOT a scientist nor Engineer, nor
have I received any education or training in the sciences or
engineering. These articles are the result of my readings on
these subjects in the past decades. Many academics, scientists,
and engineers would critique what I have written here as not
accurate nor through. I freely acknowledge that these critiques
are correct. It was not my intentions to be accurate or through,
as I am not qualified to give an accurate nor through
description. My intention was to be understandable to a
layperson so that they can grasp the concepts. Academics,
scientists, and engineers entire education and training are
based on accuracy and thoroughness, and as such, they strive for
this accuracy and thoroughness. I believe it is essential for
all laypersons to grasp the concepts of science and engineering,
so they make more informed decisions on those areas of human
endeavors that deal with science, engineering, and technology.
As such, I did not strive for accuracy and thoroughness, only
understandability.
Table of Contents
- Science Subjects
- On the Nature of Scientific
Inquiry - March 2019
- The Fundamental Properties and
Constants of the Universe - November
2019
- The Four Forces of Nature -
November 2019
- What's So Special about
Special Relativity - September 2018
- The Universality of
Gravity - September 2018
- The Strangeness of Atomic
Physics - February 2019
- The Arrow of Time
- September 2018
- Chaos, Complexity, Network, and
Dynamic Science - August 2022
- Scientific Issues
- The Big Questions - February
2019
- What is Reality? - September
2019
- The Copenhagen Interpretation
- February 2022
- The Problems with Modern
Science - November 2019
- Scientific Consensus and
Settled Science - August 2020
- Computer Modeling
- September 2018
- Engineering
Failures - September 2018
- Science Perspectives
- Is Artificial Intelligence
Possible? - November 2019
- Intelligent Life in the
Universe - August 2021 Update
- Evolution to Intelligent Life
- September 2021
- UFO's, and
Pseudoscience - October 2019
- Climate Change
- November 2019
- SETI and Vulcan - August 2019
- Science vs. Science
Fiction - September 2018
- Science versus
Religion - August 2019
- The Probability of the
Evolution of Life and Intelligent Life - June 2020
- What Sign are You?
- November 2019
- Science Tidbits
- Apocalypse - Or the Ways that
Humanity Will Come to an End -
September 2018
- Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn -
May 2019
- Math (and statistical
mathematics) is More than Numbers - October 2019
- PragerU and 'Evolution:
Bacteria to Beethoven - October 2019
- The Fire of Mankind - December
2019
- Other Science Articles
- The 18 Biggest Unsolved
Mysteries in Physics - February 2017
- The Real War on Science by
John Tierney - Autumn 2016
- Further Readings
- A Personal Note
- Disclaimer
Science Subjects
This article is an outline of the nature of scientific
inquiry. It does not delve into the details of science and
utilizes no mathematics, but instead presents the basic concepts
of scientific inquiry. This paper was written to provide the
general public with the background of science so that when they
encounter scientific issues, or public policy issues that
utilize science, they will have a basis for interpreting the
scientific information.
"I
cannot violate the laws of physics" is a famous saying of Chief
Engineer Montgomery Scott in "Star Trek". And so, it is, you
cannot violate the laws of physics, you cannot compensate for
the laws of physics, and you cannot ignore the laws of physics.
You must always cognizant of the Laws of Physics and obey them.
And so, it is with all of The Fundamental Properties and
Constants of the Universe. This article outlines the Fundamental
Properties and Constants of the Universe in language that the
layperson can understand.
In my Science
Article "The
Fundamental Properties and Constants of the Universe" I
explore the universal fundamentals of science. In this article I
will briefly explore the four forces in the Universe known to
science; Gravity, Electromagnetism, and the Strong and Weak
Atomic forces and their interactions.
Special Relativity has to do with
Einstein's question, as a young man, of what the world would
like to look like if you could run next to a beam of light. A
question for which Physics had no answer. This article is about
how Einstein discovered the answer to this question and the
implications of his answer. It is presented without delving
deeply into the science and without utilizing mathematics.
This paper is an overview of the
development of Gravitational Physics. It is done by focusing on
ten scientists who were crucial in its development. Although
thousands of scientists have contributed to the development of
Gravitational Physics the ten scientists presented here have
made such a significant impact as to change the course of
Gravitational Physics. It is, therefore, a biographical history
of Gravitational Physics. The scientific information is
presented in general terms, and there is no mathematics.
This article is an overview of the
development of Atomic Physics. It is done by focusing on a
bakers dozen scientists who were crucial in its development.
Although thousands of scientists have contributed to the
development of Atomic Physics the twelve scientists presented
here have made such a significant impact as to change the course
of Atomic Physics. It is, therefore, a biographical history of
atomic physics. The scientific information is presented in
general terms, and there is no mathematics.
The
arrow of time refers to the question of what is the meaning of
time, why and how time flows, and what is the physical nature of
time? In the book "Now: The Physics of Time" by Ricard A. Muller
this eminent physicist addresses these issues. This observation
is based on his book and my own belief in the nature of time.
This
article is an examination of the issues and concerns of Chaos,
Complexity, and Network Science, and their impacts on Science,
Engineering, Computer Models and Societal decision making. What
are Chaos, Complexity, and Network Science, and what does it
have to do with the impacts previously mentioned - Directly
Everything and Indirectly Everything! If you are
going to utilize computer modeling in science and engineering to
determine future possibilities or to decide or formulate a
public policy based on computer modeling then you need to be
aware of chaos, complexity, and network science. I will not
delve into specific details of Chaos, Complexity, and Network
Science, nor will I be utilizing any science or mathematics in
discussing these issues and concerns.
Scientific Issues
In my humble
opinion, there are three big questions, that are yet unanswered,
that need to be resolved by physics in the near future. Without
a resolution to these questions physics may be 'stuck' in a
conundrum.This article examine these big questions.
It is not in a
metaphysical sense that I ask this question, but in a physical
sense of the nature of the Universe. The goal of physics is to
answer the questions of what the reality of the Universe is.
Today, we have three great unknowns about the reality of the
Universe; Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the reality of Quantum
space. This article examines these issues.
This article is
an examination of The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum
Physics and the issues regarding the current science of Quantum
Theory. The most basic issue is what is the reality underlying
the Quantum world, and how The Copenhagen Interpretation is
ignoring this issue. This is a companion piece to my 'What is
Reality?' article in that explains the importance of the
problems of Quantum Mechanics.
This article is
an Outline on The The Problems with Science in the latter half
of the 20th century and the 21st century. It is not about the
science, but the way modern science is pursued. It does not
delve into the details of science and utilizes no mathematics,
but instead highlights the issues regarding Modern Science (post
World War II) This paper was written to provide the general
public with the background on these problems so that when they
encounter public policy issues that utilize science they will
have a basis for interpreting the scientific information.
The Proverb
'People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones' should
always be remembered during any debate or discussion, especially
in Science discussions. And scientific consensus and settled
science can lead you astray, as it has been wrong in the past
and will continue to be wrong as new knowledge is obtained. This
article is a replacement of my original article "Glass Houses
and Consensus in Science" that examines these issues.
This article is
an examination of the issues, concerns, and limitations when
utilizing Computer Models in science, engineering, and public
policy formulation. I will not delve into specific details of
Computer Modeling, nor will I be utilizing any sciences or
mathematics in examining the issues, concerns, and limitations
of computer modeling.
In this
article, I will discuss failures in engineering. As engineering
failures become apparent and lead to dramatic consequences to
the public, and politicians, often demand answers as to how they
could have happened. As there are many scientific and
technological reason for an engineering failure it can be
difficult to discover and pinpoint the exact cause of the
failure. This paper is not about specific reasons for an
engineering failure. It is, instead, about the types of failures
as it relates to the human endeavor of engineering. These types
of failures can be categorized as resulting from 1) Failure of
Knowledge, 2) Failure of Imagination, or 3) Failure of
Management.
Science Perspectives
Artificial Intelligence implies that no human intervention is
required to produce human-like intelligent capabilities from
Artificial Intelligence. It is this broad definition of
Artificial Intelligence that I wish to examine in this article.
This short article attempts to explore the boundaries of
Artificial Intelligence and provide insights into the answers to
this question. This will be done by providing several examples
of the nuisances of the problems that highlight the issues of
Artificial Intelligence.
An examination of the possibility and
probability of of the factors for Intelligent Life evolving on
other planets. I would encourage you to read this article as
this issue is not as simple as it appears at first glance.
An overview of the possibilities of The Rise of Intelligent
Life, The Timeline for the evolution of Intelligent Life, and
the possibility of our Communicating or Visiting with
Intelligent Life.
This article is about the beliefs that many people have
about scientific curiosities but are not based on actual
science. I am a skeptic on such matters, but I am willing to
accept scientific evidence and change my opinions. However, as
the absence of proof does not constitute proof of absence, and
no scientific evidence constitutes no science. Until there is
scientific evidence I will not believe that anything is
scientific. Some of the more obvious of these claims are
presented, and dissected, in this article. This is only a
limited sample as there are so many examples that you need, and
can obtain, many books that debunk these claims. My only
objective with this article is for you to remain skeptical of
these claims until scientific proof is obtained.
I
believe in climate change. I believe the climate has changed in
the past, the climate is currently changing, and the climate
will change in the future. This is a meteorological and
geological scientific fact. The question is whether human
activity is causing the current climate change. This may be
true, or may not be true, depending upon your interpretation of
scientific facts and beliefs. If you had read my observation on
the "On the Nature
of Scientific Inquiry" you know that I have a scientific
orientation to my thinking, and in this article, I apply that
scientific thinking too many of the issues and concerns of
climate change.
Are we alone in the universe? Are there
advanced civilizations that we can detect? How can we better the
odds of making contact? These questions are both fundamental and
universal, and examined in this article.
I will concede to no one my love of Science
Fiction Since I was a young boy I have read and enjoyed Science
Fiction stories, as well as viewed many Science Fiction movies
and television. I have loved most of them in my lifetime.
Starting as a young boy I have been awed by the action and
adventure of Science Fiction, as well as the technology and
alien races presented in Science Fiction. As I became older my
response to Science Fiction became more mature and I realized
that the storylines were the most important thing about Science
Fiction. The human drama, the relationships between people and
the science and technology, as well as the interrelationships
between humans and aliens became more important. My love of
Science Fiction led me to a love of Science, and I became much
more knowledgeable about Science. Both loves led me to examine
the Science of Science Fiction. I began to apply my science
knowledge to the Science Fiction I was reading and watching as
an intellectual challenge that stimulated me. Today, when I read
or watch Science Fiction, I enjoy all of this. I first read or
watch Science Fiction for the entertainment it provides. I then
think about the storyline to ascertain its meaning. After that,
I apply my science knowledge to critique the Science in the
Science Fiction. All these activities are enjoyable for me. This
article deals with applying my science knowledge to the science
in science fiction.
I am a firm believer that science
is the best way of explaining the physical properties and
physical laws of the universe. I also am a firm believer that
God created our universe and established its physical properties
and physical laws And I see no conflict between the views of
Science and Religion. Science is the explanation of how
God created the universe, and God is the explanation of why we
have the physical properties and physical laws of the universe.
Science cannot prove, or disprove, the existence of God, as God
is outside the realm of science. This article examines the issue
of science versus religion based on my beliefs.
This article examines the probabilities of
the evolution of life, and intelligent life, once it has begun.
As to the probability of reaching a state in which life could
begin, I have written on this topic in my Science Article "Intelligent
Life in the Universe".
For millennia astrologers have been casting
charts to determine the future of a person or events. This is
often done by plotting the positions of the stars and planets
relative to arbitrarily defined constellations at their birth or
at the time of significant events in their life. It is claimed
by astrologers that there is a force in the universe that acts
upon a person and influences their life based on these
positions. However, only "The Fundamental Properties and Constants of
the Universe" are known to science, and there are only "The Four Forces of Nature" known to
science. The forces in the Universe known to science are
Gravity, Electromagnetism, and the Strong and Weak Atomic
forces. Therefore, these are the only forces that can affect a
person. But do these forces affect a person in an astrological
manner, and if is this true then how can it work? This issue is
examined in my new Science article "What
Sign are You?".
Science Tidbits
First, the bad news. The Earth is
coming to an end. But all things come to an end. Life is born
then dies. And the Earth through solar evolution will come to an
end. When the Sun exhausts its nuclear fuel, it will go nova and
burn the Earth to a cinder. Geological ages come and go, and
they change the nature of life on Earth. This is not the
Apocalypse I wish to discuss in this article. Instead I will be
discussing the Apocalypse of human civilization (hereinafter
referred to as Apocalyptic). Some Apocalyptic events are likely,
some are unlikely, and some may never occur (but still be
possible). Some will occur within a near term time frame (within
one hundred years), some will occur in a long-term time frame
(one hundred to one thousand years), some may occur thousands of
years from now, and some may never occur (but still be
possible). How are we to judge the likelihood and time frames of
Apocalyptic events. This article deals with these issues.
Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn were
philosophers of science. Philosophy of Science is a sub-field of
philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and
implications of science. The central questions of this study
concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific
theories, and the ultimate purpose of science. This discipline
overlaps with metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology, for
example, when it explores the relationship between science and
truth. Popper and Kuhn were two 20th century Philosophers of
Science who's ideas have generated much controversy and debate
within the scientific community. This short article examines
this subject.
On the surface, math may seem like
it's all about numbers and formulas. However, this versatile
subject is about much more than just counting, adding, and
subtracting. Discover why math is more than numbers and find out
how it contributes to the development of valuable skills in
problem solving, critical thinking, language, and more.
I am a firm believer in God. A God that
created our universe and established its physical properties and
physical laws. And a God that gave us science as the best means
of explaining the physical properties and physical laws of the
universe. A recent PragerU video examined some issues regarding
Evolution. However, although I agree that these are issues, I
disagree with how they are presented. Therefore, I have written
this article to explain my disagreement.
Fire ? unexpected and uncontrollable is a
primal fear of all animal species. No species knew when or where
a fire would occur, and when it occurred it was uncontrollable.
The be afraid of fire, and to flee from fire, was necessary for
survival. To this day this is true for all but one species-
Hominoidae, and one genus - homo. This article examines fire in
the importance of human evolution.
Other
Science Articles
In 1900, the British physicist Lord Kelvin
is said to have pronounced: "There is nothing new to be
discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more
precise measurement." Within three decades, quantum mechanics
and Einstein's theory of relativity had revolutionized the
field. Today, no physicist would dare assert that our physical
knowledge of the universe is near completion. To the contrary,
each new discovery seems to unlock a Pandora's box of even
bigger, even deeper physics questions. These are the website
Livescience picks for the most profound open questions of all.
According to Mr. Tierney The Left has done
far more than the Right to set back progress. All who are
interested in the integrity of Science should read and ponder
this article.
Further
Readings
Below are the books I would recommend that you read for more
background information on these subjects. They were chosen as
they are a fairly easy read for the general public and have a
minimum of mathematics.
For a brief introduction on these topics I would recommend the
Oxford University Press series "A Very Short Introduction" on these
subjects. In particular I would recommend the following books as
a starting point for your discovery of science.:
Some interesting websites with general scientific topics
are:
Some Science Videos on the above topics.
Dr.
Don Lincoln (born 1964) is an American physicist, author, host
of the YouTube channel Fermilab, and science communicator. He
conducts research in particle physics at Fermi National
Accelerator Laboratory and is an adjunct professor of physics
at the University of Notre Dame. He received a Ph.D. in
experimental particle physics from Rice University in 1994. In
1995, he was a co-discoverer of the top quark. He has
coauthored hundreds of research papers and, more recently, was
a member of the team that discovered the Higgs boson in 2012.
Dr.
Lincoln, in association with Fermilab, has created a series of
short YouTube videos that delve into the
subjects of Particle Physics, Relativity, and other topics in
regards to modern physics. These videos are very informative
and scientifically accurate and provide a better understanding
of the topics covered in this article. While he does utilize
some math in the videos the math utilized is very simple and
not off-putting. If you are interested in these scientific
topics and desire a better understanding of them, I would
suggest that you take a look at these videos.
Some
oldies buy goodies DVD's that examine Science and Society:
On Relativity:
On Cosmology:
On Atomic Physics:
For those of you who are interested in Numbers - Not
Mathematics, there is a highly informative YouTube
channel "Numberphile". In a series of short videos,
they present many interesting facts on numbers in an
entertaining manner. I would suggest that you view some of these
videos.
A Personal Note
The
incandescent light bulb has often been described as a heat
source that provides some light, given that a light bulb
generates more heat than it does light. In today's public
debates we often find the proponents of an issue providing a lot
of heat and only a little light. These observations are meant to
provide illumination (light) and not argumentation (heat).
Opponents in today's society often utilize the dialog and debate
methodology of Demonize, Denigrate, and Disparage their opponent
when discussing issues, policies, and personages. To demonize,
denigrate, or disparage the messenger to avoid consideration of
the message is not acceptable if the message has supporting
evidence.
The only acceptable method of public discourse is disagreement -
to be of different opinions. If you are in disagreement with
someone you should be cognizant that people of good character
can and often disagree with each other. The method of their
disagreement is very important to achieve civil discourse. There
are two ways you can disagree with someone; by criticizing their
opinions or beliefs or critiquing their opinions or beliefs.
- Criticism - Disapproval expressed by pointing out
faults or shortcomings.
- Critique - A serious examination and judgment of
something.
Most people,
and most commentators have forgotten the difference between
Criticism and Critique. This has led to the hyper-partisanship
in today's society. In a civil society critiquing a viewpoint or
policy position should be encouraged. This will often allow for
a fuller consideration of the issues, and perhaps a better
viewpoint or policy position without invoking
hyper-partisanship. We can expect that partisanship will often
occur, as people of good character can and often disagree with
each other. Criticizing a viewpoint or policy position will
often lead to hostility, rancor, and enmity, which results in
the breakdown of civil discourse and hyper-partisanship. It is
fine to criticize someone for their bad or destructive behavior,
but it is best to critique them for their opinions or words. We
would all do better if we remember to critique someone, rather
than criticize someone.
I would ask anyone who disagrees with what I have written here
to please keep this disagreement civil. I am open to critique
and will sometimes take criticism. I will always ignore
demonization, denigration, and disparagement, or point out the
vacuous nature or the character flaws of those that wish to
silence the messenger rather than deal with the message.
Please remember that if you disagree with the messenger it is
not acceptable to kill the messenger. You may kill the
messenger, but the message will remain.
If you have any comments, concerns, critiques, or suggestions I
can be reached at mwd@profitpages.com.
I will review reasoned and intellectual correspondence, and it
is possible that I can change my mind, or at least update the
contents of these articles. This is why these articles are
dated. Whenever I make a change to these articles they will be
re-dated. So check back and see if any articles have been
updated (or perhaps I shall add articles).
Disclaimer
Please Note - many academics, scientist and engineers
would critique what I have written here as not accurate nor
through. I freely acknowledge that these critiques are correct.
It was not my intentions to be accurate or through, as I am not
qualified to give an accurate nor through description. My
intention was to be understandable to a layperson so that they
can grasp the concepts. Academics, scientists, and engineer's
entire education and training are based on accuracy and
thoroughness, and as such, they strive for this accuracy and
thoroughness. I believe it is essential for all laypersons to
grasp the concepts of these papers, so they make more informed
decisions on those areas of human endeavors that deal with these
subjects. As such, I did not strive for accuracy and
thoroughness, only understandability.
Most academics, scientist, and engineers when speaking or
writing for the general public (and many science writers as
well) strive to be understandable to the general public.
However, they often fall short on understandability because of
their commitment to accuracy and thoroughness, as well as some
audience awareness factors. Their biggest problems are accuracy,
thoroughness, mathematics, and the audience knowledge of the
topic.
Accuracy is a problem because academics, scientist, engineers
and science writers are loath to be inaccurate. This is because
they want the audience to obtain the correct information, and
the possible negative repercussions amongst their colleagues and
the scientific and engineering community at large if they are
inaccurate. However, because modern science and engineering are
complex this accuracy can, and often, leads to confusion amongst
the audience.
Thoroughness can also be a problem as modern science is
extensive. It is not possible to be thorough when writing for
the general public as the result will be a rather lengthy
article, book, or speech that may discourage the general public
from reading the article or book or listening to a speaker.
Mathematics is integral to modern science and are a vital
contributor to accuracy and thoroughness in science. As such,
they are often utilized by science writers and speakers when
popularizing science. However, most people's eyes glaze over and
their attention wanders when the author or speaker starts
utilizing mathematics. Therefore, the writer or speaker should
attempt to minimize mathematics. Instead, they should just show
the mathematical formula and explain the results and
consequences of the mathematical formula in general terms.
The audience knowledge of the topic is important as most modern
science and engineering is complex, with its own words,
terminology, and basic concepts the audience is unfamiliar with,
or they misinterpret. The audience becomes confused (even while
smiling and lauding the academics, scientists, engineers or
science writer), and the audience does not achieve
understandability. Many times, the academics, scientists,
engineers or science writer utilizes the scientific disciplines
own words, terminology, and basic concepts without realizing the
audience misinterpretations or lack of comprehension of these
items.
It is for this reason that I place understandability as the
highest priority in my writing, and I am willing to sacrifice
accuracy and thoroughness to achieve understandability. There
are many books, websites, and videos available that are more
accurate and through. The subchapters in these articles, "Further
Readings", also contains books on the various subjects
that can provide more accurate and thorough information. I leave
it to the reader to decide if they want more accurate or through
information and to seek out these books, websites, and videos
for this information.
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