It seems Scott was very close with this strip:
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1990-03-07/
:-)

In God's Debris, the theory was, "Gravity is reducible to probability." In that terrible NY Times article, it's, "Gravity is reducible to entropy." Hey, entropy is like probability! I don't think it's close enough. Especially since ideas like "Let's reduce gravity to a more basic phenomenon," and "everything is reducible to some general law of entropy," have been seriously pursued at least since quantum physics. There's no prediction here.

Alastair said "I am sure gravity is an illusion caused by falling over too much."
Semantics again. Scientists are always coming up with new terms to demonstrate how brilliant they are. Theoretical physics is ego driven blather and does about as much good as discussing how many angels can stand on the head of a pin.
Might as well say what Newton said. That gravity is the love of God holding everything together.
An illusion is commonly accepted as something nonexistent in the material world though visually observed. It's no illusion to suggest planes fall.

I'd say that art precedes science because science starts hinting at something. Artists can jump ahead on the guess while the scientists still need to finish their research to make sure they're right. Looking back from a couple of decades down the road you see the art that successfully predicted while the art that didn't has been forgotten. Rockets and robots advanced in art long before they did in science. Somehow we forget the stories where they used fax machines on those rockets.

Similarly, we look at new houses and old houses and say "they used to make houses better" when in fact the poorly built houses have fallen or been knocked down and are no longer used as a point of comparison. All we can honestly say is that bad houses today aren't built as well as good houses X number of years ago.

Alternatively, the scientific topic could have been researched because of the art. Mobile phones moved toward becoming Star Trek communicators. Flying car research continues because it's what we want, not because it's particularly a good idea. iPads and Kindles look remarkably like PADDs from Star Trek, Andromeda, and a bunch of other shows. I'd kill you all for Doctor Who's Sonic Screwdriver or K9.

not about today's post, but i hope scott has a phone in his elevator.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100716/ap_on_re_us/us_elevator_couple_dead;_ylt=AgI0HhdkXaB0Zob9iXvKDrGs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJrcXUwa2s0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNzE2L3VzX2VsZXZhdG9yX2NvdXBsZV9kZWFkBHBvcwM3BHNlYwN5bl9tb3N0X3BvcHVsYXIEc2xrA2VsZGVybHljb3VwbA--

I'm no where near intelligent enough to understand a 10th of what this is all about. What I can say is that the professor from Amsterdam thinks that reality is an illusion (first link). I spent a weekend in Amsterdam, and I can tell you that I also thought that gravity was an illusion at times.

That's not science thats horticulture!

Hi Scott,

Is the book title "Proust Was a Neuroscientist" by Jonah Lehrer?

Hi Scott

When I explain Gravity to my friends I use the following example:

Imagine a Pasture filled with Small Stones, Mud and a Horse loose within.

The horse doesn't like stepping in the mud, so it only steps on the randomly spaced stones. This horse will wander randomly about with no discernable pattern. And if anyone suggests throwing in some Hay, you are taking my example way too literally.

Now add many more horses to make a herd, where each horse is loosely chained to all it's neighbors. The behavior of the herd is such that as a whole, the herd doesn't go anywhere. Each individual is always tugging in random directions but the average for the herd is zero motion.

Now change the pasture slightly by Increasing the distance between stones at the West end of the pasture and Decreasing the distance between the stones at the East end of the pasture. Something new begins to happen. The herd will slowly migrate to where the stones are more closely spaced. The reason is simple enough.. the area with closer stones offers more freedom of movement as more choices are available of where to randomly step. In other words, given random motion, we have increased the probability of movement towards a denser region because more choices are available. It's that simple.

The horses are behaving like atoms bound together. An individual atom or horse will basically wander about because the range of probability is so even. But as a group dynamic, a cluster of random but bounded motions will statistically center where density is greatest. That is gravity. The Horses are Atoms, the Pasture is a Gravitational field. Down is towards greater Field Density.

If you hold a glass of water in your hand, all the atoms are vibrating in random directions and the net result is zero. However, in a gravity field, a tiny percentage will statistically tug towards greater density. So the weight you feel of the water is just the tiny percentage of atoms that are tugging towards a greater density. If all the atoms in that cup choose the same specific direction, such as down, then that cup of water would suddenly weight many tons.

This is the behavior I saw in a computer simulation I created many years ago. At the time I didn't connected it to the behavior of Gravity. It was just an interesting study in statistical motion.

I also witnessed another property: If I put the group in motion towards a target, it tended to stay in motion. Think of the dynamics in a herd of bound horses. The lead horses are pushed forward by the bulk of the herd which is dragging the rear horses along. You are now seeing the function of Momentum as it pertains to random motion favoring a specific direction. If this herd crashes into an idle herd, the Momentum is transferred, a compression wave is created in the new herd and it takes off.. leaving the previous herd to settle down. You have now been witness to a kinetic energy transfer.

This is why I take the next step in predicting that a frozen herd will not obey gravity law because there is no probability motion within. I take it still another step to predict a frozen herd will not obey the laws of momentum. And again, if anyone thinks I'm talking about freezing horses and not atoms, they are still taking me way too literally. The idea of freezing is near absolute zero for atoms. Zero at Centigrade works for horses too..lol.

To Scott specifically: I read 'Gods Debris' many years ago and very much enjoyed it. I also want to personally thank you for providing this Blog where Ideas can be presented to an Intelligent Audience. My personal Blog on Cosmology has over 450 hits now, of which at least 80 percent is from your readers or word of mouth from the same. I am seeing that ideas, like the one above, are having a real measurable impact on the Science and Physics Community. That a great revisionism in Cosmology is well underway. For this voice I am truly grateful.

Best wishes..
Dave Oblad

OK so where does the theory of inflation come into this conversation?

On a side note can't you make it so that people can't post that are trying to sell us crap it's becoming more & more common here (and I can't believe that length of the one on here today)

Elf

Simple solution
There is gravity because the earth sucks

Scott

Thanks for replying. I think The Dilbert Future's appendix on Affirmations Technique is there because you thought it was useful in some way? Perhaps the reason affirmations works is that it helps in self-hypnosis of some sort. I have an issue with the angle where something good is supposed to happen magically through some cosmic forces or something.

My way of thinking is that gravity is a model, I understand the properties of it and have certain expectations of it and it's met my expectations. The what of what makes the physical world around behave the way it does, is based in a number of theories, still up for debate. It's fun to absorb of all the different concepts and debates on why the 'gravity model' works the way it does. I could say the same thing about the air model on frisbee when I throw it, curse the wind when it affects my air model.

I finally got around to reading Gods Debris. Most of it was hardly new to me (like the concept that there is no way to rationalize free will, or that all perceptions are only imperfect models of reality, etc.). The notion of God Dust was interesting, though. I'll have to think of some way to test that theory! ;)

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If the theory of art preceding reality is true then WHERE THE FRACK IS MY FLYING CAR?!?

As a larvi I had a dream I was a man in a world with something called gravity that held me fast to the ground, when I awoke I was a butterfly with nothing to hold me from the sky. Now I will never know if I'm a man dreaming I am a butterfly or a butterfly who dreamed I was a man. Envy my dual reality.

This is a very good discussion of the entropic explanation of gravity here:
http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2010/07/whats_the_most_fundamental_thi.php

Another great book on this same topic is "Faust was a Neuroscientist"