Week 2: Quantum Mechanics

My Reflections on Uncertainty

I am pretty certain that there is a lot of uncertainty! Or wait, does it only seem so to me, and I just can't know what is beyond the facade and underneath the unknown?

Whenever I have thought I was convinced of something in the past, it eventually changed. Even the things I now hold true, even after all this awareness of the changing nature of things, are liable to change. So now I try to keep more of an open mind and be less sure of things...that much I do know!

Some things we just can't know - so yes, I believe there is lots of uncertainty in our world!


My Comments on Causality
Sometimes (always? again, that whole uncertainty thing!) things are brought about by other things, especially in the physical world. Things might seem random, but they don't spontaneously arise out of nothing. One thing causes another...

But perhaps on a quantum level, things can arise out of nothing, there doesn't seem to need to be a linear cause and effect. But in the physical world I can't think of anything off of the top of my head that is not due to some cause, even if an unknown one...hmmm


Is the Universe weird?

If one is in Portland, Oregon, then yes, absolutely. And if you don't believe me, all you have to do is glance at all those bumper stickers that proclaim, "Keep Portland Weird!" Rock on Universe.

Week 1: The Meaning of Time

What attracts me to Chinese medicine?

The inter-connectedness of it, its naturalistic view, that it seems to make sense - its simplicity at times. A lens to look at the world thru, both inner and outer. It resonates, what else can I say!


What do I honestly think of Physics, really?

Quite fascinating, in daily behind-the-scenes application, even if not enough to delve into it on a deeper level - as long as you don't count philosophizing about physics at the end of a late night gazing at the stars. I must admit I have bought 2 physics books in the past decade: "Who's Afraid of Schrödinger's Cat: An A-to-Z Guide to All the New Science Ideas You Need to Keep Up with the New Thinking" and "The Physics of Superheroes" (did I really just admit that?) But at the same time, Physics is the only science class I did not take all those years ago along with all the other required ones - guess I was kind of hoping I wouldn't end up in California and wouldn't need to take it after all...


Now that I think about it, have I ever experienced time "slowing down" or "speeding up"?

Time flies when you're having fun (or as Kermit the Frog said, "Time's fun when you're having flies.") And when you are waiting for something it just tends to drag on painfully slow. But if I just forget about all that and just take in the moment, moment rolling into moment, none of that waiting really matters. It just kind of fades away...at least ideally.


My Reflections on This Week's Class - The Meaning of Time

Time boggles my mind. Time seems to be a point in space - as in right now - but then it also seems linear - as in I know those things happened in the past. There is also a future - or at least I expect there to be one. But ultimately, what's important is what I am experiencing right now. But what happened before time started, and what will be after time stops...I guess it all depends on your point of observation.

What I found really interesting is that our modern concept of time only began with the advent of train travel. I don't think I had ever given much thought to where timekeeping came from. I had always grown up with clocks, it didn't seem unusual. It seemed like that had been going on for quite some time (ha, no pun intended)...it boggles my mind to think that our obsession with scheduling is such a recent phenomenon.

Class also made me think of a Søren Kierkegaard quote: "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."