Lots of fun response to this piece. Imagining a Dark Matter "sector" for particle physics was a sensible response to data. But what if we never find Dark Matter particles? www.everymansuniverse.com/p/what-is-da...

It was one of the most unusual and most exciting meetings I'd attended. Amanda Geftner's beautiful description of last fall's "What Is Intelligence" conference held at a 13th century church in Italy. nautil.us/what-is-inte...

Recently astronomers claimed to find evidence for ancient massive stars built from Dark Matter. While that's worth a post I thought a more straightforward question needed answering first. What the hell is Dark Matter anyway? www.everymansuniverse.com/p/what-is-da...

Two new scientific papers dropped both claiming to show evidence for “Non-Terrestrial Artifacts” in astronomical photographs taken in the 1950s. What are we to make of them? From Everyman's Universe. www.everymansuniverse.com/p/did-scienc...

"The idea of golden ages of empire leading to technological and cultural progress, and the fall of empires as leading to regression is, at best, mistaken." From Kemp "Goliath's Curse" We're are likely heading towards systemic change and history can help us see what to expect.

Yesterday's talk = thought provoking. Working on paper about the Quantum Measurement problem and its philosophical issues . Did not know about the problems with even formulating the problem in relativistic QM and relativistic QFT. No matter what Quantum Mechanics is beautiful.

As if the regular quantum mechanical measurement problem wasn't enough. Today's University of Rochester Physics Dept colloquium.

What's next for the recently published "UFOs in the 1950s" scientific papers? The main message in today's Everyman's Universe is... game on. www.everymansuniverse.com/p/did-scienc...

It's worth noting that in the poll associated with the last everymansuniverse.com post most people wanted more opportunities to use "enshittification" in a sentence.

Internet "Enshittification," spiritual sea slugs and the world enters a new technological system shock. All in this weeks Everyman's Universe cosmic news round-up. www.everymansuniverse.com/p/internet-e...

Everybody’s looking for the extraordinary. That’s one reason for the hold UFOs and aliens have on our imaginations. But one of sciences great virtues is it shows us miracles right under our noses. Todays Everyman's Universe post www.everymansuniverse.com/p/you-want-a...

so many platforms...

This was a great conversation. This history of ups and downs surrounding life on Mars forms an important backstory for evaluating where we are today.

We loved talking with @AdamFrank4.bsky.social about his book on aliens, so when we heard about a possible sign of life on Mars, we couldn’t help but bring him back. This week, we talk space rocks, microbial life and more on Mad About Mars. bigpicturescience.org/episodes/mad...

There is a difference between "mindfulness" meditation and contemplative practice. It's in the latter that you begin to learn something fundamental. From last week's Everyman's Universe post when I was off at a multi-day Zen sesshin. www.everymansuniverse.com/p/zen-for-7-...

Episode 10 of the Blindspot Podcast (we're still just getting started) Marcelo and I do the deep dive into why Quantum Mechanics is weird. Here is the YouTube version though its on all the usual podcast places. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J1-...

The University of Rochester has a faculty position opening in complexity science as well as other domains of theoretical physics. Please apply to join us in studying the “physics of life” and other subjects apply.interfolio.com/173432

Buddhism is the religion that often gets a pass when it comes to "Science vs Religion" debates. Does that pass make sense? Maybe, but not when in the usual way we think about it when it comes to quantum mechanics. www.everymansuniverse.com/p/can-buddhi...

My @bigthink.com interview with the wonderful David Kipping about all things astrobiology and science outreach. bigthink.com/13-8/david-k...

Yes! This is why QBism is so exciting and I have been happy to be part of their big @templetonfdn.bsky.social project. But, as you say, QBism has been the only QM domain that has ingested phenomenology's central lessons about the primacy experience. Lots of really exciting work to be done there.

Another great thing about French's book is the deep dive into Phenomenology which never (as far as I can tell) gets discussed in Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics. Having been a fan since college (I actually read Being and Time... yikes!) I have always thought it was a natural for QM application.

The end of the world as we know it, is not the same as the end of the world. The trick is to understand what emerges from instability and get ahead of the curve. Today's Everyman's Universe post on "Goliath's Curse" a book about societal collapse. www.everymansuniverse.com/p/some-good-...

I think it is way more than that. First it’s a recognition of how important and innovative the London & Bauer paper is (which has been all but forgotten).

I can't help wondering if it's a slightly heavy-handed way of getting to the idea that the wavefunction is epistemic, but I must take a look.

French’s book is amazing. A stirring argument of what’s been missed in philosophical discussions of quantum mechanics.

This makes me very sad. Breakthrough Starshot was such an exciting idea. Crazy yes, but crazy in a good way. www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

Last week's news was terrible all around but hidden in it all was the discovery - maybe - of signatures of life on Mars. Why the latter matters for the former. A bigger story for ourselves. www.everymansuniverse.com/p/life-on-ma...

I did not like that entry in the Alien franchise. I hear Alien Earth is really good.

Just started Cyberpunk 2077. Amazing! Did its rough start actually help the game? That question and others in today's in Everyman's Universe news round-up. @cyberpunk.net www.everymansuniverse.com/p/cyberpunk-...

This is SUPER interesting. Bummer if we leave the samples on Mars. That would be silly. Interesting possibility... life started on Mars and then was carried to Earth via rocks blow off Red Planet in asteroid impacts.

Also Pérez-Couto et al have an archive paper attempting to track the source perturber of 3I/ATLAS. They don't find strong evidence of a more "recent" stellar encounter but do conclude it was part of the "thin disk" of the galaxy.

Keto and Loeb have what appears to be a nice article on the archive about the anti-tail of 3I/ATLAS. Mathematical model seems plausible. No adding of unneeded speculation about alien origin. On a purely physics level be interested to see what comet scientists think.

Padowan, it is time.

Finally starting Cyberpunk 2077. I had to get over my addiction to Dune Awakening first. If I had to craft one more fabricator I was gonna lose it.

1) "There is a reason Science works. There is a reason why it’s given us miracles like whatever device you’re reading this on. UFOs don’t get a special dispensation." From today's Everyman's Universe www.everymansuniverse.com/p/what-s-the...

How to change your life. If you can take time each day to find the Moon, then note its phase, then note where you’re seeing it in the sky and, finally, note what time of day you’re seeing it… then the Universe will tell its secrets. I kid you not. www.everymansuniverse.com/p/where-s-th...

Here is our new paper that we're really excited about. What makes a cell different from a rock? The answer we argue is the USE of information. But information carries meaning and that changes everything if we want to understand the "physics of life". journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...

It’s Big Fun. Download it and play with biospheres for yourself.

Very happy to share this new paper we've recently published. Do biospheres use information in the same way organisms do? Can we think of biospheres as agents? "Exo-Daisy World: Revisiting Gaia Theory through an Informational Architecture Perspective" iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

Do we really need a Gollum movie? How about a second season of Fallout? Are we even close to getting a handle on consciousness? All this and more in this weeks EVERYMAN'S UNIVERSE news roundup. www.everymansuniverse.com/p/gollum-s-b...

This is VERY exciting. I am really interested though in the question of M star habitability. These stars are super active and given their tint habitable zones that puts their planets 9and the atmospheres) in danger.

It's a New school year and a good time to ask what are Universities for? "To learn and question. To study and seek answers. To go beyond the day-to-day struggle for just getting by and build something that can endure and be better." www.everymansuniverse.com/p/what-is-co...

James Cameron must go beyond evil AI for movie. Polarization on social media don't need no algorithms. The physics of meteor trails. All this and more in this week's Everyman's Universe new round-up www.everymansuniverse.com/p/james-came...

Here is my interview with the always creative and thought provoking @annakaharris.bsky.social on the nature of consciousness - perhaps the most important question emerging for the 21st century. @bigthink.com bigthink.com/13-8/annaka-...

That's what I meant about getting through the next bunch of decades. Major issues like the ones you pose. Not clear we do make it. But if we do... then comes a thousand years of awesomeness in the solar system.

I have read all 9 books and watched the series multiple times. LOVE IT!

I use an image from the inside of the Roscinante as the background for my zoom calls. It’s a huge nerd test. If people know what it is, then they are my best friend for life. PS love your tag.

I linked to this in my Everymans Universe post today. I have argued elsewhere that is the greatest science fiction show ever made. www.npr.org/sections/13....

Beltalowda! That’s when the OPA rises! expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Beltalo...

I am totally down for a Martian Space Elevator!