Learning is a function of the brain. Memory is stored in synapses, the connections between neurons. They become stronger each time a connection takes place. “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” This theory was put forward by Donald Hebb in 1949, and it is, at best, one small part of the story. It may be completely false. I will … Read more
(Listen to the author read this article) Last spring, I reviewed a book about the pharmaceutical industry’s rise to dominate the universe of medical research at major universities, medical journal gatekeepers, and press coverage of medical science in the popular media. It was the brainchild of the Sackler family, planned and executed over decades. The … Read more
Computer models are the mainstay of modern science. They comprise the lion’s share of the explosion of scientific literature in the 21st Century. Analytic Solutions yield to Computer Models Before computer models, quantitative science was limited to the simplest systems, those that could be described by a few equations and for which the equations happened … Read more
Listen to the author reading this essay All thinking people know, or suspect, that human civilization presently faces existential dangers, just as all thinking people find ways to put this truth out of our minds so we can shop for groceries and take care of our loved ones. Some of us focus on global CO2 … Read more
This is how the world works. Quantum physics can compute detailed probabilities for every microscopic event. But half the information is missing, and QM regards it as random. Nothing could be further from the truth.. What QM regards as random is actually governed by global mind including your mind and my mind and Jesus and … Read more
Thirty years ago, the man who taught me quantum mechanics at Harvard wrote that the suppression of debate will be the “death of science”. Perhaps he saw the shape of things to come. Today, science is being perverted for political ends to an unprecedented extent. To look for an appropriate analogy, we would have to … Read more
You’ve found the spark that makes the sun burn bright and tracked the orbits of the distant stars. You’ve harnessed energy for planes and cars— success convinces you you’ve got it right. You think the rule of physics must be strict, yet only in the aggregate do maths apply to living things. Their single paths … Read more
I recently wrote an April Fool piece about an imaginary drug company that invested a billion dollars in a COVID vaccine, but when they ran it through Phase 3 clinical trials it fell just short of statistical significance for effectiveness. “Shucks! Back to the drawing board.” They report the results exactly as they occurred and … Read more
The scientific method is built on two pillars: First, the assumption of a common objective reality that separate observers can agree on. Second, the understanding of complex phenomena by isolating simple subsystems for experimental study. In a quantum world, (first) it is provably impossible to separate observer from observed. There is no such thing as … Read more