Prof Kroto mentioned Carl Sagan in one of his talks today. His book and video titled "Demons haunted world"...
I am listening to his videos. He is blasting all pseudoscience in the most composed way. Telling us how to withhold our beliefs until we find a compelling evidence either way. Talking about virtually anything, if we have the evidence to believe something, believe it; if we dont, withhold the belief. Dont disbelieve. The implications are far larger in contemporary world with the deadly combination of ignorance and technology...
And the way he is talking about the disease that he has which could turn into leukemia if not treated. I am deeply moved.
Cheers to science and the power that it gives us, to understand.
Cribbing
"Why dont we stop looking at certain things?", I casually said to one of my juniors who was pissed of at the questions ppl were asking Nobel laureates here.
Very easy for me to say but difficult to follow. But honestly thats one thing I want to believe in and compel myself to do (and I am rapidly improving). To stop looking at certain things that are stupid and dont really matter to me.
Actually I should see them, but I should understand why things are like that (which I already do) and try to change them. It will definitely save a lot of energy (probably at the cost of relations to certain people) and help me invest in things that really matter. This particular investment is very critical to do what I enjoy doing.
So the key is:
1. Stop Cribbing.
2. Find what it takes to nurture ideas- look at the right things.
Joy of Science
The most important thing to me being here in Allahabad at the Science Conclave, meeting Nobel laureates was the reinforcement in belief of the reason to do science and that there are people who share this pov with me (couldnt get over Darwin).
Prof. Friedman replied "the feeling that you are the first person in this civilization (I loved this word, this dimension to the issue) to find something out is just irresistible!" And of course the joy in understanding, pure understanding. I had no direct connection to the questions about quarks (apart from the fact that we all are made up of quarks, still mysterious particles that make up the protons), but just to understand something is utopic, and something so fundamental...sigh.
Some pretty questions that I could ask him:
1. Why does the attractive force between quarks increase as the distance between them increases? This is so opposite to the way forces between larger particle work. (Couldnt completely understand what he said but i realised that he took the question to the finer level by saying that the color of quarks increases as they go apart and color is analogous to charge and that is why the force increases. But then why does color increase as they go apart??)
2. Would the laws of physics have been different if the universe would have started in a different way than the "Big Bang"? ("Great question", he genuinely said.)
3. Why did he chose to do science? (This was the one where he replied about the joy of understanding.)
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