Friday, May 3, 2024

Black Holes and Unicorns

Dividing a number by zero yields what's known as a mathematical singularity. The result of such a division is not infinite, but undefined. In the context of the real world, the result doesn't exist.

Any theoretical formula about the real world will therefore have to omit any singularities that may arise. One would have to put limits on the proposed formula. Consequently, honest scientists should always look out for singularities in their formulas and point out that their formulas break down at certain values.

Singularities are like red flags. They inform us of boundary conditions. In the context of physics, singularities indicate that there are limits to how dense, hot or otherwise extreme something can become before some fundamental mechanism kicks in to rectify things. That fundamental property is in my opinion the aether which makes space quantized rather than linear.

This means that things do not change in a linear manner when things get extreme. For instance, the electric force becomes suddenly weaker when things get extremely close together. The same goes for gravity. Extremely dense objects stop behaving as expected from linear formulas.

However, all of this is conveniently ignored when it comes to astrophysics.

Black holes, also known as gravitational singularities, have properties that are infinite. They are infinitely dense and infinitely hot. They are in other words physical impossibilities, yet they are presented to us as real.

A reason for this may be that it's fun to talk about impossible things. Just like unicorns, we can all form opinions about them. Some even claim to have seen them, even taken pictures of them. Yet, everyone knows deep down that they don't exist.

Blackness of space with black marked as center of donut of orange and red gases

A picture of an astronomical unicorn, or something else entirely

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

No-one Can Stop an Idea whose Time has Come

A month has gone by since I started a Facebook page called Anarkistene, which is Norwegian for "the anarchists". It's a page targeting my fellow Norwegians where I link to their local news and explain how anarchy would solve the problems described.

Norwegians have a tradition for local governance, and I know the local culture well, so I'm confident I should be able to build a reasonably large following, and things have gone well so far. I'm adding a new follower every three days on average, and discussions have been polite and constructive. There's a genuine curiosity related to the anarchist philosophy.

Adding to my confidence is the fact that people are tired of technocracy. There's disillusionment with the progressive idea that society should be run by experts. People are looking for a radical change, and anarchy is as radical as it gets.

Contrary to popular belief, anarchy is a philosophy sufficiently developed to serve as a realistic alternative to state power as the source of governance. It's not as abstract as many think, and my aim is to demonstrate this with examples and solutions.

I've adopted a simple process to grow my page. Every day, I add a few news stories to my page, each with a short description of an anarchist solution. I also comment on posts on other Norwegian pages to attract attention to my page.

None of this feels much like work. I enjoy the anarchist perspective, and I have no trouble defending it. Speaking on behalf of a philosophy, it's also easier to be radical. As long as a statement is true to the philosophy, it can be stated without moderation. I can for instance say that taxation is theft whenever taxation is discussed, and I can defend the position whenever someone tries to counter it.

With more than ten years of experience with the philosophy, I feel confident I can run the page without going afoul with its principles. My goal for 2024 is to grow the page to at least 100 followers.

Ludwig von Mises.jpg
Ludwig von Mises

By Ludwig von Mises Institute - Ludwig von Mises Institute. Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here. Original uploader was DickClarkMises at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link