Future Science - Science of the Future

In the opening paragraph of Die Frage nach der Technik,  Martin Heidegger describes science and technology in the following sequel "Questioning builds a way. [ ]  The way is one of thinking. All ways of thinking, more or less perceptibly, lead through language in a manner that is extraordinary."  For a long time I have liked this description as particularly fitting for the mathematical and physical sciences (and I did not  read the rest of the book because I found it incomprehensible). These three sentences were quite clear - questioning builds a way towards understanding and understanding, miraculous and extraordinary, leads to discovery and innovation. This scheme lays foundation for the modern scientific method where the branches of the  Tree of Knowledge represent the ways of a conscious mind.

So is there another way to obtain knowledge? one that is not preceded by understanding but where the existing knowledge is leveraged to move between  points  where a human mind cannot follow? Perhaps, if machines are involved.

One possibility is offered by the Data Science and it is fairly simple. We can gather colossal amounts of data and extract knowledge from them. Neither task can be done without sophisticated tools. Consider Large Synoptic Survey Telescope - it is a marvel of modern astronomy that (when operational) will collect about 30 terabytes of data per night. This data will contain information about planets, supernovas, dark energy, and much more, and this is all possible because the Universe observed at this scale appears to be quite simple.The fact that we can simultaneously track a relatively small number of variables on a huge number of objects through frequent snapshots is all it takes to make discoveries that thirty years ago were not thought to be possible. Another such tool is the Kepler planet finder telescope.  With the marginal cost of finding new planets well below 1M a piece, commercial applications become possible…

When the setting is more complicated simple statistical tools  tend to fail. Consider the  Human Genome Project that was supposed to provide critical advances in medicine. Unlike in astronomy, the number or variables is very large and the data set is not big enough. In the end, fundamental advances in statistical reasoning are necessary.

Computational Science is another alternative, and the premise is simple - use the existing knowledge to compute and model the nature. In many cases it is the only way to gain some understanding of how the nature works. However, the methodological underpinnings of this process are inherently shaky, and when the stakes are high the results are questioned. Whether modeling of the climate or designing nuclear weapons the conclusions from computational models are difficult to verify and open to criticism. No wonder, even when only four arithmetical operations are concerned, the computer implementation may be deeply flawed as this incident shows. 

For most of the other things, computational methods are very successful.  Doron Zeilberger wrote:

Don't Ask: What Can The Computer do for ME?, But Rather: What CAN I do for the COMPUTER? This is a Faustian bargain but hopefully it will take some time  before we get there. Nevermind, consider Inverse Symbolic Calculator and play with it a little. As this article  illustrates the computer sometimes knows more math than you do.  Other examples abound - consider Eureqa or software developed by Ayasdi. Eureqa will "discover" Newton's Second Law of Motion based on the results of a countertop experiment, and Ayasdi's  software is likely to surprise you as well. Machine learning algorithms such as automatic translation between languages, Google's Page rank's calculations are all well known commercial applications  where a great deal of computational power goes to produce results that cannot be in any sense verified by a paper and pencil calculation.

So in the end do not  think that the battle is over and all goes to  Computational  Data Science and Engineering, Large Hadron Collider  and other projects that need electricity but no coffee.  Enjoy this and cheer up for human brain that operates on 1 watt of green energy.

Foreign language

I like photography. I like taking pictures, editing them, cataloguing, evaluating and labeling. Yet I have never paused to think what is the nature of photography, and how it relates to other things. So when my daughter gave me Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes I took the opportunity to step up to a new level. And while this is what happened in the end, the whole experience left me puzzled and uncertain.

 I read the book on a long flight - it is fairly short and it consists of about forty vignettes comprising two parts of the book. The writing style is peculiar, I was annoyed with the sentence structure, abundance of quotes and references, prolific use of latin, italicized words and more. All along I had the impression that the book represents a trip that my mind does not want to take, yet I glided from one sentence to another with relative ease. The main feature of the book is that while I understood most of the words, I hardly understood any of the sentences. After finishing the book, I have glanced at randomly selected phrases and I could not honestly say that I could parse them unambiguously . One would think at this point that this could not have been a positive experience. Au contraire, and here is why and how.

 The subject of the book is of course photography and it takes it from the first principles. There is no doubt that the author knows what he is talking about, although a reader like myself cannot grasp the meaning at some level. The discussion is akin to looking at a painting from a distance of one inch and establishing the language and physical evidence. The jig-saw puzzle of different bits and pieces is slowly absorbed by your mind and in end the picture emerges. I doubt if it is the same picture for every reader, and in this respect the book mimics the subject itself. This type of thing is common when watching someone paint or draw, listening to the music, reading poetry or watching a movie that was edited in a fancy way. However, I have never seen it, or even thought possible, in a scholarly work.

How to be a loser

Adversity is a part of life and sooner or later you will fail trying to accomplish some important goal. In fact I am expecting a major professional set-back in the next couple of months. In anticipation of the pain, anxiety and anguish I have decided that rather than suffer later I should prepare now. My expected downfall is fairly standard and the three-step method that I describe below should apply to most situations when your better judgment did not prevail.

Anger

This is a purifying flame and a source of great satisfaction. Other than fantasizing about the destruction of your enemies and their properties (these exercises you can design yourself), I recommend Jack Reacher novels (any one will do) and Dirty Harry movies. They depict you - supremely confident character who punishes forces of evil with great deal of violence and without a trace of hesitation. You are an outsider and a rebel and weak and stupid constantly stand in your way and slow you down.

After this initial phase you may conclude that life is a bit more complicated and responsibility is not so easy to assign. Perhaps your misfortunes are everybody's fault and the punishment should be more even-handed and spread out. For this phase I recommend movies such as 2012, Deep Impact, Melancholia, and Bambi (particularly these fragments). They will resonate with the need to deliver a punishing blow to entire continents and populations. While you will no longer be in the driving seat of the destruction, the sense of righteousness is likely to be very satisfying.

In the last stage your anger will turn against yourself. You failed and there is no point in blaming anybody else. Instead of fantasizing about pulling a cord on the suicide belt you will wallow in self-pity. Visits to finalexitnetwork.org and reading their guides will become your daily routine and sadness will engulf your soul. Watching Old yeller and reading The Giving Tree  will make you weep for hours. Check this link for additional suggestions of movies that will take you to the bottom of your despair.

Hope

Your anger will eventually burn down and new hope will enter the picture. Yes, you have lost a battle but you may yet win the war. It may take many years but so what. Flicker of hope never glows very brightly but it can last forever. Furthermore, while the nature is patiently working towards rewarding you with the most satisfying solution you do not need to do much but wait.

For this phase I recommend Lassie Come Home, When Harry met Sally together with Sleepless in Seattle. Reading Captain Blood  will warm you up as well. Not only you can live your life as before without introducing much disturbances but in the end you will be paid with interest! Indeed, when the adversities felled you you did not really know what you wanted, and now after many years and endowed with 20/20 vision you have a sense of a fulfillment of your destiny.

Alas, sappy movies and books will leave you longing for more. Rather than waiting for Lassie to come home start planning your next move. Perhaps there is a great deal more randomness in life and for a moment you just drew bad cards? Read Wall Street Journal and watch C-Span - everything you see there is somebody's win and somebody else's loss. Best laid plans are wasted, careers are ruined and this is just the way things are.

At this point reading books and watching movies is no longer enough - you are climbing up from a hole and you need a great deal more. Go shopping! Spend freely and make sure that you are not guided by your household needs. Remember that you are rebuilding your soul, not your kitchen. Depending on your financial stratum this, this or that might provide a lasting lift.

Grand fusion

You are approaching the final stage of your recovery and this step is entirely up to you. Anger and hope coexist next to one another and hang in a perfect balance. You are buoyed by your recent purchases, and your anger slowly transforms into wisdom. You are poised and endowed with a quiet sense of resolve. You work fewer hours and you have developed a sense of another dimension. Colleagues are seeking your opinions and you are back to your usual self without the burden of former responsibilities. It is time to pick up new hobbies and update your wardrobe. Dark clouds have parted and the first day of your new life has just started.

Reading for this period might include Deepak Chopra (particularly this book) or getting familiar with the miracles of modern medicine (as described in  that book).

Diary from the past - a year in turmoil

I have posted translation of my uncle's diary from the 70's year ago (you can
find it here ). Recently I have found a handful of later notes. Evidently they were written sometime after the described events and the chronological order is unclear.

-------------------------

Corn, Beets and Plows

Exactly a year ago I have written that our management has a great deal of concern for the name  of our unit. Evidently plain "Botany Unit" is not inclusive enough and corn people are frustrated and restless. Little I knew... Our new boss  devoted a large part of the year to these issues and still there is no end in sight. The first proposed name was "Corn, Beets and Plows".  It brings most of the things that we care about together with the exception of potatoes. However potato people are too busy doing their work to care about such trivialities. Unfortunately  plows really do not belong. Not only they are not  a part of the world of plants, but also Ministry of Everything has the entire unit to deal with agricultural machinery. Some comrades from other units   were showing irritation and our bosses started backing off.
But this was just the beginning...

Fateful meeting

Two months later an official from the Command Center came for our midday meal. After small talk about the failures of the capitalist pigs in just about any endeavor they embarked upon the conversation turned to the virtues of corn. Evgenij (the leader of the Command Center) very passionately described the newest  from the corn fields - from the obvious and well known (food, animal feed) to newer and important (fuel for various machinery, building materials, and so on). It quickly became obvious that corn  growing married with mechanized farming can change the landscape of our unit. All comrades got quite excited by these ideas and started inquiring about the resources that such a change in our agricultural habits would entail. At this point Evgenij confessed that the resources are much more needed for our comrades in different units, but that the first step in these transformations would be
to change the name of our unit to "Botany and Corn unit". The respect for our leaders kept us applauding  but the logical cracks in these plans did not go unnoticed. Even if corn fuels the ballistic missiles that one day will obliterate our enemies, it is still a plant and "Botany" covers it inasmuch. More discussion followed, some of it in the spirit of whether tomato is a vegetable or a fruit, but ultimately the consensus emerged that our farming community will not benefit from this turmoil.
However, we were already in trouble.


Chaos reigns

Beet people started saying that they can grow better corn, corn people were bringing up long forgotten grievances and life became miserable. Furthermore, farmers got the wind of the changes and started inquiring and complaining. Beet grower union, Corn grower union and various potato grower organizations started asking comrades for their opinions. Suddenly, rather than growing stuff together we had the whole farming community debating whether Beets are from Mars and Corn is from Venus (paraphrasing a trendy capitalist publication).
Sometime I feel that we are at the rough seas, far away from home.


The International

The previous minister was an old and seasoned comrade. He ran our ministry for six years and managed to stay invisible for most of that time. Senior colleagues say that he was injured in the Battle of Kursk and lost some spunk since then, both likely to be true if you ask me. The new minister is of a completely different breed. In a year since his coming we saw a number of new initiatives coming directly from the top. Since repelling capitalist pigs takes most of our resources these initiatives are mostly symbolic yet the powerful propaganda apparatus that we employ on their behalf keeps them very visible. The Botany unit is very much engaged since the fathers of the minister and of our boss served in the same unit during WWII.

So what are these initiatives? One is called MAGELLAN after the discoverer with a dreamy sounding name who was a favorite of Marx and Lenin. The plan, or rather our portion of it, involves virtual
farming. On a practical level it is a pen-pal program where farmers from several countries write to one another and exchange ideas. Unfortunately in order to undercut capitalist enemies in this trying times MAGELLAN is setting very ambitious goals and it is supposed to transform our agriculture. With no real resources allocated I am afraid that these transformations will also be virtual and  no actual farming will occur as a result. However, I hope that it brings us closer to our foreign comrades  and burden on censorship to scrutinize all those letters will not add too much to our administration.

Great leap forward

is another initiative from our management. As it turns out we have many tedious procedures and quality controls. Before we actually plant anything there is a lot of reviewing, testing, consultations and so on. We try to bring best farming experts with detailed knowledge of all sorts of plants and seek their advice.  This takes time, energy and on many occasions what we are told is what we knew all along.  Great leap forward aims at simplifying the process and leveraging our own expertise to make faster and bolder decisions. We already received a handful of one-of-a-kind projects for evaluation and some of our colleagues are quite excited. Some ideas involve using industrial run-off for watering fields in the arid areas, farming salmon in the nuclear reactor cooling towers, and so on. Luckily all are required to be multidisciplinary and this  dilutes the responsibility and somewhat broadens the expertise.

iJob or the end of work alienation

is the last of the new director's gifts. Within the Botany unit it is supposed to work as follows: a farmer is supposed to get together with comrades that process, package, and prepare the food and other things that are made of his agricultural products. This way the whole purpose of  farming is clearly displayed and benefits to the society become apparent. Next a participating farmer and his newly acquired comrades undergo political training and start a cooperative that  is responsible for the totality of the production process from planting the seeds to delivering food items for worker's families. It is not clear to me if afterwards the farmer has any time left for farming but perhaps it is not a big loss. So in the end, our hands were sore from clapping when these plans were unveiled at a yearly gathering of the whole ministry. 



Foreign farmers

In spite of MAGELLAN initiative our treatment of foreign comrades worsened lately quite a bit. Traditionally we were bringing foreign farmers to our farming outposts, most of our working groups involved foreigners and many  comrades escaped oppression to come to our glorious country. 
Since we live in the best system under the sun it is understandable that the foreign comrades are struggling to catch up with us and are a bit starstruck at times. Yet they come here to farm with us and seeing their reduced food rations just because they are from other countries pains me. We have brought up this issue many times but apparently the directives from the Central Committee are making clear that only after a lengthy certification process the treatment could be equal. It is all rather sad and I suppose that in a long run we will not have very many foreign farmers in our working groups.

Continued here.

Science quiz

1. Pair up things that belong together

a. bottle of San Pellegrino water
b. basic science
c. transistor
d. rainfall in the Alps during the Roman times

2. Identify the item that you did not pay for

a. bonuses of the CEO's of top ten US banks
b. national labs
c. nation-building in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc
d. none of the above, there is no such thing as free lunch

3. Strong science needs strong workforce. It is best if it is left to
(choose one that applies to your country). 

a. free market
b. charitable organizations
c. military
d. other countries

4. Educational system is critical for the scientific develpment of the
country. Your children would benefit most from:

a. public school system
b. religious education (yeshiva, catholic school, madrasa, etc)
c. going abroad
d. tax refund and a home schooling voucher

5. Choose the ending that is not correct.

Calculus is
a. a small stone used for counting
b. an abnormal concretion in the body, usually formed of mineral salts
and found in the gallbladder, kidney, or urinary bladder
c. rapidly developing part  of modern mathematics

6. Which one of the following sentences is true.

Basic science
a. has high priority for support
b. attracts a lot of fanatical supporters
c. has determined the outcome of O.J. Simpson trial
d. drives the politics of climate change legislation

7. Creation of scientific ideas is important because

a. it is  of great interest to the society
b. it often involves people that may not be employable outside academia
c. it is  tied to the prosperity of the country

8. Life is ubiquitus in the universe but nobody seems to be heading in
our direction. Is it because

a. we are not worth talking to?
b. we are not worth listening to?
c. both of the above

9. Name one item that does not belong with the remaining ones

a. science and education
b. neutrinos
c. religion
d. drugs and alcohol

10. The greatest gift a calculus teacher can bestow on humanity is:

a. to teach students a mnemonic rule how to integrate sin^5(x)cos^7(x)
that they will remember twenty years after taking the class

b. to identify future politicians in the class and give them good
grades

c. to go beyond calculus and teach them about stochastic PDEs.

11. Mathematicians and statisticians often do not get along. (Assuming that you err with p-value 0.05) this is because

a. mathematicians are jerks who put everybody down

b. mathematicians are jerks who put everybody down

c. mathematicians are jerks who put everybody down



Answers

1. a-c, d-b 2. d 3. d (for USA)  c (for North Korea) 4. c 5. c 6. b 7. b 8. c 9. b 10. b 11. a through c

For each correct answer you get one point.

If your score is 11 points then you have answered the first question
correctly. Spot on mate - you are ready to talk to the big fish in the
Office of Science and Technology Policy and advocate for basic science research.  Unfortunately, correct answers to the remaining questions indicate cynical and pessimistic outlook on life that is inconsistent with your message. 

Notes for my marriage counselor

I have always loved science and probably I always will. So it is not surprising that about ten years ago I decided to take my relationship with science to the new level. Alas, romantic affair and marriage are two different things and in my new role there are frustrations that I did not anticipate.  Here are the  topics that I would like to discuss during counseling.

1. She works hard but brings home no money.

She works like a horse indeed but there is no income that I can see. I am not happy that when I buy a new car I pay at least a $100 to a dealer with a gold ring, and another $200 to a guy who  owns a private jet, but not even a penny to the community that came up with the ideas how to build the darn thing. Or take a hedge fund manager - his personal profit  can be comparable to what entire world spends on supporting mathematical sciences. Yet people who developed his toolbox are not shareholders of this wealth.

2. She gives way too much for charity.

If not bringing money home is bad enough, giving everything away is even worse. Take any manufactured item: cd player, car, cell phone. If you take away the skin -metal, plastic, wires and human labor to manufacture it - all that is left inside are scientific ideas of the last 100 years. These gadgets drive economies of entire countries yet science that is inside comes for free. It is the tide that raises all boats. This is great but only for a species endowed with some sense of gratitude.

3. She used to be  the prettiest.

One can marry religion, politics, financial industry or simply a big bag of money, and I see that everybody is after these ugly bitches these days. Am I the only one who thinks that science is the fairest of all?

4.  Is she  too sexy?

I love the fact that my computer costs the same as 30 years ago and it is a million times better. But it has created a revolution that swept me away and changed my life. I threw away my records, will soon follow with cd's and dvd's and I have already tossed away countless cell phones. This is a bit frustrating even if every new product brings new exciting features.  Compare to less sexy science and for example look at an ordinary AA battery. My grandma would know how to use it, it is exactly the same in every country on the planet and the main accomplishment of these  years is that it does not leak anymore. And yes, it is probably ten times better than 50 years ago. This is science that everybody can rely on - steady  and incremental progress on an useful and familiar product.

5. Universal language.

She tells me with pride that scientific ideas are the only abstract form of human thought that can be communicated between any two people. Indeed, as long as math is concerned the entire thought process of one person can be simply encoded and subsequently recreated in a head of another person. This is a bit of a miracle, and the process is so reliable that most people accept the results by proxies. Yet, _any_ two people can participate in this - gimme a break! Twenty-five years of university brainwashing is required to prepare one's mind to receive these missives. You can probably do anything with human brain in such time-frame!

6. She is not there when you need her.

In spite of all the hard work she is missing in action more often than before. We need to know if factoring numbers is hard, and if not then come up with better crypto algorithms. The security of large chunk of economy depends on it and  the time is pressing. I bring it up all the time but she says that it is a matter of the right number of people thinking about it - one of them is bound to get it. Easy to say, but where do we find these people when our society is  on the verge of giving up on research and education.

7. She makes wrong people rich.

She is very proud that scientific ideas drive modern world and are largely responsible for the supply of goods, energy, food, etc.  Yet, the accumulation of wealth has to do with the demand not supply side. Since the "scientific DNA" of any two cameras, cars, planes, etc are virtually the same, people who make fortunes on these things are the ones who predict accurately what will sell better. A guy who can anticipate  the most popular car color in five years is probably more valuable then a person who invented  four-stroke engine!

8. She can be scary.

Love is blind, but sometime I have a feeling that my babe is a bit spooky. I bet that if you dissect a corn kernel, eventually you will find the word Monsanto etched somewhere in its DNA. She often gives what you ask for and she is usually standing by if you get in trouble because of it. Just watch for this nuclear power plant behind your house or a bunch of dudes fracking for natural gas around your summer house.

9. We have lost many friends over the years.

She used to be very popular with children, teenagers, and grown-ups.
Jules Verne and  Star Trek were painting such a bright vision of a world driven by rationality that everybody was in love with science.  Everybody thought of her as a solution to their problems. But today it is different - problems of people lie with other people, not with the surrounding reality.

10. Is she faithful?

Lately she hangs out a lot with Computational Science and Data Science and this smacks of conspiracy. These newly found buddies are quite different. They are hip and immensely successful yet their  discoveries - and there are many -  cannot be followed by a human mind. This is because they are dependent on searching through the mountains of data or performing computations at a blazing speed. Either way, a machine is an integral part of the process.  Sit and watch kind of stuff,  but the pictures and animations are spectacular.

Three postdoc applications from Barcelona

On my trip to Barcelona I accidentally came across some post-doctoral applications from  hundred years ago.

Application 1.

Name of the applicant: Pablo Picasso
Preferred postdoc location: Paris, France

Hola, my name is Pablo Picasso and I am 19 years old. I have been painting for several years now and the thought that one day they might build a museum to exhibit my work from this period gives me creeps. Sadly, all I have done so far is rather crummy. The point is that I get really bored listening to my teachers  and often retreat to painting to avoid socially awkward situations. However, I think that I can paint anything and  in any style. I can be symbolic, geometric, realistic or anything else. I can express any human emotion in visual form in many different ways. To wit,  I have studied Velazquez' Las Meninas and I made over forty paintings that render parts of this great work. These are just sketches, some not really finished,  so I hope that they will not end up in the same museum.

Anyway, the postdoc in Paris is what I need to become a real painter. I need to meet great French artists and a lot of interesting women. This is very hard in Barcelona, particularly with my parents being a suspicious bunch and hovering over me all the time.

The part of the application has to do with presentation of the post-doctoral work plan. I am not really such a great planner, but I expect that when I get to Paris I will work a lot. I have been thinking about simple geometry like cubes to utilize in my work but I am not sure how it will work. If this plan is really important then I propose that I will make all my paintings for next year blue. Blue is a color of depression, solitude and mysticism and all of these might  likely be my companions in Paris if my application is granted.

Application 2

Name of the applicant: Joan Miro
Preferred postdoc location: Paris, France

Hola,
my name is Joan Miro and I want to be a painter.  I have been painting since I was 13 but most of the time I have been doing what others told me to and this is not very good. What I really like to do is to doodle, and I wonder if there is a future in such activity. So far my work has not been well received, and I do not even mention doodles.  Friends tell me that I can make living as a tattoo designer but no respectable person would get one so what kind of living is that. Perhaps in a hundred years...

A postdoc in Paris would be a way to get my doodling career started. By meeting more open-minded and more sophisticated colleagues I can get my doodles to be appreciated. I feel that these ideas are simple but quite expressive.  In fact, I often see that the doodles that I make on napkins - and I doodle incessantly - are being put aside between book pages rather than tossed in the dustbin.  Once I get sure-footed I anticipate doodling for the rest of my life. Quite frankly I may change my style a bit every few years but at this point my doodling skills are superior to anyone else's.
In Paris I plan to interact with surrealists, but the main goal is to get my career off the ground. One day I might have a museum with 14,000 of my doodles but it will not happen if I do not go to Paris soon.

Application 3

Name of the applicant: Antoni Gaudi
Preferred postdoc location: Paris, France

Hola,
my name is Antoni Gaudi. I want to be an architect and my parents want me to go to Paris to study. I suspect that they are worried that I will become a religious freak and atmosphere of Paris might be an antidote. I disagree completely, I want to live in Barcelona all my life and I do not like to travel. As far as studying I do not see the point. I think about buildings all the time and I know what there is to know. I design my buildings in my head to the finest detail. I want special bricks, moldings, door handles, furniture and I have neat ideas how to use  them. People complain that I do not care for indoor plumbing, building codes, or fire hazards but these things are not very interesting anyway.  Here is my postdoc plan - a sketch only but I can elaborate on request. I know precisely what I want to build. I expect that all this work will require help of thousands of people and many, many years. This is ok, in fact I suspect that completely different building materials would allow my designs to be executed better. I have something concrete in mind, a plaster like material that can be molded and sets to rock hardness. These might be invented before some of my projects are finished. Another thing that I am really lacking is better computational and modelling tools. I make models in large scale and compute in my head but there ought to be a way to do it symbolically. My math teacher told me about a guy named Babbage who made a computing machine but I never found out more.
I believe that complexity arises by compounding simplicity and in my designs I use the next best thing after a straight line  - a degree two curve.  This is as much as I can handle in my mind, but too much for most of the workers. This may sound arrogant but both better materials and better computational tools ought to exist because my designs require them. I view my ideas as coming straight from nature, everything that I make can be resolved all the way to water and clay and a bit of math that ties it together. Some people tell me that my buildings look like an American amusement park but I do not believe it, even though I have never been to America. Just come closer and look at the details, my works are part of nature just like other God's creatures.

I hope that this application will be denied. I have no need to go anywhere, and I want to get a cathedral started here in Barcelona. I am not sure about financing, but who knows  - maybe one day Chinese will be paying the construction costs.