42 Notions

As a father, I'm used to making decisions that don't always appeal to all family members. In such a situation of responsibility one can make it easier or harder for oneself. It's easier (and not just wrong) if you first look for yourself. However, if you are eligible to ensure that a majority of those involved feel comfortable and happy, it becomes more difficult. This requires empathy, patience and a wealth of ideas. It gets particularly disgusting when there is time pressure. Many are like me. It is exhausting to be decent all the time and not let yourself go. That is why I sometimes ask myself whether we do not have too high expectations of others. If it is already difficult in private, how can one expect the other – or even a public person such as a teacher, a politician, a king or another dignitary – to be a good person all the time? I think it would be very welcome, before assuming a judgment, to look into the heads and hearts of those affected – at least one sh...

The general theory of relativity predicts that a so-called "singularity" is hidden in a black hole (i.e. behind an event horizon). A thought experiment from school physics: A space capsule is on the moon. The astronauts want to teach back to earth. To do this, they have to overcome the moon's gravitational field. If they only had a catapult instead of a rocket drive, this would have to throw the space capsule into space at a certain speed so that it does not fall back onto the moon. Escape speed This speed can be calculated solely from the mass of the object to be left and its radius (position of the space capsule on the surface). For the moon it is: 2.3 km/s. If the astronauts not only want to leave the moon, but also our solar system via catapult, the escape speed is 42.1 km/s, and for our galaxy: 320 km/s. In order to leave our universe, however, our atronauts would have to be faster than light. However, since physics does not allow mass to ever move faster t...

Lately I've been enjoying watching interviews on KenFM. The moderator Ken Jebsen speaks there with different people about current topics. Jebsen is a good entertainer that I enjoy listening to. It's exciting and entertaining at the same time. By the way, the Internet portal KenFM is the continuation of the radio program of the same name, which according to Wikipedia was broadcast from 2001 to 2011. What impresses me about Jebsen is the way he works. He is always well prepared and with great passion for the matter. I consider his amounts to be significant and of great value and quality. The variety of topics is also a plus for me. In addition, Jebson has the courage to offer a platform for uncomfortable topics. I admire the way he puts his finger on the sore spots in our society and doesn't look away when things get uncomfortable. I particularly like the two formats "Die Macher" and "nachdenKEN" because they provide positive and concrete examples of w...

We know from the Big Bang that a substantial proportion of matter in our universe was created within a very short time.  However, an equally large proportion of antimatter is required for the formation of matter.  So far, however, no substantial amount of this antimatter has been found anywhere. Where did the antimatter go? The famous physicist and Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynmann once put forward the thesis that the creation and merging of two antiparticles is nothing other than that one and the same particle reverses in time (and converts light into matter or vice versa). In my opinion, the creation of matter and antinatter in the Big Bang somehow took place "directed".  The antimatter was therefore thrown 180 ° away from us and is therefore inaccessible to us in space-time. I am therefore convinced that the matter in my body once again exists as antimatter and only therefore exists at all. Complex numbers as an analogy There is a suitable analogy in mathematics: the...

I am impressed by the idea of ​​an unconditional basic income (hereinafter referred to as BGE) and belong to the quarter that voted "Yes" in the poll on June 5, 2016 [1]. Why didn't it work? In my opinion, one of the biggest problems that stood in the way of a national * introduction was assessing the consequences and risks. *: The initiative says roughly: "The 'Bund' ensures the introduction of a basic income that enables the 'entire' population to live in dignity." Out and about in the Jura A few weeks after the vote, I set off with colleagues for a bike weekend in the Jura. On the way we had lively discussions about various topics, including the UBI and the recent referendum.  We asked ourselves what stopped us Swiss from accepting the initiative and came up with the uncertainty and the risk. Another topic on the way was dealing with dependencies in software development (keyword: "Dependency Inversion Principle" [2]). As an engineer,...

Why is there a need for a string theory that tries to unify all physical forces in a single theory? Has the theory of relativity, for example, already been researched and understood so well that one can already try to attempt unifying theories based on it? Regardless of whether our current idea of the origin of our universe or of black holes is correct, one can still accept these vague structures as the best working hypothesis currently available. It is actually obvious that there must be a connection between the Big Bang and black holes – one as the antithesis of the other. The former is light, the latter rather dark – at least from our point of view. Where is the synthesis? In the creation of both, there is talk of an unimaginable amount of energy, which is said to have been concentrated in a very small space, so that the word "singularity" is even used in this context (although one would rather and perhaps should avoid this). So we prefer to jump from the point in time of ...

How are elusive things like spirit, soul, love and compassion different?  Is it a personal decision whether you want to live in a mechanical universe or prefer a "livelier" universe? Or is there a general truth about it that is difficult to prove?  Is Spirit Transferable?  When we dress up, we slip into a different role and become someone else for a short time. Actors do this so convincingly that they can make a living from it. When we drive a car, the car and the human become one. Our skin becomes, so to speak, the autobody and the car part of our human body. In a computer role-playing game, a character has a life of its own. As players, we influence the decisions of the character and his "life" in the game from the outside and give this character something of our spirit.  These considerations can be applied to our lives. Through physics and mechanics, the brain and the subconscious, a lot seems to be hardwired in us humans and in our world in general. This "l...