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The Electrostatic Charge Is a Phenomenon Similar to Gravity

March 07, 2021

In Einstein's elevator thought experiment , he imagined a person in a free-falling elevator. If they weren't able to see the Earth approaching ever closer, they would think they were in deep space and not accelerating. Similarly, if the elevator were to accelerate in deep space at 1 g, they may think the elevator is stationary at Earth's surface. This PBS Spacetime episode and this Science Asylum episode explain the phenomenon of space-time warping due to mass and its effect on nearby objects. I posit that we can broaden both the thought experiment and explanations of the videos to incorporate the electrostatic force. In deep space, a negative charge will accelerate toward a positive charge in a "free fall", i.e. neither will feel a force while accelerating toward each other. If you put an electrically neutral and permeable membrane in front of the negative charge to hold it back, it would feel the force of the membrane pushing back on it, like a pseudo-gravit

A Grandpa and a Dog

March 06, 2021

Background My friend sent me this TikTok in which the OP calculated the probability that his grandpa, 84, and his dog, 15, died within two days of each other. OP's Analysis Grandpa was alive for D = 84 years = 30,660 days. Dog, d = 15 years = 5,475 days. The probability that Grandpa died within any 2-day period, P = 2 / D. Probability for Dog, p = 2 / d. The probability that Grandpa and Dog died within the same 2-day period = P ⋅ p = 1 in ~42 million. Issues with OP's Analysis "Within 2 days of each other" is a 4-day period, not 2 days. The probability of either dying on a given day is not evenly distributed throughout their lives. Dog was born when Grandpa was age 69, so the probability of both dying days apart is 0% up until Grandpa turns 69. Vastly More Accurate Calculation Answer The probability P that Grandpa and Dog died within 2 days of each other is 0.0453% or 1 in about 2,200. This is a factor of 19,000 more likely than OP suggests. If there are 1,530 simil

Do We See Colors in the Same Way?

July 25, 2020

This question is not new: when I see red, how do I know that you don't see blue and are just calling it "red"? I don't think this is question is impossible to answer, even though it seems that the only way to know would be to upload your mind into someone else's brain. You'll have to allow me one assumption, though: that the brain "invented" the concept of red in order to react instinctively and quickly to danger, thus allowing increased chances of survival, procreation, and domination of whatever gene mutation allowed the concept of visually perceiving red to form. Obviously, the brain didn't invent anything, especially not intentionally. Thought Experiment Way back, two groups of people split from each other. One stayed on continent A, and one moved to B. On A, a very nutritious fruit has a lot of 300 nm light given off, and a certain predator has fur that gives off 700 nm light. On continent B, it's the other way around. Each group's b

Consciousness, Determinism, and the Evolution of Morality

July 24, 2020

Consciousness doesn't actually exist. Well, it does, but in definition only. Consciousness does not exist in the same way that the color red does not exist: it is a word to help us describe a certain concept. In the case of the color red, it is the phenomenon of a brain interpreting the wavelength that a particular photon has. Consciousness the word we give to the complex interactions of group of interconnected neurons. Consciousness does not exist without or outside of a brain. A thinking agent does not actually "think". It's more of a live simulation of the chemical and electrical signals interacting with internal and external stimuli. You can always say you would have made a different decision, but that is incorrect: you would have always made that decision (hence the titular Determinism). But you may say, "Well, couldn't the inherent randomness and uncertainty due to quantum mechanics allow electrons to interact slightly differently and allow me to make a

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