Toluu : Cosmic Variance

Cosmic Variance

Random samplings from a universe of ideas.

I want to see this for scientists! Via Crooked Timber, a new film by Astra Taylor: Examined Life, featuring interviews with various philosophers in everyday surroundings.

Žižek says “Nature is a big series of unimaginable catastrophes.” I think he meant “the blogosphere,” not “Nature.”

Do I really want to see this for scientists? They might not make the same impression on film — scientists aren’t trained to connect what they do to the concerns of the wider world (although the connections are there).

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Unsolicited Advice, Part Nine: Choosing a PostdocYesterday

Early January, and time for another entry in our unsolicited advice series — this one on choosing a postdoc. For non-academics, a “postdoc” is that lovely several-year period in between getting a Ph.D. and (hopefully) landing a faculty job, during which one establishes some independence and concentrates on doing research to the exclusion of all the other delicious aspects of professordom. And for reasons that have never been fully explained, a lot of postdoc jobs are offered and accepted in December/January/February, even if they don’t start until September. So now is the time to make yet another one of those choices that will dramatically affect the entire rest of your life.

Here, we’re not telling you how to get a postdoc; we’re presuming you already have more than one offer in hand, and need to choose between them. (Yay you!) At some point we should write about applying for postdocs, but that season is largely passed. Note that postdoc situations vary wildly from field to field, and my experience is largely in theoretical physics; there is more advice at Dr. Isis’s place, and I’m sure elsewhere — as usual, leave links in the comments. Free advice on the internet is worth what you pay for it, but if you get a variety of different perspectives a nugget of wisdom m

The New HotnessJanuary 6

I want one, I want one! A new, totally tricked-out 17″ MacBook Pro with solid state drive:

2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X4GB
256GB Solid State Drive
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution Antiglare Widescreen Display
Backlit Keyboard (English) / User’s Guide
Apple Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter
iWork ‘09 preinstalled
Aperture preinstalled
AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook Pro (w/or w/o Display) - Auto-enroll

All for just $5,875.

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The Best Jobs in the WorldJanuary 6

JobsRated.com has taken a look at their URL, and decided that they should rate the best jobs in the world. (Methodology here; thanks to Diana Brodie for the pointer.) Obviously crazy, of course. I mean, Mathematician? Biologist? Philosopher? Dude, get serious.

1. Mathematician
Applies mathematical theories and formulas to teach or solve problems in a business, educational, or industrial climate.

2. Actuary
Interprets statistics to determine probabilities of accidents, sickness, and death, and loss of property from theft and natural disasters.

3. Statistician
Tabulates, analyzes, and interprets the numeric results of experiments and surveys.

4. Biologist
Studies the relationship of plants and animals to their environment.

5. Software Engineer
Researches, designs, develops and maintains software systems along with hardware development for medical, scientific, and industrial purposes.

6. Computer Systems Analyst
Plans and develops computer systems for businesses and scientific institutions.

7. Historian
Analyzes and records historical information from a specific era or according to a particular area of expertise.

8. Sociologist
Studies human behavior by examining the interaction of social groups and instituti

The Varieties of Crackpot ExperienceJanuary 5

Frank Tipler is a crackpot. At one point in his life, he did very good technical work in general relativity; he was the first to prove theorems that closed timelike curves could not be constructed in local regions of spacetime without either violating the weak energy condition or creating a singularity. But alas, since then he has pretty much gone off the deep end, and more recently has become known for arguments for Christianity based on fundamental physics. If you closely at those arguments (h/t wolfgang), you find things like this:

If life is to guide the entire universe, it must be co-extensive with the entire universe. We can say that life must have become OMNIPRESENT in the universe by the end of time. But the very act of guiding the universe to eliminate event horizons - an infinite number of nudges - causes the entropy and hence the complexity of the universe to increase without limit. Therefore, if life is to continue guiding the universe - which it must, if th