“At least two conflicting generalised measures can be applied to T, the space of all topological spaces with countable basis. Perrini’s measure [Perrini, 2012] and Saupe’s measure [Saupe, 2017] are both defined for all bounded subsets of T, and are equivalent when restricted to M - the space of n-dimensional para-compact Hausdorff manifolds - but they yield contradictory results for sets of more exotic spaces.”
In “Distress” by Greg Egan
“’The physicists have it easy - with their subject if not with me. The universe can’t hide anything: forget all that anthropomorphic Victorian nonsense about ‘prising out nature’s secrets.’ The universe can’t lie; it just does what it does, and there’s nothing else to it.”
In “Distress” by Greg Egan
Egan’s novel reminds me of one the best science books I read last year: “Lost in Math” by Hossenfelder: Mosala (an Information-Theory-applied-to-Physics-a-la-Roy-Frieden proponent; those of you who studied Statistcs in college surely remember the so-called Fisher’s statistic test of independent events) as Hossenfelder, and the Anthrocosmologists (ACs) as Stringer Physicists. Yes, yes, the emphasis on the beauty of the math & all those extra dimensions likely engages Hossenfelder's crap detector as does Mosala’s crap from the other two TOE competing theories in the novel. One of Hossenfelder's mantras is "pick the *right* math", not what's aesthetically pleasing or feels "natural", both of which stopped getting particle physics anywhere decades ago. Given Hossenfelder's frustration with theoretical physicists' disrespect for the Standard Model - despite its amazing success - because the math is "ugly" (ditto quantum theory) she might see this attempt to find the "right math" overrides its making the SM "more beautiful." Hossenfelder might enjoy that "If something isn't working, do more of it" (and repeat) is one of the strategies used by dysfunctional families, long recognized by Family Psychotherapists. I also like to think of Hossenfelder as the Keystone of Physics (like Mosala), but as things are going no such luck in sight...
"’If something isn't working, do more of it’ (and repeat)"
Seems also what the searchers of the fundamental unified force do with their theories regarding neutron decay. "If neutrons don't decay, extend the deadline." The Higgs was previously predicted and with a range for its mass. It was found within that range. After the Higgs, everything is nebulous speculation. Supersymmetry should have shown up even before the LHC. When it didn't, the goalposts were moved. And keep moving. "Build bigger colliders & they [particles] will come" makes sense to a certain point, but it's looking more & more that we're past that point. Yes, the dollars do take away funds for other research or infrastructure. Don't you remember all the wailing & gnashing of teeth inside & outside NASA when the decision to go with the Space Shuttle was made? That definite rearranged the research landscape. The F35 fighter seems to have done something similar with the defense budget, or so it's said.
The phrase Too Big to Fail comes to my mind.
At places clunky narrative and hard to engage with? Non-relatable characters? But sheer otherworldly ideas FFS: Stateless (IP-free pirate island), voluntary autists, Anthrocosmology, seven distinct biological sexes, yanking a camera gear out of Worth's body and not caring, Africa getting lots of Nobel prizes in Physics, autistic characters, competing TOEs... Beautiful, inspiring science communicated through exceptionally SFional content. Every sentence, every thought is deeply meaningful; the images and inserts I got while reading this novel added another dimension to the experience... The beauty of art, science and the human mind are merging into one entity in Egan’s novel. We’re not even near of having a TOE right now twenty years later; read “Distress” instead. It’s the second best thing. Egan is one of the few SF writers out there whose science actually feels up to date even we read him on TOE as in this novel more than 20 years since he wrote it. Many SF authors will mention TOE or whatever crap they come up with, but only as a convenient hook to introduce the same old time travel crappy yarn. When Egan writes about TOE, he's actually exploring the ramifications of current theory, not just using it as a hook for an old plot/narrative hack. Like Egan, we all have high hopes for a Scientific Renaissance when everyone understands the underlying physics governing the world. Do I understand everything he is on about? Nope. But that’s the fun of reading this kind of SF. It makes me think deep thoughts...
Bottom-line: Greg Egan, along with Ted Chiang (also one of my favourite writers, of a SFional persuasion or not; maybe I’ll do a post about my favourite SF writers one of these days when I feel so inclined), belong to the a category of writing I like to call ontological SF (as opposed to epistemological SF): writing seeking to depict the world itself (ontology), and not an interpretation of it (epistemology). In a SF publishing world of crappy lookalike writers, they both are very inspirational. Read them if you don’t do read brain-dead SF.
SF = Speculative Fiction.
