Quoting Uhurusasa: Lousia,what a happy smiling face! great molecular conversation about sub-atomic activity!!

I thought the same thing. What a pleasant, apparently unaffected performance.

sorry Louisa(not Lousia), dyslexia has got the best of me! trying to spell dyslexia almost killed me!!

She's a science writer and her father co-founded the Discovery Institute? That's an odd mix.

I couldn't find an easily accessible copy of the paper that Louisa mentioned as being so important to her early on, David Mermin's "Quantum Mysteries for Everyone." However, using Amazon's "Look Inside" feature and hopping back and forth from the search results page for the title string in the book Boojums All the Way through: Communicating Science in a Prosaic Age, it's possible to get at all the pages. I read it all the way through, but was not blown away by it, fwiw. Probably just a matter of taste and different reading histories. However, while looking, I came across Mermin's home page, and followed a link to something that I thought was really quite good: "Writing Physics." This is the prepared text for a lecture that he gave. Highly recommended, especially for anyone who cares about science writing. Don't let the title or my description throw you -- it's not nearly as dry as it might seem from these. Give it a shot.

Quoting Uhurusasa: Louisa,what a happy smiling face! great molecular conversation about sub-atomic activity!!

I loved her happy demeanor. Also, the dimple on her right cheek. John

Quoting bjkeefe: ... I came across Mermin's home page ...

And speaking of stuff found there, tell me this isn't the single best elevator pitch for why someone should be a guest on BH.tv.

4. I have participated in the controversy between scientists and sociologists who study the growth of scientific knowledge, trying, with limited success, to explain to each side why the other thinks they are idiots.

http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/176...1:11&out=31:22

It was really interesting listening to two science types grappling with the death of the modernist view of the world. I had (unreasonably) thought that determinism and belief in universal causality were endemic to the scientific community. In my defense, I wasn't blaming it on bad intent or anything, just a bias caused by spending so much time dealing with relationships that CAN be described as causal. When you spend eight hours a day around nails you tend to forget the limits of your hammer. But, as George said, causality is just a tool that evolved in man's brain, and there's no reason to believe the universe is confined to behaving in a way that makes can be described in terms that were 'designed' for handling such an enormously limited range of activities. I do think it's a little strange that force at a distance feels so alien to our ideas of causality. We ARE pretty used to dealing with gravity. I guess attributing a cause to gravity was useless for reproductive success, though. Anyway, the book sounds like it's worth checking out, and congratulations Gilder on getting it published

Bravo! I'm completely baffled by your topic. But your joyful enthusiasm about whatever it was kept me entangled for the full 73 minutes.

Wow, this was terrific. Louisa was much easier on the eyes than John.
(No offense, John)

Can you find the semi-hidden cat in this clip? (Presumably not Schrödinger's cat even though Schrödinger was being discussed at the time.)

Quoting Nate: Can you find the semi-hidden cat in this clip? (Presumably not Schrödinger's cat)

Did you also notice the cross-entanglement? It was George who seemed to take notice and looked over in the appropriate direction, while Louisa seemed blissfully disconnected from the apparition. Spooky action at a distance.

Bohm, in his later years, was friends with the Indian philosopher, Krishnamurti, whom Louisa refers to as a "guru." Krishnamurti despised that term and was actually strongly opposed to the hocus-pocus of gurus and disciples. Krishnamurti's openness to science (he had been a close friend of Aldous Huxley) was probably what attracted Bohm to him in the first place. They started collaborating on "dialogues" based on Krishnamurti's iconoclastic ideas about freedom from psychological conditioning. Bohm facilitated dialogue groups right up until his sudden death from a heart attack. The dialogues were based on the premise that spiritual and philosophical truth could emerge from small groups of people working together to deconstruct their assumptions about the world. It gets a little fuzzy, but Bohm's insisted that you could only understand dialogue by participating in it. There's quite a bit of literature on this at http://www.david-bohm.net/ I met Bohm in this period and participated in a couple of his dialogues. I don't have a strong opinion on the value of Krishnamurti's philosophy or Bohm's or the dialogues, but I don't think it's fair to leave the impression that Bohm went off the

Quoting bjkeefe: And speaking of stuff found there, tell me this isn't the single best elevator pitch for why someone should be a guest on BH.tv.

Lots of interesting stuff that could be talked about on BH.tv. Book him, Dano.

Only watched roughly the first half but so far, I agree, great diavlog. George did a great job of letting Louisa tell her story. I'd love to see a diavlog with Louisa and David Albert (pretty please, Bob).

Come back, Louisa, come back...

Great diavlog: I really enjoyed it, particularly Louise's laugh, her scarf, and the discussion of the craft of writing about fifty minutes in. Of course, the diavlog freaked me out a little: "I should be writing/working right now, not watching this delightful diavlog!" I kept thinking. Thanks a lot George & Louise! George: you are mistaken in saying that the American academy is particularly "skill" oriented, and Louise is right in pointing out that this is far more of a problem overseas. (Even in countries that were key in the formation of the social science and postmodernism, i.e. France.) I think you'd be surprised at how many schools are still committed to the pursuit of the liberal arts. For every University of Phoenix, there is also an MIT, a University of Chicago and an (ahem!) Reed College. Now, arrrgh . . . back to writing!

good stuff. beats all that politicrap at BHT by a handful o lightyears. good also to see david bohm pop up. check out his book "the tought as system": a can-of-worm-holes-opener. ß

Quoting AemJeff: Did you also notice the cross-entanglement? It was George who seemed to take notice and looked over in the appropriate direction, while Louisa seemed blissfully disconnected from the apparition. Spooky action at a distance.

Haha, nice. I missed that at first. I was surprised that when the cat's tail seemingly whacked the side of Louisa's head (presumably when it was turning around and leaving) that she still didn't notice. I guess she is used to it traipsing around.

She is just too adorable and honest.
I hope I'll see her again talking about my favorite subject.