Most people have a basic understanding of the difference between analog and digital. But the cause and origin of the distinction are rarely discussed. Is nature analog or digital, continuous or discrete? Does the brain operate on analog or digital signals? The issue is important in various disciplines, ranging from philosophy to artificial intelligence. It even appears to have a cultural dimension. Approach the distinction from a philosophical and esthetic perspective and we may conclude that the West is analog and the East (more specifically East Asia) is digital.

The analog-digital dichotomy was first discussed during the legendary Macy Conferences…

Jan Krikke

Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger and nearly all the other pioneers in quantum physics were captivated by Chinese and Indian thought. Einstein praised the Bhagavad Gita and Schrödinger’s work was strongly influenced by the Vedas. Danish physicist Niels Bohr, one of the pioneers of quantum physics, was fascinated by the Chinese notion of Tao. Bohr is the father of the Complementarity Principle, a tenet in quantum physics stating that a complete knowledge of phenomena on atomic scale requires a description of both wave and particle properties. …

The American futurist Lawerence (“Larry”) Taub passed away one year ago. In the late 1970s, Taub made what he referred to as forecasts about geopolitical, sociological and spiritual trends in the coming decades. His remarkable foresight is still relevant today. Below is an article I wrote two years ago for the Asian Times.

In 2013, the book The Spiritual Imperative: Sex, Age, and Caste Move the Future by American futurist Lawrence (Larry) Taub reached the top of the Japanese bestsellers list. Taub had attracted attention in Japan since the 1970s, giving lectures and predicting global developments. Some of his forecasts…

The following is a chapter from my book Quantum Physics and Artificial Intelligence in the 21st Century. It deals with the mathematics of quantum physics.

The text is a prelude to an article I am currently researching on a fundamental issue in quantum physics — the wave-particle dichotomy.

In quantum physics, we measure a wave to distill the particle. Conceptually, this resembles the sampling of an (analog) sound wave to create “digital” music.

“Basically, you can think of the division between the relativity and quantum systems as ‘smooth’ versus ‘chunky’.” — Cory A Powell

Coming to terms with quantum mechanics…

Nearly 400 years after Newton’s law of universal gravitation, an “external force transmitted by unknown means,” we are still struggling to understand the nature of gravity — what it is, how it came into being, and how it relates to particle physics.

The problems is most likely conceptual. Consider the following image. This device uses electricity (electromagnetism) to generate a magnetic field that keeps the globe suspended. It illustrates than electromagnetism and gravity exist in the same realm.

Now consider the following image. The Earth rotates around the sun and the moon rotates around the earth. The gravity of the…

“Even an entire society, a nation or all simultaneously existing societies taken together are not owners of the earth, they are simply its possessors, its beneficiaries, and have to bequeath it in an improved state to succeeding generations, as boni patres familias [good heads of households].” — Karl Marx, Das Capital, Vol 3

China is a country of big numbers. Every year it has between 80,000 and 180,000 “public disturbances.” The government stopped releasing most protest statistics several years ago, when the annual number of “mass incidents” surpassed 100,000. Among these incidents are many environmental protests against heavy-metal pollution, dangerous…

Jordan Peterson: Set your house in perfect order before criticizing the world.

Confucius: The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.

Canadian clinical psychiatrist Jordan Peterson created a firestorm last year when he published 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. Peterson claims that the welfare state, radical feminism, and identity politics have undermined traditional Western values of self-reliance. In the past 50 years, Peterson argues, Marxism and Post-Modernism have taken over academia and produced a monoculture in the humanities that silences dissenting (conservative) voices. …

It depends on how we define Westernizing. Politically, China has Westernized in that its political system is based on Communism.

China is still a mostly conformist society but people are increasing expressing themselves, including people in the LBGT community.