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The Elegant Universe, Now Available Online
Posted by
jamie
on Fri Nov 14, 2003 08:34 PM
from the 11th-dimension dept.
from the 11th-dimension dept.
Photon Ghoul writes "PBS has made available online all three hours of the NOVA program on unified theory. Formats are QuickTime and RealVideo with each hour broken up into eight chapters each." I watched the whole thing, and while it's clearly for a lay audience (no math required), it was fun and informative. I was pleased to note that dissenting views on whether string theory was science were presented, and even brief discussion of what constitutes science.
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How long will it be up for free? (Score:5, Funny)
Two...
One...
They are now holding a fundraiser to cover the multimillion dollar bandwidth costs of three hours of video on SLASHDOT.
Re:How long will it be up for free? (Score:3, Informative)
It depends on what *exactly* you are paying for.
It costs less than $0.10 to produce a can of soda in volume. Yet most people routinely pay $0.50, $0.75, even $1.00 or more for it. Why?
Because it's not the can of soda you're paying for - it's the convenience of delivery. It's there, in your local store, just around the corner from your office, home, or wherever you like to shop.
You're not going to run across town
Download? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Download? (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.logged.org/suprnova/torrents/528/PBS-N o va-The.Elegant.Universe-Part.I-Einsteins.Universe- SctV-avi.torrent
Part II:
http://www.logged.org/suprnova/torrents/530/PBS-No va-The.Elegant.Universe-Part.II-Strings.the.Thing- SctV-avi.torrent
Part III:
http://www.oinkfrickinbaaa.co.uk/suprnova/torrents
Remove the spaces from the urls, I don't know why they're there.
Re:Download? (Score:5, Informative)
And third URL doesn't even work, so here are some working and proper links:
Part I [logged.org]
Part II [logged.org]
Part III [logged.org]
Parent
Re:Download? (Score:4, Interesting)
Possible responses, take your pick:
- Yeah! How the hell is WBGH going to pay for Nova if we're able to skip the commercials? Oh, wait...
- Think of all the money WBGH is losing because of third-party mirrors instead of paying for a metric truckload of streaming connections? Er...
- That content isn't yours! It belongs to PBS, who are paid by... um...
Seriously, if you're feeling guilty go find your local public television station's URL and give them some money. If you're feeling really guilty, a lot of them in their efforts to raise money will tell you exactly how much it costs to air a single episode of such-and-such (Nova in this case). Donate enough money to cover all of it and I can't see how you wouldn't be justified in mirroring it yourself.Parent
Oh for the love of sweet Baby Jesus on a skewer! (Score:2, Funny)
*SIGH*
Stab-stabbity-stabby-stab!!
Re:Oh for the love of sweet Baby Jesus on a skewer (Score:5, Funny)
******* SPOILER WARNING *******
Eventually, the sun gets really, really hotter and starts to expand. It gets bigger and bigger until it eats up all the other planets. Then, in a fit of bulimic rage, it collapses on itself and turns into a big black hole! And then we all get sucked into it until Robert Forster [imdb.com] saves us.
Parent
Re:Oh for the love of sweet Baby Jesus on a skewer (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Oh for the love of sweet Baby Jesus on a skewer (Score:2)
Re:Oh for the love of sweet Baby Jesus on a skewer (Score:2, Informative)
The sun is too small to form a black hole on it's own though, not enough gravitational force. But you *could* make a black hole out of it.
I'm such a pedant.
I don't have quicktime (Score:5, Funny)
Great Show (Score:5, Informative)
The 3D animated scenes around the host were also quite good.
Re: Great Show (Score:3, Interesting)
Nothing personal, but if there was no mathematical background, then I'd suggest that at best you have a grasp of the consequences of the theory. Like Relativity, QM, and several other recent developments, if you don't know the maths, then I don't think you really understand it - the underlying reasons for its strangeness, how it was developed, the way it fits into our current understanding of the universe, its internal
Superstring theory (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Superstring theory (Score:2, Interesting)
But then again, I have to finish "Alice in Quantumland", and find my "The God Particle" by Leon Lederman to read again, which is a hillarious and extremely informative book. It
Re:Superstring theory (Score:3, Informative)
One of the best points... (Score:5, Interesting)
I also liked the part where they explained 'brane theory. I had been reading about it, but could never quite visualize it. The animation really worked for me.
Wow man! You just took the most acid... (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes they really did a tremendous job really bringing everything to life in visual terms. Most people find it hard thinking in terms of 4 dimensions, let alone 11. The whole series had a very professional presentation and did a good job of being interesting, while not resorting to cheap Cheech and Chong LSD effects.
While I have no real background education in physics, I naturally have the strong human curiousity of where we're from and where we're going. I watched this show in awe. It really did a great job of demonstrating all of the history and evolution of the theories as well as how to really understand what string theory is all about.
PBS and NOVA really earned their keep on this one.
Parent
Experiment is what counts (Score:4, Informative)
Personally, I hope we are getting close.
Re:Experiment is what counts (Score:4, Insightful)
I am a pure mathematician and my passion and work is in pure science. What I do is explore pure mathematics. None of my work will most likely ever be directly appliable to experiment. But, some day the work that I do, along with many other mathematicians will provide the foundation, the pure science, which physics will be able to use for experimental understanding. Without pure scientific understanding, experimentation can never be anything more than observation.
What 'string theory' should be more properly stated as is 'string hypothesis'. It is certainly not yet a true theory and it is certainly not yet a law. Currently, it is purely a hypothetical explanation and possible prediction model. That does not make it any less powerful or less important. Some day it may prove to be the 'bridge' that is needed to complete one more piece or pieces of the grand puzzle. Although, alone it does not need to be experimentally verifiable. And it is certainly not philosophy.
Parent
Re:Experiment is what counts (Score:5, Insightful)
As a fan of math myself (I am currently playing with non-well-founded axiomatic set theory), it irks me when people claim that math is a science, or has applications as its purpose. Similarly, it is bothersome when people bring religious concepts such as the Platonic Realm into math.
The very intent of math is to have certainty, not faith in the external existence of mathematical objects - somehow independent and trancendental apart from our minds.
Who knows, maybe these theories do exist independently from our thought, but we can't confirm this. However, we can confirm our own thought's existence, and therefore math should be founded on such a thing.
String Theory is either a religion or philosophy in that it makes a claim about reality based on nothing other than faith. It is just as valid a science as creationism. I do find String Theory to be more interesting though as it makes use of interesting math
Parent
Re:Experiment is what counts (Score:2)
The casual use of the word "theory" is a pet peeve of mine, especially when scientists - who should know better - do it. A theory is the top step of the science podium; the vast majority of "theories" we hear about are just hypotheses and conjecture. It confuses the masses and is why we hear dimwits say things like "Well evolution is just a theory." AARR
The coolest (Score:3, Insightful)
xine problem. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:xine problem. (Score:3, Informative)
Do you have the right codecs [xinehq.de]?
Einstein's Wife (Score:5, Interesting)
This program gives an interesting look into the human side of Einstein (never imagined him as a romantic), as well as a lot of issues of the day. While it doesn't delve into the physics, it does serve to illustrate Einstein's life in a much different manner than I've previously seen. It's a fascinating program and well worth a look.
Einstein's Wife [pbs.org]
Re: Einstein's Wife (Score:3, Interesting)
> When The Elegant Universe aired here locally, PBS followed it by another noteworthy program called Einstein's Wife, which questions wether Einstein was alone in his creation of the Theory of Relativity as well as several other papers, or if he was in fact aided by his first wife Mileva who was as insightful into the universe as Einstein himself.
Yes, a very interesting show... unfortunately I only caught about half of it.
To add a bit of detail, the show said that Mileva and Albert were listed as co
From one of those Lay People . . . (Score:5, Interesting)
I watched the Nova series with my stepson, and it reminded me of watching Cosmos with my parents. The production values were fantastic, too. This show may be beneath the average
Brian Greene (Score:4, Interesting)
I tried to order the DVD set (Score:5, Insightful)
Still, I'd rather buy the $32 DVD set. Hey its good television. Support PBS!
If you would like to download the videos... (Score:3, Informative)
http://stream.qtv.apple.com/qtv/wgbh/http/nova_
Re:If you would like to download the videos... (Score:2)
Second, once the movie finished loading I did not have the option of saving as a quicktime file.
However, I found an easy workaround - use Netscape to load the link, and then pluck and rename the file from your Netscape cache folder. Each movie is about 17MB in size.
BitTorrent links (Score:2, Informative)
--
Re:BitTorrent links (Score:5, Informative)
Part 1 [logged.org]
Part 2 [logged.org]
Part 3 [oinkfrickinbaaa.co.uk]
Parent
Re:BitTorrent links (Score:5, Informative)
Part 3 [logged.org]
Sorry about that.
Oh and just one more thing: If possible, still buy the DVD when it comes out, support PBS.. It comes out in january and im gonna buy it
Parent
torrents (Score:3, Informative)
Part II [logged.org]
Part III [oinkfrickinbaaa.co.uk]
More downloaders, the better!
DVD/VHS (Score:3, Informative)
http://shop.wgbh.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Ca
Bigtime KUDOS to PBS on Sting Theory series. (Score:3, Interesting)
It is a must download if you missed it because they explain string theory and what might have occured at the moment of the big bang or even if there was one. Nice explanations and good visual examples.
One of the best Pbs shows in years.
Now all we need is a once a week, one hour show about leading edge Sciences and Technology.
The Fink connection (Score:5, Interesting)
That goes to show that pretty bright minds are working on Free Software, doesn't it? And suggests what could be a very interesting (though probably quite busy) Slashdot interviewee... I will admit I'm curious to know what drew him to that level of participation in Free Software.
Having participated as a "pure mathematician", I guess he might be well-placed to explain that one can do science without a need for immediate applications or even ties to "experiment".(I saw the man once in Park City, Utah -- no, he wouldn't remember me -- busy with a PowerBook, and at the time helping launch another noteworthy open project, the UC Davis Math Archive [ucdavis.edu].)
Slashdot editors?
Truly Excellent! (Score:5, Informative)
I snagged the 3 episodes on my hand-dandy video capture box and mastered a DVD from them, compressing the 3 hours onto 1 DVD.
I'm glad they're making the whole thing available online; it makes me feel better about giving my buddy a copy of my DVD...
He missed the second episode - the series had such a loooong (2:48) introduction, he thought they were re-airing the 1st episode again and turned it off! I told him no - there were 2 different episodes aired back-to-back
All-in-all, while I agree it was a bit "lay" (non-technical) in nature, it did explain a few things I hadn't known about previously, so I did enjoy watching it.
The obligatory PBS quote (Score:3, Funny)
No explanaiton of equal red-shift (Score:3, Insightful)
However, I've never heard mention of the above theory since, including in "The Elegant Universe" (unless I somehow missed it). Yes, String Theory requires 11 dimensions total, but (apparantly) all of the 7 "extra" dimensions beyond the 3-phsycical and 1-time dimensions are "all curled up" and very small. In contrast, the 4th-physical dimension mentioned in "Cosmos" is the size of the entire universe.
So the question is: is the theory of the 4th-physical dimension and the "hypershpere universe" as presented in "Cosmos" still believed to be true?
Re:No explanaiton of equal red-shift (Score:3, Insightful)
Space-time is 4-dimensional, but curved in such a way that it is not possible to embed the curved 4-D space-time into a flat 5-D space - or even a flat space of any finite dimension.
For an example, take a one-dimensional piece of string. Now I can curve this into something that can be embedded in two dimensions (say, by wrapping it
Re:No explanaiton of equal red-shift (Score:3, Interesting)
For another example, take a piece of pastry of uniform thickness. Put in some rasins in a grid spaced at equal distances. Now roll out the pastry smoothly in all directions. All of the rasins move the same distance from their nearest neighbors, and rasins initally at
Re:Since when... (Score:4, Interesting)
I've seen Bill Nye specials that are more keen on science than this piece of junk... I expected to see it on Fox.
Parent
Target audience? (Score:4, Interesting)
"The Elegant Universe" is about string theory, sure... but rather than being as accurate and descriptive as possible, they opt to squander three hours on needless (and logically irrelevant) special effects.
I found not only the special effects distracting and annoying but even the flashy way they filmed non-SPFX scenes. They even tried to do funny things with the editing of the interviews with the professors!
I happen to know one of the string theorists who appeared on the show. I was talking with him about what he thought of the finished product a few days after the final episode was shown. Both he and I agreed that while the rapid-fire editing and SPFX were not to our liking, we were both impressed that someone at least spent a fair chunk of dough to make this show. And he told me that he was hearing that a lot of kids (I assume he meant younger kids -- not college students) liked the show and that it got them interested in string theory.
We could certainly debate whether those kids actually learned anything or whether they were just dazzled by the pretty pictures but I have to say that it's been quite awhile since anyone put up a chunk of dough to make a program about science. The show may not have been to my liking but if it can at least make people think that we're doing interesting and exciting stuff, perhaps it does serve an important purpose. I guess it all comes down to who their target audience is. And with Nova these days, one can never really be sure.
GMD
Parent
Re:Since when... (Score:5, Insightful)
I think that the fact that they had to pack so many effects into the show to keep today's audience interested is mainly a reflection of the sad state of the MTV generation's attention span.
Actually, I was fine with the visual effects that demonstrated the physics priniciples. Computer graphics are available; why not use them. What stood out to me was the need to keep something, anything moving on the screen at all times. Thus, all the strange sliding panels contantly shuffling back and forth in the background behind the various extra-smart scientists as they talked.
The producers must have reasoned that the target audience was so used to being fed spinning logos, scrolling textbars, subsecond edit cuts and webpage-like clutter, that if they saw nothing but someone sitting still talking, then they'd assume the TV must somehow be broken.
Parent
Re:Tell them.... (Score:3, Insightful)
"MTV fluff" ... I was thinking "Electric Company" (Score:3, Interesting)
I watched this show and I was all hyped up to see it. The first hour discussed almost nothing but review. Don't get me wrong, though I have two math degrees my physics knowledge is only very general from reading and one (goofy) freshman physics course. I guess you could say I've read enough to be dangerous :)
The show does give an overview of string theory but it's definitely the PG version. When they were talking about M-Theory (which I read about in Hawking's most recent book) they had these big old