Complexity...

I like physics (sad eh?) and you would think that means I like things complex. Far from it, I like things to be simple. Simple things are easy to understand and easy to use (and fix).

While some would doubt it physics is largely pretty simple. Gravity, electromagnetism, quantum physics; they all make sense once you grasp the simplicity behind them. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of formulas knocking about that can sometimes tie you in knots, but the ideas behind these things are simple. It took great minds to come up with these simple ideas, and brilliant minds to test the theories so that the rest of us can take them for granted (always a dodgy idea in physics but many things are now accepted as 'proved').

Last night I watched the last part of a documentary about the work the Stephen Hawking on a unified theory of everything. Somewhat interesting but it eventually it gets around to string theory.

I have a problem with string theory... it is just too complicated. I know we are talking about the fundamental binding of the universe but for that reason I think it should be even simpler.

Multiple dimensions rolled up at every point... why? To make a set of ideas work, not because it makes sense. Not to mention I have problems with the reason for any dimensions beyond 6 or maybe 7 at a push.

Simply this is complexity where there should be simplicity.

Still since the whole world will be consumed by the black holes created at Cern in a few months it wont matter ;)

[Yes there are some that believe that is going to happen....]

UK Fuel Duty... does it work?

There has been a long running policy in the UK to encourage the use of alternative fuels and methods of transport. One way this has been achieved is by applying a steadily rising duty to the cost of fuel.

Whether this actually works has been a topic of argument for just as long as the policy has been in place; now it looks as though we may be able to tell...

Simply it should be possible to see if the the recent fuel price hikes have led to a reduction in usage.

If they have then steadily raising the prices will reduce use (at the possible cost of jobs and homes), if usage hasn't decreased notably then the policy must be fatally flawed.

So far I've not found any assessment of this but maybe some think tank will do the number crunching and lets us all know.