https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check daily 0.75 2026-04-01 https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/brain-chips-can-prevent-war-and-lovers-spats monthly 0.5 2026-04-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/11322df8-61e8-4c25-b3b4-37918be03b4e/STALIN+TRUMAN.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Brain Chips Can Prevent War and Lovers’ Spats - Make it stand out If these guys had brain chips, maybe they wouldn’t have started the nuclear arms race. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/robert-trivers-is-dead-i-once-thought-he-was-going-to-kill-me monthly 0.5 2026-03-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0a9bb775-71a2-4c33-904e-38ff2ae41732/Robert-Trivers-in-Jamaica.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Robert Trivers Is Dead. I Once Thought He Was Going to Kill Me - Make it stand out Robert Trivers, 1943-2026, in Jamaica, where I interviewed him in 2017. He sent me this undated photo. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/i-hate-ai monthly 0.5 2026-03-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c3d80817-76ec-4694-8277-e319e44c47ad/SCREAM.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - I Hate AI! - Make it stand out This painting, which the human female at right and I saw at Frisco’s DeYoung Museum, expresses how I feel when I silently scream, AI-EEEEEE! https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/truman-the-bomb-and-free-will monthly 0.5 2026-03-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7feb1a06-d678-474b-b93f-ed33514b5114/AWFUL.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Truman, The Bomb and Free Will - Make it stand out You should read this book. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/visiting-the-un-as-bombs-fall-on-iran monthly 0.5 2026-03-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8e003f3f-0b03-4727-a8b1-bd2d89e5630e/768a8850-2.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Visiting the UN as Bombs Fall on Iran - Make it stand out Nancy Reagan donated this mosaic reproduction of “The Golden Rule” to the United Nations in 1985, when her husband was building up the U.S. nuclear arsenal. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/should-killer-robots-have-rights monthly 0.5 2026-03-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a07490c4-97e0-40f6-ac87-5dd1dce50b35/terminator.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Should Killer Robots Have Rights? - Make it stand out Should the Terminator have the right to vote and own a condo? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/epstein-and-the-end-of-pure-science monthly 0.5 2026-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ca971dd9-66c3-4d47-b417-8b0f90b037e0/Epstein_Final_Mugshot.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Epstein and The End of “Pure” Science - Make it stand out Jeffrey Epstein’s final mug shot. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-upside-and-downside-of-our-longing-to-matter monthly 0.5 2026-02-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/374eb269-fa72-4132-bb03-5d5eb686e488/MATTERING+COVER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Upside and Downside of Our Longing to Matter - Make it stand out Rebecca Goldstein says our yearning to matter “can bring out the best and worst in us.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/what-is-it-like-to-be-a-superintelligent-machine monthly 0.5 2026-02-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7a381a3a-a0cc-457b-898c-dc96992e96d2/excession.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - What Is It Like to Be a Superintelligent Machine? - Make it stand out This novel, which was published 30 years ago, like my book The End of Science, inspired me to write this column. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/murray-gell-mann-and-the-end-of-science monthly 0.5 2026-02-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/002e1a3e-6dc4-43b5-ade8-de999c8455a6/GELL-MANN+CHECK.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Murray Gell-Mann and “The End of Science” - Make it stand out Gell-Mann wrote me this check in 1991. See end of this column for the story behind the check. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/522da7e5-9b28-40b2-9b56-471cca4370d2/Murray_Gell-Mann_at_Lection.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Murray Gell-Mann and “The End of Science” - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/proust-was-goofing-on-us monthly 0.5 2026-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7e96f4aa-a700-41ca-a7b9-ac17a7600ef5/MADELEINE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Proust Was Goofing on Us - Make it stand out Proust goes on and on and on about a cookie, or madeleine, depicted here. Was his book one long joke? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/why-ai-pioneer-marvin-minsky-called-me-racist monthly 0.5 2026-01-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ca4f4ddb-6b3f-40ff-88e8-705cbb601385/Marvin_Minsky_at_OLPCb_%283x4_cropped%29.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Why AI Pioneer Marvin Minsky Called Me “Racist” - Make it stand out Marvin Minsky in 2008. Photo from Wikipedia https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/india-and-the-unfairness-problem monthly 0.5 2026-01-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/63f091c4-597e-481b-a75e-3ab2857e831a/INDIAN+LADIES.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - India and the Unfairness Problem - Make it stand out I met these women in Delhi while touring a “slum,” the term for an area where people squat in “unauthorized” dwellings. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/india-and-the-solipsism-problem monthly 0.5 2026-01-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c71198ef-4834-4efb-bffc-4748cb7bdaab/SWAN.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - India and the Solipsism Problem - Make it stand out Black swan I saw at Kolkata’s Alipore Zoological Garden. I can’t know what it’s like to be this or any other creature. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/auntie-mame-the-dead-and-my-new-years-resolution monthly 0.5 2026-01-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0d2587bb-618b-4af8-8e63-f2fb6450f64c/MAME+POSTER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - “Auntie Mame,” “The Dead” and My New Year’s Resolution - Make it stand out Mame exhorts us to Live! Live! Live! But don’t be a dick. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/oliver-sacks-fudged-facts-does-that-bother-me monthly 0.5 2025-12-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/54a3c050-bf31-469f-a1a0-0e050f1b2783/9.13.09OliverSacksByLuigiNovi.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Oliver Sacks Fudged Facts. Does That Bother Me? - Make it stand out Oliver Sacks in 2009, from Wikipedia. He once told me that he was “content to multiply case histories and leave the theorizing to others.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/pynchon-thanatoids-and-the-ferris-wheel-of-life monthly 0.5 2025-12-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e7e54aa8-b2da-462a-85af-acb6fc6059f9/VINELAND+COVER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Pynchon, Thanatoids and the Ferris Wheel of Life - Make it stand out This cover captures the chaos of Pynchon’s 1990 novel, but the central plot is just a love triangle. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-peace-a-pipe-dream monthly 0.5 2025-12-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9cd47de2-23ca-47dc-9f80-90b02f01d643/Dead_woman_from_the_My_Lai_massacre.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is Peace a Pipe Dream? - Make it stand out Photo of woman murdered by U.S. troops during My Lai massacre, Vietnam, 1968. From Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/desire monthly 0.5 2025-12-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/85e19efc-5623-48a1-b30f-520561b64fb7/IMG_0104.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - DESIRE - Make it stand out This image, which hangs on my living room wall, expresses my complicated feelings about DESIRE. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-the-waste-land-accurate monthly 0.5 2025-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b0d53164-d1c1-425b-879a-57b919ac721a/GOLDFISH.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is “The Waste Land” Accurate? - Make it stand out Can a world with goldfish ponds, like this one in Rockefeller Park, Manhattan, really be a meaningless waste land? Maybe. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-end-of-physics monthly 0.5 2025-11-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a16c6266-c665-484f-864d-1b492da82dd1/TRAIN.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The End of Physics? - Make it stand out This drawing of a train in Hoboken terminal doesn’t have anything to do with the end of physics. Or does it? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/doing-nothing monthly 0.5 2025-11-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/fa108ccc-c2dc-414c-8cc8-d310cafc9fef/CRUMB.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Doing Nothing - Make it stand out Crumb nails it, as usual. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-personal-paradigm monthly 0.5 2025-11-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/fc37dc55-691f-40cd-8e2c-005de9f50dab/BOOKCASE+DRAWING.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Personal Paradigm - Make it stand out This bookcase, which holds the books that helped me write my books, represents a tiny piece of my personal paradigm. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/363ad507-f83c-4fe2-ba64-b8c5f688a648/BOOKCASE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Personal Paradigm - Make it stand out This is the actual bookcase in my office. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/will-ai-save-us-from-ai monthly 0.5 2025-11-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/deb50f7f-9755-470b-ac99-6109fbacb15e/NARRATIVES+PANEL.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Will AI Save Us From AI? - Make it stand out Panelists ponder “Truth and Trust” at “Synthetic Narratives.” From left: moderator Camila Galaz, Emily Spratt, Avital Meshi, Christopher Meerdo and Fred Grinstein. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-singularity-cult monthly 0.5 2025-10-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8176719f-1ea8-45b6-9dca-a37c0537aa5b/MORE+EVERYTHING.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Singularity Cult - Make it stand out I used to think the Singularity cult was funny, but now it scares me. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-rise-of-the-arrogant-apes monthly 0.5 2025-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c9c05177-51ef-466e-8588-1d89e5a904fd/ARROGANT+APE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Rise of the Arrogant Apes - Make it stand out What can save us from the arrogant apes in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e38aac6e-7e4b-43c3-83e9-52ab6c0fef70/No+Kings+-+Paris+-+10-18-2025.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Rise of the Arrogant Apes - Make it stand out My pal Jim sent me these photos from a No Kings protest in Paris on October 18. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-secret-affinity-for-many-worlds monthly 0.5 2025-10-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/12b64fce-4512-47e7-8f15-b3a631804b4e/MY+SHIRT.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Secret Affinity for Many Worlds - Make it stand out This is a shirt I wore while painting houses in Denver in the late 1970s. Maybe in another world I never left Denver. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-weekend-at-rat-fest monthly 0.5 2025-10-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e5092e1d-c941-4c85-ab85-c61791e69371/RAT+FEST.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Weekend at “Rat Fest” - Make it stand out David Deutsch talks to his fans at Rat Fest. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-infinite-optimism-of-david-deutsch monthly 0.5 2025-09-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1bc63f81-5dd6-4015-95d5-7496d824c48d/IMG_0035.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Infinite Optimism of David Deutsch - Make it stand out One thing that bothers me about Deutsch’s outlook is that it’s too easily reducible to slogans like this, which I came upon in The New Yorker this morning. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-god-lunch monthly 0.5 2025-09-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/805b695f-c45f-484e-95a3-550a6edc69e1/GOD+BOOK.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The God Lunch - Make it stand out This book has a chapter titled “The Alleged Errors of the Bible, Which Are Not Errors.” But the book is not about religion, a co-author assured me over lunch. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/science-as-defiance monthly 0.5 2025-09-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/11c4c6eb-e007-454a-ba04-469feceec786/STOUT.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Science as Defiance - Make it stand out In this dark time, a scientific lecture can be an act of political resistance. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/a-philosophical-encounter-in-washington-square-park monthly 0.5 2025-09-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6710f863-bec1-471b-a823-bc0c83339eae/ADVICE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - A Philosophical Encounter in Washington Square Park - Make it stand out I asked the woman whose leg is visible at left if it’s possible, or okay, to be enlightened when things are so fucked up. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-reality-weird-in-a-bad-way monthly 0.5 2025-09-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/77d3dbe9-f497-4a45-9834-8fd9107f372e/the+ear.gif Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is Reality Weird in a Bad Way? - Make it stand out The ear in Blue Velvet. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/ode-to-hoboken-i monthly 0.5 2025-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e8f66f39-b30c-4972-8b11-c80005802cb6/BARF+EMOJI.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Ode to Hoboken: I - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/3049d569-af0c-402b-8302-df3242982151/PULASKI.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Ode to Hoboken: I - Make it stand out Pulaski Skyway under construction in the 1920s. This charming landscape is just west of Hoboken. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/bd70a1ee-b893-4876-a991-cfdaa17144ea/GOOSE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Ode to Hoboken: I - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/whats-poetrys-point-a-riff-on-paterson monthly 0.5 2025-08-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d1095659-dd53-41ef-8ade-ca6810d9821c/PATERSON+COVER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - What’s Poetry’s Point? A Riff on “Paterson” - Make it stand out I’ve been carrying this book around forever, but I only read the whole thing recently. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/71bdec8c-4de7-444e-9f18-a4acea163760/PATERSON+INSIDE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - What’s Poetry’s Point? A Riff on “Paterson” - Make it stand out The blue scribbles are mine. I’m not sure who wrote the maroon marginalia, maybe my sister Wendy. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/holy-shit-science-and-my-hypocrisy monthly 0.5 2025-08-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7af7621d-0c43-4368-b31f-6fa6d6dd97ed/OLIVER+MAHA.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Holy Shit Science and My Hypocrisy - Make it stand out “MAHA is not about making America healthy again,” says John Oliver. “At best, it is about laundering the reputation of an administration that is doing the exact opposite." https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-end-of-holy-shit-science monthly 0.5 2025-08-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c8f598ec-72e4-459d-8382-85eeb572852a/JIM+NO+KINGS.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The End of Holy Shit Science - Make it stand out Here’s my pal James E. McClellan III, esteemed science historian, at a recent No Kings protest. Jim says “governments and taxpayers really don't give a shit about black holes, the elusive graviton, or any such esoteric matters that really drive the scientific enterprise.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/living-ironically monthly 0.5 2025-08-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/957db2cc-d8db-48c8-a5db-8c74da8f31b9/DONCOS+CHAIR.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Living Ironically - Make it stand out Here I am before the 1987 Superbowl. I sat in that chair while watching the Giants crush the Broncos. I’m also wearing a Broncos hat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/65757233-c054-422a-861a-c1afdee024e7/960px-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_130.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Living Ironically - Make it stand out All great art, like Rembrandt’s self-portrait, is ironic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ddf33fca-dab1-44a4-9116-6794fde45210/_133692403_twintowers.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Living Ironically - Make it stand out Did 9/11 end the “age of irony”? Nah. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/87c3ab79-840b-4892-9144-956aafdfe893/dr-strangelove-still-580.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Living Ironically - Make it stand out Slim Pickens, straddling a bomb, waves his cowboy hat and yells “Yeehaw” just before the world blows up in “Dr. Strangelove.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/to-abolish-nukes-we-must-abolish-war monthly 0.5 2025-07-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/90336942-2ebf-4124-8be5-b04fba71160d/NUCLEAR+MANIKINS.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - To Abolish Nukes, We Must Abolish War - Make it stand out Manikins exposed to a nuclear explosion in the mid-1950s at the Nevada Test Site. Freaky, huh? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/umm-now-what monthly 0.5 2025-07-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4eb07839-ef06-482f-9cfb-0f6462563f47/DOCK.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Umm… Now What? - Make it stand out Sometimes I hang around this dock even if I’m not catching the ferry to Manhattan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8364fe45-ea72-461e-bca0-94199c8684ec/POUNDER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Umm… Now What? - Make it stand out Come on, isn’t this thing cool? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/solzhenitsyn-the-gulag-and-free-will monthly 0.5 2025-07-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8f9a78f3-f56a-4f54-9c93-a71da3711d4c/9788087830925.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Solzhenitsyn, the Gulag and Free Will - Make it stand out The sourpuss is Solzhenitsyn himself, photographed in a Siberian prison in 1953. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/ny-times-and-new-yorker-exaggerate-cancer-screening-benefits monthly 0.5 2025-07-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ad7f94a9-dae6-4c92-9fb6-3ec23ccaa77d/COLONOSCOPY.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - NY Times and New Yorker Exaggerate Cancer Screening Benefits - Make it stand out There is no evidence that colonoscopy, depicted here, or other popular screening methods save lives. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/an-independence-day-look-at-jeffersons-brutal-hypocrisy monthly 0.5 2025-07-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/3b946e16-e44f-4a93-b542-06cb91701198/JEFFERSON+PIK.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - An Independence Day Look at Jefferson’s “Brutal” Hypocrisy - Make it stand out Jefferson didn’t beat his slaves. He hired men to do that.. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/rhythms-and-endings monthly 0.5 2025-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b8c1660d-fa27-4d50-b915-604c8b076b3b/HUDSON.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Rhythms and Endings - Make it stand out The rhythms of the Hudson River soothe me. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/surfing-woolfs-the-waves monthly 0.5 2025-07-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/32df84fe-adb8-4940-9643-f3c00c128819/WAVES.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Surfing Woolf’s “The Waves” - Make it stand out This strange, beautiful book rocked me. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/hofstadter-on-strange-loops-beauty-free-will-ai-god-utopia-and-gaza monthly 0.5 2025-06-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/27600808-5ba3-4d6e-8bf8-bfd406259971/Second+best.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Hofstadter on Strange Loops, Beauty, Free Will, AI, God, Utopia and Gaza - Make it stand out Hofstadter sent me this “very nice pic of myself taken by my wife Baofen just after she gave me a haircut” in 2020. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/92add5f1-0672-4823-b9c1-6cf8cce38c74/Creation+vs+Discovery.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Hofstadter on Strange Loops, Beauty, Free Will, AI, God, Utopia and Gaza - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d6028b44-4c08-463e-b5d4-75d9dff115dc/Gplot_by_Hofstadter.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Hofstadter on Strange Loops, Beauty, Free Will, AI, God, Utopia and Gaza - Make it stand out Hofstadter Butterfly, from Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/requiem-for-a-psychedelic-holy-lady monthly 0.5 2025-06-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/24adfb08-efee-4ddd-bfd2-4e070fb02932/af-birdie-1024x576.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Requiem for a Psychedelic Holy Lady - Make it stand out Amanda Feilding in 1970, the same year she drilled a hole in her head. Credit: Beckley Foundation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/74d42088-ec78-4408-a706-a132ede45c80/Screenshots_from_Heartbeat_in_the_Brain.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Requiem for a Psychedelic Holy Lady - Make it stand out Still shots from Amanda Feilding’s 1970 film of her self-trepanation, “Heartbeat in the Brain.” The Times says people who saw the film in the 1970s fainted. Credit: Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/no-kings monthly 0.5 2025-06-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f994ad88-f76b-4430-8b97-e08bdf55f42f/GROVE+ST.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - No Kings! - Make it stand out I took this shot of people gathered in Jersey City on June 14 for a “No Kings” protest against Trump and his minions. After I posted this column, readers sent me photos from protests they attended, see end of column. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/47e473f2-4acd-487a-ac1f-3e6a238982c9/IMG_0862.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - No Kings! - Make it stand out Another image from Jersey City. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/77765abc-dc83-43e9-9fba-dbe17bd4b7cc/Wet+but+wonderful%2C+No+Kings+protest+6-14-2025.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - No Kings! - Make it stand out My friend Jim McClellan was one of more than 2,000 protesters in Newton, PA. His wife Jackie took this shot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a6466c98-1a4b-454a-b26c-c290e5a8bbed/IMG_5668.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - No Kings! - Make it stand out A friend sent this photo and the one below of a protest in NYC. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/78260118-2af9-4b25-9e2b-a8dabf626b31/IMG_1119.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - No Kings! - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/925d5e78-c4bd-4612-8006-243f70477f2c/LAURA+KINGS.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - No Kings! - Make it stand out My sister-in-law sent me this groovy shot from London. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-odd-link-to-apple-coder-bill-atkinson-rip monthly 0.5 2025-06-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/339d1b9b-d872-4b53-a74e-f4a79c1de483/STONE+COVER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Odd Link to Apple Coder Bill Atkinson (RIP) - Make it stand out BrownTrout published this book by Atkinson in 2004. Seven writers, including me, riffed on Atkinson’s photos of cross sections of rocks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/fbe8b2c6-78a5-4f43-978c-3c12fe27c508/OPAL.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Odd Link to Apple Coder Bill Atkinson (RIP) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8b4648a1-ad1c-4a9c-b5d4-17621d70909a/FRANK+ROBERT+ME.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Odd Link to Apple Coder Bill Atkinson (RIP) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/58b9ece5-e6e9-4b31-bc78-da450f9e6d5d/WOOD.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Odd Link to Apple Coder Bill Atkinson (RIP) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/woolf-versus-buddha monthly 0.5 2025-07-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b28f4b7a-b0b3-4939-bf53-4f78effcf4b0/FEET+25.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Woolf Versus Buddha - Make it stand out Virginia Woolf, in To the Lighthouse, shows thoughts unfolding in real time. That’s an astonishing feat, because thoughts, unlike feet, never stay still. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/was-i-fated-to-be-in-the-sat-premium-prep-guide monthly 0.5 2025-06-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/42ed41b1-5d14-44b2-9e68-1d69d2a669b9/SAT+PREMIUM.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Was I Fated to Be in the SAT Premium Prep Guide? - Make it stand out Princeton Review, which publishes this thing, mentions me in one of its multiple-choice exercises. Should I: 1, be flattered, 2, be offended, 3, ask for royalties? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e843f4bd-f956-4f5e-ac66-9f3c139c9295/SAT+EXERCISE.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Was I Fated to Be in the SAT Premium Prep Guide? - Make it stand out I dig option D, which says “Horgan’s comments were readily accepted by the scientific community,” because, like, you know, that never happens. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/how-i-explain-quantum-weirdness-to-a-friend monthly 0.5 2025-06-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/38ee8166-824b-4f0c-bc95-f5c0931b70b4/LINCOLN+PARK.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - How I Explain Quantum Weirdness to a Friend - Make it stand out Lincoln Park, Jersey City, a perfect setting for a chat about quantum weirdness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a90c7e3a-599f-49e3-9ec8-d82bc867d706/Firesign+Theater.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - How I Explain Quantum Weirdness to a Friend - Make it stand out When I was in high school, I had friends who, while high on weed, could recite long passages from this album. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/i-read-gravitys-rainbow-so-you-dont-have-to monthly 0.5 2025-05-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e3cb0ebb-5db2-4c5f-a7f9-f8771d867b85/PIPE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - I Read Gravity’s Rainbow So You Don’t Have To - Make it stand out Hash pipe I made out of an “emerald” I found in 1973. Imagine spotting that chunk of greenish glass while you’re in a mangrove swamp high on windowpane. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8f17cb28-806d-42e6-9356-1422c8017c0f/GRAVITY%27S+RAINBOW.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - I Read Gravity’s Rainbow So You Don’t Have To - Make it stand out I own this copy of Pynchon’s book, but I read it on Kindle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f5703dca-7833-4237-ad91-dd3e9566af3e/LAVA+LAMP.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - I Read Gravity’s Rainbow So You Don’t Have To - Make it stand out I only turn on my lava lamp now for special occasions. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/famous-brain-scientist-loses-his-mind monthly 0.5 2025-05-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/5fb66897-a48d-4398-86ab-76f8c4176c7d/KOCH+TATTOO.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Famous Brain Scientist Loses His Mind - Make it stand out “I'm a seeker, I don't have answers,” says Christof Koch, one of my favorite scientists. In this photo he shows off a tattoo of “human cortical pyramidal neurons, based on a Ramon y Cajal drawing.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/what-my-students-worry-about monthly 0.5 2025-05-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ce4b8c7e-a5ab-470b-bea1-0decc91087d1/STEVENS+STATUE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - What My Students Worry About - Make it stand out This statue, “The Torch Bearers,” adorns the campus of Stevens Institute of Technology, where I teach. I’m the guy on the ground, old and exhausted but impressively ripped, handing my wisdom off to the youngsters. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/a-wild-mystic monthly 0.5 2025-05-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c041dd9f-69cb-4745-ac6d-e4ed74f3ad02/airsoft+edit.JPG Cross-Check, A Free Journal - A Wild Mystic - Make it stand out My son Mac, right, and his pal Will dressed for an Airsoft game, during which they were commanded by a 17-year-old high school senior and mystic. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/mystical-schtick monthly 0.5 2025-05-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/45f44651-4b27-4bdb-aa1d-054741225547/Wanderer_above_the_sea_of_fog.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Mystical Schtick - Make it stand out “Wanderer in a Sea of Fog,” 1818, is Caspar David Friedrich’s most famous painting. This evokes how I feel when I look out the window of my apartment in Hoboken. All images on this page except the last one are from Wikipedia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1977b665-6707-4282-8066-8c952e0fb630/CROSS+IN+MOUNTAINS.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Mystical Schtick - Make it stand out “Cross in the Mountains” was supposedly daring when Friedrich painted it in 1808. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/cf65d7b9-4bf1-4c41-94e8-e360ba05ade4/Gerhard_von_Ku%CC%88gelgen_portrait_of_Friedrich.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Mystical Schtick - Make it stand out Portrait of Friedrich by Gerhard von Kugelgen. I’m guessing this guy wasn’t fun at parties. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/2f67d600-dba2-428e-98dd-33e226dd48dd/Rocky_Landscape_in_the_Elbe_Sandstone_Mountains_-_Caspar_David_Friedrich_-_Google_Cultural_Institute.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Mystical Schtick - Make it stand out What do you see when you look at this painting? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b6b9f233-104c-4d03-ad7a-bb3749a389fc/DESPAIR.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Mystical Schtick - Make it stand out Crumb is a melancholic mystic, but he’s funny. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/what-good-is-self-knowledge monthly 0.5 2025-05-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4bd31b71-876a-47a8-b8aa-240061b820c7/ELEVATOR.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - What Good Is “Self-Knowledge”? - Make it stand out This is me examining myself in an elevator mirror. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/henry-james-the-ambassadors-and-the-dithering-hero monthly 0.5 2025-12-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1d04c797-4ae2-490d-87ef-c024f1e9ce45/STRETHER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Henry James, The Ambassadors and the Dithering Hero - Make it stand out This cover depicts Strether, the hero of The Ambassadors, doing what he does best: dithering. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/being-a-science-critic-when-science-is-imperiled monthly 0.5 2025-04-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1eb3f5e3-e604-430b-9eb1-fc0d92f9984f/MODIFIABLE-FLYER-1.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Being a Science Critic When Science Is Imperiled - Make it stand out I show my love for science by criticizing it, not marching for it. But I applaud those who “Stand Up for Science” to protest Trump’s actions. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/mysticism-under-trump monthly 0.5 2025-04-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/14d36079-8ab9-4857-9caf-51853d738521/BARRIERS.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Mysticism Under Trump - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/scientific-american-and-the-anti-woke-bros monthly 0.5 2025-04-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b2bd5849-8e81-4c6d-a52b-269dc0cb11ba/maxresdefault.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Scientific American and the Anti-Woke Bros - Make it stand out “Skeptic” Michael Shermer has been bashing Scientific American for its “left-wing political bias” ever since the magazine canned him as a columnist. When editor-in-chief Laura Helmuth resigned last fall after Trump’s election, Shermer mocked her. A truly classy guy. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/how-friends-cope monthly 0.5 2025-05-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/79a57e12-72a3-45b3-a16c-c01168332ad2/Eclipse_of_the_Sun_%28Grosz%29.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - How Friends Cope - Make it stand out A friend and I went to a museum of Austrian art to escape the shitshow and encountered this. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b7c775dc-06e0-4492-be3b-bf09fdd13267/woman+in+gold.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - How Friends Cope - Make it stand out This beauty redeems the world. Or does it? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/collaboration monthly 0.5 2025-03-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/5ea53da0-015d-4663-8d76-05c1a44c244b/SLIDE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Collaboration - Make it stand out Come on, doesn’t this seem sort of symbolic? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-scandal-behind-the-biggest-study-of-antidepressants-ever monthly 0.5 2025-03-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/da40d384-0d5b-4dc8-9254-d8d5a7bebba1/NY-Times-slide.001.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The “Scandal” Behind the Biggest Study of Antidepressants Ever - Make it stand out In these stories The NY Times cites the flawed STAR*D study as evidence that antidepressants help “nearly 70 percent of people.” The webzine Mad In American posted this graphic in a recent article on the STAR*D “scandal.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/anthropologist-demolishes-claim-that-war-is-in-our-genes monthly 0.5 2025-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f58c09dc-02aa-4f4e-a900-1686cd90acf2/BRIAN+FERGUSON.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Anthropologist Demolishes Claim That War Is in Our Genes - Make it stand out Anthropologist Brian Ferguson says this photo “was taken on top of a Norman hill fort (Motte and Bailey) right where my ancestors were starved out of Tipperary in 1847. A legendary Fairy Fort. 60 feet of mud, which I went up on hands and knees, and came back down sliding on my ass. But I did it.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c67c05b7-c8d2-4b42-8c65-4671a3f4bc94/CWH+cover.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Anthropologist Demolishes Claim That War Is in Our Genes - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/resistance monthly 0.5 2025-03-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/41c9594f-9224-4b7b-b85a-7a4731f72031/horgan-pussyhat.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Resistance - Make it stand out Here I am in Washington, DC, protesting Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2017. My friend Robert Hutchinson talked me into going and supplied the pink hat. If Robert hadn’t died in 2021, he might have talked me into protesting Trump’s second inauguration. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/why-chomsky-called-trump-and-republicans-criminally-insane monthly 0.5 2025-02-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e4f7afb4-6610-4f09-955a-0473a2ad087f/Noam_Chomsky_portrait_2017_retouched.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Why Chomsky Called Trump and Republicans “Criminally Insane” - Make it stand out Chomsky in 2018: “half of Republicans deny that global warming is even taking place, and of the rest, almost half reject any human responsibility. Words fail.” Photo: Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/how-i-cope monthly 0.5 2025-02-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ac5fcbe7-3cb8-4cdc-a605-3caafffb6d26/GEESE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - How I Cope - Make it stand out I don’t especially like the geese overrunning the Hoboken waterfront, but drawing this pair helped me forget the human shitshow. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/self-gaslighting monthly 0.5 2025-02-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/54942e27-44df-4dbb-a794-cfcba3a1665f/FOLLY.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Self-Gaslighting - Make it stand out This 2011 book by evolutionary theorist Robert Trivers helps explain the tendency of men like Donald Trump and me to “self-gaslight,” that is, to believe our own bullshit. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/steven-weinbergs-pointless-final-theory monthly 0.5 2025-01-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/45e70a0f-f8d9-4730-a82e-1e79c2469591/weinberg_2400x1350.jpg.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Steven Weinberg’s Pointless Final Theory - Make it stand out In 1995, I asked Steven Weinberg if it’s too much to ask that a final theory of physics make the world intelligible. “Yes, it’s too much to ask,” he replied. Photo: U. Texas. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-end-of-insight monthly 0.5 2025-01-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/2106f7e4-e277-43a1-ba30-f8fd57f3ef27/LADDER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The End of Insight - Make it stand out I’ll leave it to you to decide how this drawing relates to this column. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/costa-rica-and-the-problem-of-beauty monthly 0.5 2025-01-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4fbaf6d7-a809-414e-8efa-0fd60f80675a/VICKI+COSTA+RICA.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Costa Rica and the Problem of Beauty - Make it stand out My friend treks bravely into Corcovado rain forest, which is filled with marvels and monsters. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-encounter-with-string-theorist-and-nave-realist-edward-witten monthly 0.5 2026-01-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/3f010798-f5f2-4ad7-8749-3a0da9c977c2/Edward-Witten+2015.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Encounter with String Theorist and Naïve Realist Edward Witten - Make it stand out Edward Witten told me in 1991: “Good wrong ideas are extremely scarce, and good wrong ideas that even remotely rival the majesty of string theory have never been seen.” This photo was shot in 2015. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/what-it-is monthly 0.5 2025-01-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/da836da4-a436-45e7-a5ed-9c807796761b/DUCK+POND.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - What It Is - Make it stand out Everything is miraculous, yeah, but some things are especially so, like this duck pond in Battery City Park, where I like to sit and think about what it is. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/jimmy-carters-thoughts-on-the-end-of-war monthly 0.5 2024-12-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/2874a423-0244-450e-a461-a9ffd081f6c1/Jimmy_Carter_007_%288509741941%29.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Jimmy Carter’s Thoughts on the End of War - Make it stand out Asked in 2012 if he thought humanity can end war, Jimmy Carter replied that “this is something that we should do.” But he warned that the U.S. “is in the forefront of those nations that are eager to go to war to resolve differences.” Photo from Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/was-wittgenstein-a-mystic monthly 0.5 2024-12-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/51ef469c-77f4-49ee-9838-95a5f7a2b741/Wittgenstein2.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Was Wittgenstein a Mystic? - Make it stand out Dropping acid might help you understand this guy. But if you understand Wittgenstein, you don’t understand him. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/a-science-writers-winter-solstice monthly 0.5 2024-12-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/19230cf8-ac7c-4e31-b2bd-189b48dda196/HOBOKEN+TREE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - A Science Writer’s Winter Solstice - Make it stand out My drawing of an Xmas tree in Hoboken, where I moved after getting divorced. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/decorating-a-tree-with-skye-a-christmas-story monthly 0.5 2024-12-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7b1216aa-28d6-40de-8c0e-f15cbe9fc3e5/MY+TREE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Decorating a Tree with Skye: A Christmas Story - Make it stand out I made the star (aluminum foil wrapped around cardboard) and placed it atop the tree. Otherwise, Skye did all the work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/193f7f73-3f2b-4bb8-a470-3bb040eb7696/DAR%27S+TREE.JPG Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Decorating a Tree with Skye: A Christmas Story - Make it stand out After I sent her this column, Darlene sent me this photo of her tree. On the right, if you look carefully, you can see two ornaments Dar and I made out of eggs in Denver in the 1970s. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-backstory monthly 0.5 2024-12-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/754697a9-19ed-4013-93b1-a8dabe996fd4/ME+ON+TV.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Backstory - Make it stand out Does this blurry self-portrait need a backstory? Nah. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-particle-in-a-box monthly 0.5 2024-12-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/5bd95145-332c-4fe7-bda6-9986c0cf3c81/InfiniteSquareWellAnimation-1.gif Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Particle in a Box - Make it stand out From Wikipedia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c2f75c96-8afe-45e9-a173-241e75ad1991/SQUARE+WELL.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Particle in a Box - Make it stand out Griffiths introduces the infinite square well. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-the-omega-point-ironic-science monthly 0.5 2024-11-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e3587c2f-5bdf-46b9-b9f9-5a599af13586/TIPLER+Oxford+Union+Debate+2018.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is the Omega Point Ironic Science? - Make it stand out Frank Tipler (standing), inventor of the Omega Point theory, in a recent debate at the Oxford Union. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1e1b52a5-ff5c-4f63-9085-0356d7d1143c/TIPLER+EXPERIMENT.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is the Omega Point Ironic Science? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/dbb7d1b5-cafa-48af-9439-d9df8d9ec0c7/The+predictions+for+two+theories.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is the Omega Point Ironic Science? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/51706fa0-56c5-4832-aea6-565af4d24ca4/TIPLER+IMAGE+3+FINAL.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is the Omega Point Ironic Science? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-david-foster-wallaces-infinite-jest-really-like-great monthly 0.5 2024-11-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c4c77987-0f20-4daa-aefd-1734a3d0acaa/WALLACE+PHOTO.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest” Really, Like, Great? - Make it stand out David Foster Wallace (1962-2008) often wrapped a bandana around his head, as if covering a wound. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/scientific-american-loses-its-bold-leader monthly 0.5 2025-03-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/3c83a90b-ea91-4d50-8708-67c5f1991465/Portrait_of_Laura_Helmuth_after_an_event_at_East_City_Bookshop_in_December_2022.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Scientific American Loses Its Bold Leader - Make it stand out The resignation of Laura Helmuth, editor-in-chief of Scientific American and a powerful social-justice warrior, makes me fear for science journalism. Photo from Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-election-and-the-problem-of-evil monthly 0.5 2024-11-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/66dfe3fc-12a9-4641-8f61-275a640ace45/FLAG.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Election and the Problem of Evil - Make it stand out When I spotted this flag a few days ago, I assumed someone lowered it to mourn the death of democracy. Actually, New Jersey's governor ordered flags lowered to honor a deceased state legislator. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/drawing-pretty-pictures-in-troubled-times monthly 0.5 2024-11-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/2b27fe18-9025-4c62-a604-43e0eb8ec86e/WALKWAY.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing Pretty Pictures in Troubled Times - Make it stand out Yeah, every representation of reality is a cartoon, but my drawings are especially cartoony. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ffcd9397-52ba-412e-8fb3-bba98428c402/RAILING.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing Pretty Pictures in Troubled Times - Make it stand out First drawing, August 2023, just good enough for me to keep going. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/83422e2e-2789-476b-ad48-fb0ab95c6215/BARRIERS.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing Pretty Pictures in Troubled Times - Make it stand out Don’t these barriers seem kind of symbolic? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6c58a7c9-3643-4242-885d-16d95593ac9f/PIPE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing Pretty Pictures in Troubled Times - Make it stand out This giant pipe to nowhere demanded to be drawn. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1a6dd74d-f0d1-4d2a-bcd9-6ebebcddd279/TV+SCREEN.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing Pretty Pictures in Troubled Times - Make it stand out View from my living room couch. On the left is a slice of Roy Lichtenstein’s “Aspen Winter Jazz” poster, which I got when I was 13. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/cf8e392b-1f13-4fe5-8755-d6cc425eb827/BIKE+RACK.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing Pretty Pictures in Troubled Times - Make it stand out This means something, not sure what. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/294e665f-6090-406c-8f74-38dcce3bd617/JOHNS+TO+GO.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing Pretty Pictures in Troubled Times - Make it stand out Emblem of everything? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/bfdd9cb9-844e-460e-ae28-7f8691a15bc6/CLOCK.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing Pretty Pictures in Troubled Times - Make it stand out The skyscraper’s curvy pattern is real, the colors are whimsical. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/02534409-8161-434b-8d37-3ff6d59a007b/ILLUMINATION.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing Pretty Pictures in Troubled Times - Make it stand out I used this to illustrate my last column. I’m using it again because I dig it. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/how-quantum-mechanics-helped-me-escape-the-shitshow monthly 0.5 2024-11-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/289676b9-bf93-4f1f-8de9-36c70ac364d6/ILLUMINATION.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - How Quantum Mechanics Helped Me Escape the Shitshow - Make it stand out This fall, I’ve been distracting myself from the shitshow not by studying quantum mechanics but by drawing things I encounter on the Hoboken waterfront. See “Drawing Pretty Pictures in Troubled Times.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/more-medicine-does-not-mean-better-health monthly 0.5 2024-10-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0c67c09b-213e-431b-b30c-71feff72eec6/life-expectancy-vs-health-expenditure.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - More Medicine Does Not Mean Better Health - Make it stand out This chart from Our World in Data shows that the U.S. (orange dot far right) spends far more than any other country on health care and yet is far from number one in life expectancy. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/beyond-virility-signaling-how-moms-made-us monthly 0.5 2024-10-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b61aa209-6090-49be-adaa-2bf574ab9574/EVE+COVER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Beyond Virility Signaling: How Moms Made Us - Make it stand out Bros who worship Jordan, Joe, Elon and Donald should read this book, which demolishes stale stereotypes about females and males. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/psychiatry-is-broken-can-it-fix-itself monthly 0.5 2024-10-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a91e1d9c-3f65-426e-a8f2-dbe3d6fcf015/FIXERS.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Psychiatry Is Broken. Can It Fix Itself? - Make it stand out This book by a Harvard historian calls upon psychiatry to admit its mistakes and ethical lapses, especially “the willingness of so many of its practitioners in recent decades to follow the money instead of the suffering.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-drug-based-approach-to-mental-illness-has-failed-what-are-alternatives monthly 0.5 2024-10-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0e133fee-7c7c-4953-8377-727dc673b782/ANATOMY.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Drug-Based Approach to Mental Illness Has Failed. What Are Alternatives? - Make it stand out I photographed Anatomy in my office this morning. The shadows are supposed to add an ominous touch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/43789fee-05f0-4700-a99f-8e68495b6f5f/WHITAKER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Drug-Based Approach to Mental Illness Has Failed. What Are Alternatives? - Make it stand out Robert Whitaker: “I am more convinced than ever that psychiatric medications, over the long term, cause net harm.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-beyond-spacetime-meme monthly 0.5 2024-10-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a5bbc693-c0bb-4fad-998a-1d5568f2b4a0/CARPET.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Beyond-Spacetime Meme - Make it stand out How do you illustrate a column on what lies beyond space and time? I decided that this photo of the carpet in my office will do just fine. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-metaphysical-meaning-of-performance-anxiety monthly 0.5 2024-09-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b7b8979d-53d9-485a-a74b-cd15d82cb39d/LITTLE+ISLAND+2024.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Metaphysical Meaning of Performance Anxiety - Make it stand out How Manhattan looked to me from Hoboken last week. I’m not sure how this drawing relates to performance anxiety and derealization, I just like it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/cfd9f802-1209-4eb3-a9bd-ea9db3a54d79/JOHNS+TO+GO.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Metaphysical Meaning of Performance Anxiety - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-consciousness-panel monthly 0.5 2024-09-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ed837c7f-9f20-473c-8694-01fe15c23425/ME+AT+S%26S.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Consciousness Panel - Make it stand out Here is hard objective evidence that I moderated the consciousness panel at Sages & Scientists. That half-face on the left is Deepak Chopra. Seeing my name and face on a big screen freaks me out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9c79c8e5-43ff-45d0-a75b-f2958bc71deb/IMG_0674.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Consciousness Panel - Make it stand out My photo of someone taking a photo of Chopra, right, in a session that wasn't mine. Everything is meta, man. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-god-a-strange-loop monthly 0.5 2024-09-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7a205c26-7af6-4a6b-b6df-c42aa0baf07a/NANTUCKET+MANDALA.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is God a Strange Loop? - Make it stand out Strange loops often lead to infinite regresses, like this image of notebooks within notebooks that I drew in a notebook. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a191f9f1-3b3a-4ad6-9950-d20df2723a48/DrawingHands.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is God a Strange Loop? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/moby-dick-and-hawkings-ultimate-theory monthly 0.5 2024-10-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f28eb1fd-a63f-42e3-ac01-8fafd5351133/MOBY+CUSHION.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Moby Dick and Hawking’s “Ultimate Theory” - Make it stand out This cushion, which sits on the couch in my office at Stevens Institute of Technology, keeps me on my toes. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/on-skipping-stones-and-getting-old monthly 0.5 2024-08-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/12677d7c-104e-468e-bab7-4104daed19cf/STONE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - On Skipping Stones and Getting Old - Make it stand out I just found this fine skipping stone on the beach, but I blew the throw, it only skipped five times. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/solipsism-quantum-mechanics-and-online-dating monthly 0.5 2024-09-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/62eac122-f0b6-4bcd-aed8-0d80659ac50e/WAVE+FUNCTION.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Solipsism, Quantum Mechanics and Online Dating - Make it stand out This is my drawing of a wave function, based on images on Wikipedia. The blue and red curves represent the function's real and imaginary components. Wave functions, I propose below, can describe love as well as electrons. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/should-i-wear-a-mask-in-class-this-fall monthly 0.5 2024-08-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/33419dfb-f65e-4328-9e2d-0160f6661d74/SELF+DOUBT.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Should I Wear a Mask in Class This Fall? - Make it stand out I’ve been wearing a mask in the classroom since September 2021, and I haven’t gotten Covid or even a cold. So should I mask again this fall? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f78d3139-8aba-4719-802d-855516f889ba/mask+study.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Should I Wear a Mask in Class This Fall? - Make it stand out The Norwegian researchers summarize the results of their masking study in this “visual abstract.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/math-god-and-the-problem-of-evil monthly 0.5 2024-08-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ac732a32-cbef-4060-ae89-0b7d7e78e749/RADULOVIC.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Math, God and the Problem of Evil - Make it stand out This book says the “unreasonable effectiveness” of math is a “miracle.” Hmm, does that mean H-bombs are miracles? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/dumpster-diving-why-i-draw-trash-cans monthly 0.5 2024-09-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/02008c3b-f2a2-4301-9e5e-3411ddc8877c/DUMPSTER+DRAW.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Dumpster Diving: Why I Draw Trash Cans - Make it stand out Why did I draw this? Maybe I just think it’s pretty. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/52693e61-9231-435a-a612-363ce91dc59f/JOHN+TO+GO.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Dumpster Diving: Why I Draw Trash Cans - Make it stand out Obviously I felt a personal connection here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e63a3a46-797e-4dd8-9d73-d0cb760db35d/RECYCLE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Dumpster Diving: Why I Draw Trash Cans - Make it stand out Sometimes a recycling bin is just a recycling bin. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e834d0c8-9019-4c0d-9ef8-4d471b2955bf/TRASH+CAN.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Dumpster Diving: Why I Draw Trash Cans - Make it stand out Someone with artistic flair designed this, and I appreciate it. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/whats-the-point-of-poetic-science-writing monthly 0.5 2024-08-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1282a498-bc8a-42e3-a378-b4e885541c43/OneMileBelowSurfaceSURFSouthDakotaPhotoByCaitlinCasar_feature-1024x569.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - What’s the Point of Poetic, “Gee-Whiz” Science Writing? - Make it stand out Ferris Jabr, shown here in a South Dakota mine, writes about science with poetic intensity. Why? What’s the poetry’s point? I found this photo here. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-there-hope-for-men monthly 0.5 2024-11-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/979beff0-ba22-4a3e-b6c2-f4c6750f8dac/ME+AND+MAC.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is There Hope for Men? - Make it stand out Me hanging with my son Mac, who was born in 1993. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-horgan-surface-and-the-death-of-proof monthly 0.5 2024-07-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7f75275a-e1ee-45ae-91b4-99eaf90fbae9/0AEB0D91-B457-47F4-81843A5F5811C25D_source.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The “Horgan Surface” and “The Death of Proof” - Make it stand out Behold the Horgan surface! Actually, it is only a pseudo-surface, because it has gaps, as the image below reveals. But the image below that is a genuine surface, the “triply periodic Horgan surface.” I found these images on the website of Matthias Weber. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/fe62a749-7cc6-4b1b-b2e9-d4c9219f8101/fail%281%29.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The “Horgan Surface” and “The Death of Proof” - Make it stand out On closer inspection, the Horgan surface turns out to have gaps. Oops. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/336083f0-8473-4afe-bfa7-17f47dc93a4b/a_3.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The “Horgan Surface” and “The Death of Proof” - Make it stand out Behold the triply periodic Horgan surface! https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/francis-cricks-depressing-hypothesis monthly 0.5 2024-07-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7cb8c1de-1163-4c20-b109-94db33d26327/CRICK+PHOTO.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Francis Crick’s Depressing Hypothesis - Make it stand out Crick got a kick out of skewering wishful thinking, like my belief in free will. But was he right that we are “nothing but a pack of neurons”? I found this photo of him here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e1399b18-bdd0-4891-8515-903789ad485e/Rubins-vase-sometimes-referred-to-as-The-Two-Face-One-Vase-Illusion-depicts-the.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Francis Crick’s Depressing Hypothesis - Make it stand out When you look at consciousness research, do you see a thriving or failing scientific enterprise? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/shit-my-pal-richard-says monthly 0.5 2024-07-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7d564dc1-ea8f-4d5e-a567-853d62eaa702/RICHARD.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Shit My Pal Richard Says - Make it stand out My pen pal Richard Gaylord is a theoretical polymer physicist and “radical individualist who believes in free market anarchism.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/jack-london-liberal-arts-and-the-dream-of-total-knowledge monthly 0.5 2024-07-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0baa0742-a4a7-4d7d-9537-745d064d5485/Jack_London_Drawing.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Jack London, Liberal Arts and the Dream of Total Knowledge - Make it stand out Jack London’s fictional doppelganger Martin Eden reads because he wants to see the “kinship” between even the most seemingly incongruous things, from murder to fulcrums. Yeah, me too, but is such a unified vision feasible? I found this cartoon of London on Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/why-freud-still-isnt-dead monthly 0.5 2024-06-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0765eb80-b2ea-439d-9547-a17760dd24e5/Screenshot+2024-06-25+at+8.39.49%E2%80%AFAM.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Why Freud Still Isn’t Dead - Make it stand out Literary critic Frederick Crews (1923-2024), shown here speaking to me in 2019, strove mightily to kill Freud. In vain. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/a-writer-reflects-on-turning-71 monthly 0.5 2024-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/85e861ff-f097-48ea-8f8e-3c0c3faede44/JOHN+TO+GO.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - A Writer Reflects on Turning 71 - Make it stand out If writing no longer helps me pay attention, maybe I’ll spend more time drawing things, like this “JOHN TO GO” I recently encountered on the Hoboken waterfront. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1c8a5310-bd9d-4bd5-8f68-a2d6d967f34d/BLANK+PAGE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - A Writer Reflects on Turning 71 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/im-a-rational-anti-medicine-nut monthly 0.5 2024-06-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4e25cdc6-a07e-4495-8fa4-ffcbeb4d26dc/NATURAL+CAUSES.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - I’m a Rational Anti-Medicine Nut - Make it stand out Barbara Ehrenreich argues in this bestseller that screening asymptomatic people for cancer and other diseases does more harm than good. I agree. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7f81825c-403a-417e-ad26-6c91935987d7/RADIOLOGY+IS+FUN.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - I’m a Rational Anti-Medicine Nut - Make it stand out A radiology center down the street from me just emailed me this ad, which nicely illustrates what’s wrong with “preventive” medicine. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/why-i-quit-a-class-on-zen monthly 0.5 2024-06-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b69511e0-5566-43e8-a41f-6e0b1a0a09ae/ZEN+WOODS.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Why I Quit a Class on Zen - Make it stand out In 1999 I took a Zen class in Garrison, NY. This photo, which I took in Garrison last weekend, shows a path on which I struggled to be here now. Pretty, right? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/freeman-dysons-disturbing-scientific-theology monthly 0.5 2024-06-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f3f6ee3e-2831-4b56-8d28-c7bf317d1918/898px-Freeman_Dyson_%282005%29.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Freeman Dyson’s Disturbing Scientific Theology - Make it stand out Physicist Freeman Dyson proposed an intriguing solution to the old problem of evil: if God created us, and loves us, why is life so painful? I found this photo on Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/judith-butler-on-nonviolence-a-critique monthly 0.5 2024-06-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/cb726684-ea56-48f4-8061-de41025f8137/BUTLER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Judith Butler on Nonviolence: A Critique - Make it stand out I admire Judith Butler’s plea for nonviolence, but it annoys me, too. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/can-a-mood-be-true monthly 0.5 2024-05-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/54f65ca7-063c-482a-9ad9-3f3d6c048387/MORNING+VIEW.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Can a Mood Be True? - Make it stand out Hudson River and lower Manhattan, as seen from my apartment. Even drab scenes should make our hearts overflow with gladsadness. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-ironic-interpretation-of-quantum-mechanics monthly 0.5 2024-05-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/70f9f86f-05c3-41d5-90d5-b9cb950931c3/trident+1.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Ironic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics - Make it stand out This is a wave function symbol drawn by psychedelic artist Nikita Petrov, my Russian friend. The wave function is a mathematical widget at the heart of quantum mechanics. It works, but we can’t know precisely why it works or what it means. So says the ironic interpretation of quantum mechanics. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/quantum-mechanics-platos-cave-and-the-blind-piranha monthly 0.5 2024-05-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/16bf497c-ec83-4815-8c52-da0d8fadb55a/PIRANHA.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Quantum Mechanics, Plato’s Cave and the Blind Piranha - Make it stand out We might know more than the blind piranha, but we’re pretty clueless, too. When I googled “blind piranha,” I found this photo here. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/i-am-one-of-those-evil-woke-professors monthly 0.5 2024-05-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7164e213-4f81-4b26-bc5c-4cf4003358aa/war+poster.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - I Am One of Those Evil Woke Professors - Make it stand out Here’s how woke I am: this old hippy-era poster hangs in my living room. To me, being woke means being antiwar, because war is the meta-problem that exacerbates other problems. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/gene-whiz-science-is-dead-yay monthly 0.5 2024-05-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/5ab67893-ba06-4ce8-86db-338de5fba9d3/GENE+NGRAM.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Gene-Whiz Science Is Dead. Yay! - Make it stand out Could the genes-R-us era be ending? I certainly hope so. This Ngram showing the rise and fall of the terms “gene” and “genetic” comes from Philip Ball’s How Life Works, which I highly recommend. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/dear-student-protesters-please-oppose-all-war monthly 0.5 2024-05-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7ee0a150-1ae4-41b7-b0c1-f0d760fb9614/Columbia_reinstated_Gaza_Solidarity_Encampment_Palestinian_flags.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Dear Student Protesters, Please Oppose All War - Make it stand out Wouldn’t it be cool if student protests against Israel’s U.S.-enabled war in Gaza morphed into a global movement against all war? I found this photo of the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Columbia University on Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/consciousness-and-the-dennett-paradox monthly 0.5 2024-05-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e26ea033-cde9-48b7-a148-15ea93e41b56/Daniel_Dennett_2.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Consciousness and the Dennett Paradox - Make it stand out Daniel Dennett died yesterday, April 19, 2024. When he argues that we overrate consciousness, he demonstrates, paradoxically, how conscious he is, and he makes his audience more conscious. I found this photo of Dennett on Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/nicaragua-quantum-mechanics-and-other-solutions-to-habituation monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9ec66037-f110-463b-83e4-23a25b805990/NICARAGUA.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Nicaragua, Quantum Mechanics and Other “Solutions” to Habituation - Make it stand out Here I am with Blanca and Jose Sevilla and their daughter in Esteli, Nicaragua, in 1985. After just a month living with the Sevillas, I became habituated to their way of life. When I returned home to Manhattan, it freaked me out, because I had become de-habituated to it. In a week or two, I was taking Manhattan for granted again. And so it goes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e3111f42-7e64-4797-92df-f74f5683498c/portapotty.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Nicaragua, Quantum Mechanics and Other “Solutions” to Habituation - Make it stand out This portable restroom caught my eye while I was sitting by the Hudson River. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-consciousness-salon monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/933e257a-5194-4ee3-a802-06ea9213fb8f/SALON.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Consciousness Salon - Make it stand out Dave “the hard problem” Chalmers, the gray-haired guy on the stool, mansplains to Susan MacTavish Best, in the black dress, at a salon she organized. I’m kidding, Chalmers is a nice guy, he never mansplains. The murky photo mirrors my murky consciousness. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/defending-my-nave-realism monthly 0.5 2024-04-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4392e894-ab54-4f5a-a28b-94616f6e1d9d/NY+Scene.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Defending My Naïve Realism - Make it stand out This is what I was looking at as I posted this column this morning. Is it an illusion? A simulation? The fever dream of an insane God? Nah. It’s just what it appears to be. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-derealization-a-delusion-or-insight monthly 0.5 2024-04-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e8ae802d-c771-4a02-bb7b-af549c9dddc9/IMG_0531.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is Derealization a Delusion or Insight? - Make it stand out I shot this scene yesterday in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, because it gave me a frisson of derealization. The world seemed to be winking at me, telling me not to take things too seriously. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-information-eternally-conserved monthly 0.5 2024-03-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8b9a723e-bbdd-4e33-84f5-b37f2741f1d8/JOURNAL+INFO.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is “Information” Eternally Conserved? - Make it stand out Conservation of information implies that the universe records every thought you’ve ever had. Just in case, I record my thoughts in journals. On the page above, which I wrote June 16, 2020, I record my reaction to encountering “conservation of information” on page 9 of Leonard Susskind’s Theoretical Minimum book on classical mechanics. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-statistics-of-lovers-quarrels monthly 0.5 2024-03-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ac9b9fc0-c78d-49f1-84fa-211f03894759/QUARRELS.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Statistics of Lovers’ Quarrels - Make it stand out This is not a graph of my quarrels with “Emily.” It is a graph from Statistics of Deadly Quarrels by Lewis Fry Richardson. The graph shows that deadly quarrels follow an inverse power law. The vertical axis represents the number of quarrels and the horizontal axis the number of dead per quarrel; the scales are logarithmic. Many quarrels cause a single death (dots top left); and relatively few quarrels, notably world wars, cause many deaths (horizontal dashes). Question: can this type of analysis help us end war? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/frans-de-waal-rip-and-the-origins-of-war monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/10d3f984-0489-44fa-86ce-b266dab01694/Frans_de_Waal.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Frans de Waal (RIP) and the Origins of War - Make it stand out Primatologist Frans de Waal, when I interviewed him in 2007, rejected the claim that we share an “instinct” for war with chimpanzees, our closest relatives. I found this photo of de Waal, who died on March 14, on Wikipedia. Doesn’t he look like a nice guy? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/can-physics-ease-the-sting-of-death monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ba07dd1f-f947-4681-88df-d25ad73ac8d2/SKULL.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Can Physics Ease the Sting of Death? - Make it stand out My apartment is filled with memento mori like this skull, which hangs over my couch, and reminds of the ultimate fate of all things. Those red eyes are illuminated. Cool, right? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-melanoma-melodrama monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0b3e12b8-dea8-45b3-9063-f2630b9fdfc9/MY+BIOPSY.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Melanoma Melodrama - Make it stand out Here’s the biopsy report on the spot on my back. That “MALIGNANT MELANOMA” diagnosis scared me at first, but then it pissed me off, when I realized that it might be an overdiagnosis. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-daily-routine monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/eb640e87-99c2-4f19-a74c-4f1dca965e4a/COUCH.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Daily Routine - Make it stand out This couch is where I spend most of my days when I’m not teaching. And a good chunk of my nights, too. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/quantum-mechanics-the-chinese-room-and-the-limits-of-understanding monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/fbffa23b-d98b-4a71-b245-8cb086b07bb7/BOXES.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Quantum Mechanics, the Chinese Room and the Limits of Understanding - Make it stand out Conventional computation comes down to electrical pulses (balls) being transformed by logic gates (boxes). This illustration comes from Q Is for Quantum by physicist Terry Rudolph. He suggests that human cognition, too, comes down to these sorts of logical operations. Does that mean we’re really just machines? Another possibility: our brains rely on quantum computation. To see how that works, check out Rudolph’s marvelous book. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/ten-tough-terrific-quantum-books monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c31772fa-bee8-4161-ac9e-08ca38b9737c/RUDOLPH+COVER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Ten Tough, Terrific Quantum Books - Make it stand out This little self-published book by Terry Rudolph, who happens to be Schrodinger’s grandson, gave me a better intuitive grasp of entanglement, superposition and the basics of quantum computing than anything else I’ve read. But other books have helped me too. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/multiverses-are-pseudoscientific-bullshit monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/be09ddfd-f28b-47de-bbe6-9212725ce043/EVERYTHING.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Multiverses Are Pseudoscientific Bullshit - Make it stand out I dig fictional depictions of multiverses, like “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” but I don’t dig multiverse theories, which are escapist pseudoscience. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-the-schrdinger-equation-true monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c7bb6a15-d42f-401e-bae9-1a1a89311f52/GRIFFITHS+P+3.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is the Schrödinger Equation True? - Make it stand out If you squint, you can see the Schrödinger equation in a box on this page of Introduction to Quantum Mechanics by David Griffiths and Darrell Schroeter, which I “read” for my quantum experiment. I “explain” the equation here. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/will-psychedelics-save-us-nah monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7c948439-1262-4864-9624-aa77589723e5/UTOPIANDYSTOPIA_-by-HeavensLastAngel-0-1-screenshot.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Will Psychedelics Save Us? Nah - Make it stand out I found this groovy image on a site announcing discussion of the topic, “Psychedelic Utopias: Where did the 60s go wrong?” Good question. One answer is that capitalism turns everything to shit. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/quantum-mechanics-free-will-and-the-game-of-life monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6cc59c1b-945d-4313-9945-70914bbf91a5/LIFE.gif Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Quantum Mechanics, Free Will and “The Game of Life” - Make it stand out Are our actions as predetermined as those of the creatures that populate The Game of Life? Does that mean we lack free will? Oh, who the hell knows. But The Game of Life is cool. Check out this version of the famous cellular automaton to see how it evolves over time. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/stuff-i-love-making-students-read monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/32030777-e549-4707-a4b8-b6cd837b3376/ALTRUISM.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Stuff I Love Making Students Read - Make it stand out This semester I’m making students wrestle with this 1971 paper by Robert Trivers along with Plato’s riff on good and evil, “The Ring of Gyges.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/mitchell-feigenbaum-and-the-end-of-chaoplexity monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1ad58347-b427-4de1-a056-0003edfe56b6/feigenbaum1987_by_Gruttner.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Mitchell Feigenbaum and the End of Chaoplexity - Make it stand out Feigenbaum, 1944-2019, didn’t just look like a genius, he was one, according to his fellow chaoplexologists. Ingbert Gruttner took this photo in 1987. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-chaoplexity-delusion monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9589883a-dff1-44c9-95b1-41cf1f37e98f/Mandel_zoom_08_satellite_antenna.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Chaoplexity Delusion - Make it stand out The Mandelbrot set symbolizes chaoplexologists’ hope that, with the help of ever-more-powerful computers, they can discover simple principles underpinning diverse, complicated things, from brains to economies. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/things-were-worse-when-i-was-young monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9af68d2f-2439-405e-89f7-d3a2afae0caa/kiss+ass.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Things Were Worse When I Was Young - Make it stand out This 1970s-era poster captures how many in my generation viewed the prospect of nuclear annihilation. Make sure you read the last line. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/bayes-theorem-and-bullshit monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/fd0d1867-445f-446e-bbfc-f7adfb8730c8/3+BLUE+BAYES.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Bayes’ Theorem and Bullshit - Make it stand out The website 3blue1brown.com has terrific tutorials on all sorts of mathematical topics, including Bayes’ theorem. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/self-doubt-is-my-superpower monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6a49e012-06ae-42a5-a7e3-571e71f3437e/SELF+DOUBT.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Self-Doubt Is My Superpower - Make it stand out For the past few years, I’ve worn a mask in class, plus a hat, so my students can’t see whether I’m smiling, and hence being ironic, when I assure them that self-doubt, which I possess in abundance, is cool. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/free-will-war-and-the-tolstoy-paradox monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/67a0d55f-e174-4000-b881-2012d5e49a4a/IMG_0468.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Free Will, War and the Tolstoy Paradox - Make it stand out Only someone with free will could write this free-will-denying book. That’s the Tolstoy paradox. I recommend reading this Pevear/Volokhonsky translation on Kindle, so you don’t have to lug the damn thing around. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-killing-children-ever-justified monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/713a0620-84e0-4b4b-a08c-9bdaa63f8a92/The_Terror_of_War.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is Killing Children Ever Justified? - Make it stand out Vietnamese children flee a napalm attack on their village in 1972. There can be no justification for dropping bombs on children. Ever. Therefore war must end. I found this famous photo by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut on Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/quantum-mechanics-and-the-holiday-blues monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d54854be-f07c-413c-8173-852a5042b842/TREE+2023.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Quantum Mechanics and the Holiday Blues - Make it stand out Does this pseudo-tree look sad to you? It looks sad to me. Hoboken, New Jersey, December 2, 2023. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/farts-boners-and-free-will-seriously monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/93bc03f0-9665-494e-8a03-461cedd0a6b3/THINKING.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Farts, Boners and Free Will. Seriously - Make it stand out Yeah, thoughts, some unwelcome, pop into my head all the time. But I can control my thoughts, too, just as I can control farts, boners and other stuff my body does. Nikita Petrov did this sketch of me. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/dear-feminists-please-help-end-war monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/54935de2-8b8b-4e62-910a-67653ca60e21/GAZAN+MOTHER.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Dear Feminists, Please Help End War! - Make it stand out Females, such as this Gazan woman and girl, suffer more than males from wars’ effects, modern studies show. I found this photo by Belal Khaled here. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/thanksgiving-and-scientists-slander-of-native-americans monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c20ac871-b09e-46cf-9662-1ee24154576d/Thanksgiving-Brownscombe.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Thanksgiving and Scientists’ Slander of Native Americans - Make it stand out Pilgrims piously celebrate Thanksgiving in Plymouth as Native Americans (far right) look on in a 1914 painting I found on Wikipedia. By 1621, when this peaceful get-together took place, European colonizers were already slaughtering, enslaving and sickening Native Americans. And yet Steven Pinker and other prominent scientists insist that pre-state people were more vicious than European colonizers. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-doubts-about-the-end-of-science monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/10069db8-0347-446d-8831-e24e24711ba4/Screenshot+2023-11-20+at+5.52.12+AM.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Doubts about The End of Science - Make it stand out Sabine Hossenfelder takes a hard look at my end-of-science thesis in this video. I have doubts about my thesis too, as I confess below. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/free-will-and-chatgpt-me monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/426db773-68b0-480c-99eb-389ab643f497/chatgpt-neural-architecture-1024x576.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Free Will and ChatGPT-Me - Make it stand out This neural network lacks free will, and so, I fear, do I. I found this image here. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/free-will-and-the-could-you-have-chosen-otherwise-gambit monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6009ee06-7cd4-4bb1-b708-4dbccc3d528a/DETERMINED+NOTES.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Free Will and the Could-You-Have-Chosen-Otherwise Gambit - Make it stand out These are notes I jotted down in the front of Robert Sapolsky’s book Determined. These prove that I gave his anti-free-will argument careful consideration before rejecting it. Sapolsky’s argument wasn’t compelling enough for me to choose otherwise. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/free-will-and-the-sapolsky-paradox monthly 0.5 2024-08-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7f243348-f039-4bec-bfdb-16d56da39f66/SAPOLSKY+IMAGE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Free Will and the Sapolsky Paradox - Make it stand out When you decide after careful deliberation that free will does not exist, you demonstrate that it does exist. That is the Sapolsky paradox, named after neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, who argues against free will in his new book Determined. This image of Sapolsky comes from a conversation I recorded with him, see link here. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/can-beauty-redeem-the-world monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/20233f27-3778-42e7-a61c-91c792120895/MOONRISE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Can Beauty Redeem the World? - Make it stand out Yeah, this is a pretty scene, but so what? Is the prettiness supposed to make us feel better about all the shit happening in the world? By the way, the moon looks dinky in this photo, but when it first rose it looked like a big orange dome. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/theories-of-consciousness-gaza-and-my-cognitive-dissonance monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/358386e5-3d6f-4f3c-8602-96ead82fb6ca/MISSILES.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Theories of Consciousness, Gaza and My Cognitive Dissonance - Make it stand out This photo shows Israeli missiles intercepting missiles launched from Gaza, according to CNN. A theory of everything, I argue, should be able to model both the trajectories of missiles and the decisions to launch them. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/can-a-chatbot-be-aware-that-its-not-aware monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/04d71fc1-3ef6-4d85-ad01-fe7da105c56f/Technological-progress-of-smiling-robot-assistant-with-artificial-intelligence-in-public-place.-Futuristic-concept-of-robotics-machines-in-daily-life.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Can a Chatbot Be Aware That It’s Not Aware? - Make it stand out Pi, the “personal AI,” gave me a helpful response to my question about quantum mechanics. But it is so relentlessly friendly that I began to suspect it really hates me. I found this image here. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/a-buddhism-critic-goes-on-a-buddhist-retreat monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/21c4208d-318e-476a-ad42-41f46a255646/MY+BUDDHA+copy.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - A Buddhism Critic Goes on a Buddhist Retreat - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ede814ee-4916-4bca-a618-ae736836249b/SURYA+DAS.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - A Buddhism Critic Goes on a Buddhist Retreat - Make it stand out Lama Surya Das was born Jeffrey Miller in Long Island, New York. His mom calls him the Deli Lama. Buddhism isn’t true, he told me, but it works. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/cutting-through-the-chatgpt-hype monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e5a5d6fe-85c8-49f3-96dd-85836de8e981/chatgpt.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Cutting Through the ChatGPT Hype - Make it stand out The problem with ChatGPT “is not that it occasionally makes mistakes,” says Erik J. Larson. “It's that it occasionally becomes a completely insane thing.” I found this image here. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-golden-bowl-and-the-combinatorial-explosion-of-theories-of-mind monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/323ffe08-f478-49ce-a551-fff8c1da0b91/BOWL+COVER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Golden Bowl and the Combinatorial Explosion of Theories of Mind - Make it stand out This cover implies that The Golden Bowl by William James is a sexy page-turner. It’s not. It’s an almost mathematically rigorous proof that we can never really know each other. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/why-time-flies-when-youre-old monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/20523140-aa16-40fe-85b5-8ae3edb3016a/SKULL.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Why Time Flies When You’re Old - Make it stand out This skull is one of several memento mori in my apartment. Looking death in the eye makes it freeze, like a monster caught in headlights. Or so I like to believe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/96564189-3026-4938-b4c8-04bb4ae41310/EYE+EXAM.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Why Time Flies When You’re Old - Make it stand out This is what I saw during my eye exam. Come on, that’s weird. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/54d4a2aa-5c45-4fd6-970a-f6bc9288c005/portapotty.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Why Time Flies When You’re Old - Make it stand out Drawing helps me pay attention to things I might otherwise overlook. Also it’s just a nice way to kill time. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-rise-of-neo-geocentrism monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b2fe3a8a-f322-4b7e-98a2-dc0f881adf7e/Bartolomeu_Velho_1568.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Rise of Neo-Geocentrism - Make it stand out Mind-centric theories based on information theory and quantum mechanics are throwbacks to geocentrism. I found this 16th-century depiction of geocentrism on Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-brouhaha-over-consciousness-and-pseudoscience monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/297d87b2-f590-4bfa-acb4-2f8c225246c4/Phi-iit-symbol.svg.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Brouhaha Over Consciousness and “Pseudoscience” - Make it stand out This symbol stands for phi, which represents the interconnectedness of the components of a system. The more phi something has, the more conscious it is. Or so says integrated information theory, which some mind-body researchers like and others are calling “pseudoscience.” I found this image on Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-big-bang-theory-is-true-deal-with-it monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/725eb576-b088-4711-a16a-d7d58690acba/CDOSMIC+GRID.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Big Bang Theory Is True. Deal With It. - Make it stand out This fencing along the Hudson evokes the grids with which cosmologists simulate the universe. The padlocks represent… Oh, hell, I don’t know, you decide. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-ocean-is-getting-on-my-nerves monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c0f914df-8f60-4528-844b-b195c5af7532/OCEAN.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Ocean Is Getting on My Nerves - Make it stand out This is the ocean with which I had my recent run-in. See how judgy it is? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/drawing-a-pen-with-the-same-pen-and-other-strange-loops monthly 0.5 2025-06-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/88c1153f-eb75-49ed-8492-caa059f26cff/JOURNAL.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing a Pen with the Same Pen and Other Strange Loops - Make it stand out Carol Croland, the girlfriend of my old friend Bill Mathews (who is an actual, superb artist), gave me me this journal. Thanks Carol! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e578ec90-b4fb-4daf-b88c-aabd56ab5806/GUDGEON+CHAIR.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing a Pen with the Same Pen and Other Strange Loops - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d9f6e1d9-d13e-4e28-8659-7cea503f9d8b/CHAIR+ARM.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing a Pen with the Same Pen and Other Strange Loops - Make it stand out I drew the arm of the beach chair (with cupholder) in which I was sitting, and the open journal in my lap, because drawing waves was too hard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e4695222-b542-4610-81de-21af3d4bce57/BAD+PEN.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing a Pen with the Same Pen and Other Strange Loops - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/caf83879-b04e-4b64-a61e-d786b66627ef/FEET+2.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Drawing a Pen with the Same Pen and Other Strange Loops - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/entropy-meaninglessness-and-miracles monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c6409fbd-2ebf-43c2-b900-c46cb58c6b0d/IMG_0400.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Entropy, Meaninglessness and Miracles - Make it stand out Sand has high entropy, because shuffling the grains doesn’t change its sandiness. Seaweed has low entropy, because if you shuffle its parts, chances are it loses its seaweediness. A crab would have been more dramatic than seaweed, but you get the point. Photo by “Emily.” https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-delusion-of-scientific-omniscience monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d9cce926-09a5-44a5-aa00-9e7a69cb8ba6/IMG_0394.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Delusion of Scientific Omniscience - Make it stand out “Footprints on a beach, real original,” my girlfriend said when I showed her this photo. Yeah, but I’m hoping it somehow captures the absurdity of the idea that we can know everything. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/pluralism-beyond-the-one-and-only-truth monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7ce201e3-db25-4e30-b6fa-54a4b442cfe6/PLURALISM+PHOTO.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Pluralism: Beyond the One and Only Truth - Make it stand out Other than the fact that there’s a lot going on in it, I’m not sure how this shot of the Hoboken waterfront relates to pluralism. I just like it. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-encounter-with-philosophical-anarchist-paul-feyerabend monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1c963ad1-ce21-406d-a342-f7b70cf0f60e/Feyerabend+Dishes.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Encounter with Philosophical Anarchist Paul Feyerabend - Make it stand out Feyerabend says washing dishes for his wife, physicist Grazia Borrini, is his “favorite activity,” but Borrini says he washes dishes only “once in a blue moon.” Whom should I believe, the philosopher or the physicist? Credit: Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-paradox-of-karl-popper monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8881a765-0f0c-4120-bdf1-2603d0365142/Karl_Popper2.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Popper Paradox - Make it stand out The Popper paradox, named after philosopher Karl Popper, arises when you reject dogmatism in a dogmatic way. Photo: Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/oppenheimer-bethe-and-the-doomsday-hypothesis monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/903ba995-cfb6-45f8-80f6-8803216f2ee9/Trinity_shot_color.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Oppenheimer, Bethe and the Doomsday Hypothesis - Make it stand out Before the Trinity test on July 16, 1945 (photo from Wikipedia), that old kidder Enrico Fermi took bets on whether the explosion would ignite the earth’s atmosphere. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ae133651-0fb1-4583-b9f2-02db1c937d2c/Bethe-hans_a.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Oppenheimer, Bethe and the Doomsday Hypothesis - Make it stand out Hans Bethe, seen here in his Los Alamos ID-badge photo (source: Wikipedia), assured me that he wasn’t worried the Trinity test would destroy the world. He was worried only that the fission device wouldn’t explode. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/thomas-kuhns-skepticism-went-too-far monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b76f43a2-01c1-4938-ae5b-4718a10ac2ed/kuhn1.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Thomas Kuhn’s Skepticism Went Too Far - Make it stand out What did this guy really think about science? Was he anti-science, pro-science, or what? Photo from Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-self-knowledge-overrated monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/52c69dcb-5912-45e1-a274-ab855d40d6b9/David_-_The_Death_of_Socrates.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is Self-Knowledge Overrated? - Make it stand out Socrates, pontificating on his deathbed in this 18th-century painting, said examining yourself and others makes you happier and more virtuous. Modern philosophers and scientists who specialize in mind and morality doubt that claim. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/whats-the-point-of-the-humanities monthly 0.5 2024-09-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/cd180d31-f672-4aae-a798-a9b28c163d6f/Socrate_du_Louvre.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - What’s the Point of the Humanities? - Make it stand out Why should STEM students have to read this old guy? I found this photo of a bust of Socrates on Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/should-machines-replace-mathematicians monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d763dbae-6394-4880-ad63-4838d1fc2d3e/Sentinel_Range%2C_Ellsworth_Mountains%2C_Antarctica.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Should Machines Replace Mathematicians? - Make it stand out I used to envision the frontier of mathematics as akin to Antarctica’s remote, forbidding Sentinel Range, depicted in this Wikipedia photo. But mathematics is beginning to resemble a factory in which robots do the heavy lifting. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-meeting-with-david-bohm-tormented-quantum-visionary monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b66b64ea-526e-4ff4-98a1-666075bf86b7/bohm-and-k.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Meeting with David Bohm, Tormented Quantum Visionary - Make it stand out Bohm, seen here with his friend Krishnamurti, rejected the idea of final knowledge, whether scientific or spiritual. Source: Bohm-Krishnamurti Project. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/physicist-john-wheeler-and-the-it-from-bit monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/3ef10f1f-9fbe-4ab4-970f-6efc894c4d65/WHEELER.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Physicist John Wheeler and the “It from Bit” - Make it stand out John Wheeler told me that “we can and will understand. That's the central thing I would like to stand for. We can and will understand.” Photo (circa 1965): Atomic Heritage Foundation. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-meeting-with-claude-shannon-father-of-the-information-age monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/11395e5f-6f26-4d82-bdbd-a7fdcc1864f9/a-photo-of-a-man-in-a-suit-with-his-hand-on-a-toy-in-a-maze.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Meeting With Claude Shannon, Father of the Information Age - Make it stand out In the early 1950s Claude Shannon designed a mechanical mouse named “Theseus” that could navigate a maze in an early demonstration of artificial intelligence. Source: Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/how-dave-chalmers-invented-the-hard-problem monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8e8dc44b-c5f8-44a1-a671-b8940e3ee8a9/koch+chalmers.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - How Dave Chalmers Invented the “Hard Problem” - Make it stand out Dave Chalmers (left) debates his old frenemy Christof Koch, a brain scientist equally obsessed with consciousness, on June 23, 2023, at the 26th annual conference of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. They’ve always dressed like this. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/confessions-of-a-namedropping-humblebragger monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/46e096e3-bdb9-4062-86ff-5a76073e1d8d/EMPTY+HEAD.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Confessions of a Namedropping Humblebragger - Make it stand out When I wear this groovy cap, I am humblebragging. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-bloomsday-tribute-to-james-joyce-greatest-mind-scientist-ever monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/610208f2-682a-4150-8428-6d06f02850a3/marilyn-reads-joyce-e1352357312199.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Bloomsday Tribute to James Joyce, Greatest Mind-Scientist Ever - Make it stand out Movie star Marilyn Monroe reads Ulysses in a 1955 photo by Eve Arnold. Monroe seems to be reading Molly Bloom’s soliloquy, which concludes the book. Here’s the backstory of the photo. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-slam-dunk-arguments-for-free-will monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/5b50163a-163a-490d-8145-33ba6878629e/the+path.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Slam-Dunk Arguments for Free Will - Make it stand out Our path through life is rarely this straightforward. We face countless choices, small and big. Sometimes I wish I didn’t have free will. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/how-i-kicked-caffeine-addiction monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f707bc34-a0c9-418f-99d9-862fcbf56c78/COFFEE+IMAGE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - How I Kicked Caffeine - Make it stand out Caffeine promotes mindless, impatient busyness. That’s why I want to kick the habit, again. I found this image on Amazon. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/ai-execs-are-monetizing-fear-just-like-the-sopranos monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/94ca7033-7450-4dcc-b033-216396fa6e9a/Tony_Soprano_2.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - How AI Moguls Are Like Mobsters - Make it stand out Mob boss Tony Soprano would have admired the way AI executives use fear to make more money. Photo from Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/youre-not-free-if-youre-dead-the-case-against-giving-ukraine-f-16s monthly 0.5 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9ee5a8bd-d4ab-4e82-8e38-2a7b204f2569/PEACE+BILLBOARD.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - You’re Not Free If You’re Dead: The Case Against Giving Ukraine F-16s - Make it stand out I found this uncaptioned photo on the website of the War Resisters League. My Russian friend Nikita says the words express “the old slogan, ‘Peace to the world,’ playing on the fact that ‘peace’ and ‘world’ are the same word” in both Russian and Ukrainian. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/mammography-screening-is-a-failed-experiment monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f0239910-ab48-4da9-adb8-81e4ca6d9db8/Mammogram.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Mammography Screening Is a Failed Experiment - Make it stand out A federal task force recommends that women start getting mammograms at age 40 in spite of evidence that mammograms harm more women than they help. Image from Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/do-colonoscopies-really-save-lives monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/13266a8e-2fa1-4ed9-8db5-d22288d3cc84/1920px-Diagram_showing_a_colonoscopy_CRUK_060.svg.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Do Colonoscopies Really Save Lives? - Make it stand out Colonoscopy, depicted here on Wikipedia, is arduous and expensive, and it does not save lives, according to the best study done to date. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/were-too-scared-of-skin-cancer monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b30885f2-c8a7-4697-91b9-143c84b4fbbb/MELANOMA+CHART.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - We’re Too Scared of Skin Cancer - Make it stand out This image from “The Rapid Rise in Cutaneous Melanoma Diagnoses,” by Welch et al., New England Journal of Medicine, January 7, 2021, shows that the melanoma “epidemic” is driven by overtesting and overdiagnosis. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-cancer-industry-hype-versus-reality monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e3ae39f2-bd1c-4a57-98bb-88eec8804338/cancer-death-rates-in-the-us.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Cancer Industry: Hype Versus Reality - Make it stand out Mortality rates from specific cancers rise and fall, but the overall mortality rate today is only slightly less than what it was in 1930, in spite of huge expenditures on testing, treatment and research. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/5ea6c2f6-6d9a-46f2-941f-afcb190912d8/Smoking-and-lung-cancer-mortality-US-only.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Cancer Industry: Hype Versus Reality - Make it stand out The rise and fall of mortality from lung cancer, which is by far the deadliest cancer, follows the rise and fall of smoking. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a3d59d01-8259-4a65-af83-441968888b3c/CRUCIAL+CATCH.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Cancer Industry: Hype Versus Reality - Make it stand out Evidence suggests that widespread screening of asymptomatic people does more harm than good. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/tripping-in-lsds-birthplace-a-tale-for-bicycle-day monthly 0.5 2024-09-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e12f5a88-2c5c-4980-8145-9e832b83c6a6/HOFMANN.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Tripping in LSD's Birthplace: A Tale for Bicycle Day - Make it stand out Artist Jon Farber sent me this portrait of of Albert Hofmann after reading the article below. Farber superimposed a bicycle wheel on Hofmann's face to commemorate Bicycle Day. The pattern of Hofmann's hair represents the molecular structure of LSD. Check out Farber's website at https://www.jonfarberart.com/homepage. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/what-is-it-like-to-be-god monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d6b91c14-5c69-47b7-b336-037a5156c278/Michelangelo%2C_Creation_of_Adam_06.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - What Is It Like to Be God? - Make it stand out God, depicted here by Michelangelo, is freaked out by being God, and that’s why He/She/They/It creates our fractious world. Or so a drug trip led me to believe. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/advice-to-aspiring-science-writers-remember-marx monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/52cad7e5-0a83-4e59-af0b-f69e4b6dfd33/Karl_Marx_001.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Advice to Aspiring Science Writers: Remember Marx - Make it stand out Old Karl Marx wouldn’t have been surprised by how innovation exacerbates inequality and boosts health-care costs. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/my-controversial-diatribe-against-skeptics monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/2d39c8ee-6701-4275-8d3a-84665d0f7994/SKEPTICS+2016.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - My Controversial Diatribe Against “Skeptics” - Make it stand out A podcaster said I looked like “a high school wresting coach that’s been warned multiple times about long hugs” when I spoke at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism in 2016. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/what-is-a-question monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/80dd7f57-7ba1-4d65-b23e-9df9def5f11d/QUESTIONS+FOREVER.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - What Is a Question? - Make it stand out I drew this diagram in a notebook in 2021 when wondering whether all our answers will culminate in a final unanswerable question. “EOS” stands for The End of Science. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-dark-matter-inside-our-heads monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9b02343b-2a06-46bc-90e6-4c1d866e9f2c/SHOWER+CURTAIN.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Dark Matter Inside Our Heads - Make it stand out This is an artist’s depiction of my inner world. There be monsters. Actually, this is a photo of my shower curtain. There be mildew. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-solipsism-problem monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4d1615de-da9f-4de9-b8ff-341779978234/SOLIPSISM+PHOTO.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Solipsism Problem - Make it stand out This photo I took of me in my bathroom mirror is supposed to look sort of solipsistic. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/on-god-quantum-mechanics-and-my-agnostic-schtick monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b2d681d1-9215-47df-bf83-040581b160e1/FERRY+RAMP.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - On God, Quantum Mechanics and My Agnostic Schtick - Make it stand out This is the ramp to the ferry that takes me from Hoboken to Manhattan. But it looks like a ramp to mystery, right? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-end-of-philosophy-whats-the-point-a-call-for-negative-philosophy monthly 0.5 2023-03-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/afa94eac-4505-4c50-86e3-cb6611b63ff5/skye.candle.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The End of Philosophy: What’s the Point? A Call for Negative Philosophy - Make it stand out Negative philosophy can protect us from our dangerous yearning for certainty about who we are and should be. Photo: Skye Horgan. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/philosophy-whats-the-point-part-4-maybe-its-poetry-with-no-rhyme-and-lots-of-reason monthly 0.5 2023-03-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0a0c44e0-af8d-4dd1-8d87-b604ce7ccaad/MOBY+DICK.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Philosophy: What’s the Point? Part 4: Maybe It’s Poetry with No Rhyme and Lots of Reason - Make it stand out Knowing my fondness for memento mori, my girlfriend gave me this cushion, which alludes to one of my favorite works of philosophy. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/philosophy-whats-the-point-part-3-maybe-it-should-stick-to-ethics monthly 0.5 2023-03-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/980c69de-71b3-45e5-8e4d-09dc3206dfdf/Immanuel_Kant_%28painted_portrait%29.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Philosophy: What’s the Point? Part 3: Maybe It Should Stick to Ethics - Make it stand out Kant looks mournful in this portrait, I’m guessing, because he fears his philosophical descendants will destroy the ethical edifice he has so painstakingly constructed. Source: Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/philosophy-whats-the-point-part-2-maybe-its-a-martial-art monthly 0.5 2023-03-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a4e1f5d8-9c45-42c0-985d-fb87341720c3/Young_boxers_fresco%2C_Akrotiri%2C_Greece-1.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Philosophy: What’s the Point? Part 2: Maybe It's a Martial Art - Make it stand out Plato and Aristotle duking it out? No, this is an ancient Greek fresco depicting two young boxers. Source: Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/philosophy-whats-the-point-hint-its-not-discovering-truth-part-1-of-a-series monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/888e6fca-7ce0-4849-9a71-696d740b0959/john.moon.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Philosophy: What’s the Point? (Hint: It’s Not Discovering Truth). Part 1 of a Series. - Make it stand out Photo of me by Skye Horgan https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-weirdness-of-weirdness monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/bd95da8c-87cb-47eb-ae6d-813161d28ee0/ORBS+SKYE.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Weirdness of Weirdness - Make it stand out Photo: Skye Horgan https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/sabine-hossenfelder-the-end-of-science-and-my-quantum-experiment monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6e2e367b-643e-4cb6-876c-3d344057bbe2/MQE+COVER+2.27.23.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Sabine Hossenfelder, The End of Science and My Quantum Experiment - Make it stand out Art by Nikita Petrov https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a7f81168-027a-49fa-9c45-d97e9a7c4662/EOS+2.6.21.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Sabine Hossenfelder, The End of Science and My Quantum Experiment - Make it stand out A page from one of my quantum notebooks. In this entry, dated February 6, 2021, I wonder whether investigations of quantum mechanics will lead to an infinite regress of “mist” (explained in Chapter Eleven of My Quantum Experiment). “EOS” stands for The End of Science. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1fae92fb-2392-4092-b261-ca4f6ca6054b/SABINE+AND+ME.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Sabine Hossenfelder, The End of Science and My Quantum Experiment - Make it stand out Sabine and me in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 2018, when she gave a talk at my school. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/conservation-of-ignorance-a-new-law-of-nature monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1df2dd58-ebfb-4ad7-ab4c-5fea2663d02b/ignorance+image.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Conservation of Ignorance: A New Law of Nature - Make it stand out From oblivion we come, and to oblivion we will return. So says conservation of ignorance. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/confessions-of-a-woke-antiwar-hockey-playing-demonic-male monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9329a62c-d9c3-4ebd-9a17-53641b0189ff/hockey+feb.+15+2020.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Confessions of a Woke, Antiwar, Hockey-Playing Demonic Male - Make it stand out Me (left) with one of my demonic buddies, Tim. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/the-upside-of-getting-old-and-falling-on-your-face monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f9662d8d-ca4d-4bac-bd37-54a2c2217b88/MY+BOOBOO.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - The Upside of Getting Old and Falling on Your Face - Make it stand out What my girlfriend saw on our mornings together for a week or two after my accident. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/can-curses-topple-putin-and-other-tyrants monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/912673d1-8b42-4ca7-8f6e-d01403212215/Duerer-Prayer.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Can Curses Topple Putin and Other Tyrants? - Make it stand out “Praying Hands” by Albrecht Durer. Or are they cursing hands? https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/yrb9e7uefpeqrlkiasoc6octxtnm5g monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/68e630e8-5582-4085-8123-a948d3ec8712/figure_2a.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Huge Study Confirms Science Ending! (Sort Of) - Make it stand out Uh oh, this doesn’t look good. Study in Nature shows massive decline in “disruptive” science. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/39e47468-8843-446f-80dc-3a46d5da9d51/AggregateBLSIPP.jpeg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Huge Study Confirms Science Ending! (Sort Of) - Make it stand out Graph from 2020 paper “Are Ideas Getting Harder to Find?” by economists Nicholas Bloom et al. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/how-ho-ho-hoboken-became-my-home monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/033fdc2c-192e-4137-9ac8-84e8a37fea4f/HOBOKEN.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - How Ho-Ho-Hoboken Became My Home - Make it stand out Hoboken Waterfront, December 2022. That’s the Hudson River and Manhattan in the background. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/dd58e330-8846-427d-b301-faa79c6297e4/HOBOKEN+PIK.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - How Ho-Ho-Hoboken Became My Home - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/is-ultimate-truth-an-equation-nah monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4138cff2-7608-45db-829f-b75bec975f96/ULAM-SPIRAL-WIKIPEDIA.jpg Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Is Ultimate Truth an Equation? Nah. - Make it stand out If I believed ultimate truth is mathematical, I would convey that idea with this groovy image, the Ulam spiral, which plots prime numbers. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/physicists-teleport-bullshit-through-wormhole monthly 0.5 2024-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/aa49f82e-f733-4f41-8155-e8074125f578/Lorentzian-Wormhole-svg.png Cross-Check, A Free Journal - Physicists Teleport Bullshit Through “Wormhole”! - Make it stand out This is not a wormhole. https://johnhorgan.org/blog-1 daily 0.75 2025-06-18 https://johnhorgan.org/blog-1/requiem-for-a-holy-lady monthly 0.5 2025-06-18 https://johnhorgan.org/blog-1/requiem-for-a-psychedelic-holy-lady monthly 0.5 2025-06-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/be9d0b3e-7a1d-4b20-ae9f-7e79c33555f1/af-birdie-1024x576.jpg Blog - Requiem for a Psychedelic Holy Lady - Make it stand out Amanda Feilding in 1970, the same year she drilled a hole in her head. Credit: Beckley Foundation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/fc2fc0a5-4574-4dcf-8683-c89587a5d714/Screenshots_from_Heartbeat_in_the_Brain.jpg Blog - Requiem for a Psychedelic Holy Lady - Make it stand out Still shots from Amanda Feilding’s 1970 film of her self-trepanation, “Heartbeat in the Brain.” The Times says people who saw the film in the 1970s fainted. Credit: Wikipedia. https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/introduction daily 0.75 2023-02-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605148942930-F2WVLBHSEY9B32TEW9YA/tim-john.jpg The Weirdness | Introduction Me (left) and my best friend Tim, circa 1959. My girlfriend says I still make that face. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605149008449-NX6365C6165V2Q3IH2WI/Church-500x311.jpeg The Weirdness | Introduction The church I attended as a child, when I still believed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605149070294-W96GJ7BDCWK46PRKONK7/mcclellan.jpg The Weirdness | Introduction Science and technology historian Jim McClellan, who has substituted a barbecue apron for his academic gown. He’s actually a very cheerful person. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605149122955-X2TABT2PRTTXWN4S2299/spheroids-1680x733.png The Weirdness | Introduction Oblate (left) and prolate spheroids. Tomruen/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png The Weirdness | Introduction https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems daily 0.75 2023-09-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png About Mind-Body Problems https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/chapter-one daily 0.75 2024-07-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605157367011-J3EFQ4Q7QPL3YTRIQE30/rubin.jpg The Neuroscientist: Beyond the Brain | Chapter One https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605157410385-HL6YYD5SPJN9XP6EVIWD/pond-hockey-768x576.jpg The Neuroscientist: Beyond the Brain | Chapter One My buddies and me playing hockey on Lake Alice, Garrison, N.Y. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605157500665-BULFRO32QPHO923VXDWI/koch-768x512.jpg The Neuroscientist: Beyond the Brain | Chapter One Koch at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605157575580-VRK03TI9FKMVDB2O5SRF/borg.jpg The Neuroscientist: Beyond the Brain | Chapter One A member of the Borg. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png The Neuroscientist: Beyond the Brain | Chapter One https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/chapter-two daily 0.75 2023-02-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605197318338-5NA27BVUIHCEBHTO8E1F/gebegb-1024-768x801.png The Cognitive Scientist: Strange Loops All the Way Down https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605197361202-JPWRIPMTHMCKNK2SPEMQ/DH.Eugene.72-768x535.jpg The Cognitive Scientist: Strange Loops All the Way Down Hofstadter and friend, Eugene, Oregon, 1972. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605197413943-L496FOY1X0OLJXK6ZEDB/image-asset.jpeg The Cognitive Scientist: Strange Loops All the Way Down Hofstadter’s graph of the Gplot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605197443850-GIBI8ZUAO2VUDB7OYZR8/DH.Beijing.2018-768x524.jpg The Cognitive Scientist: Strange Loops All the Way Down Hofstadter in Beijing, China, 2018. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605197471424-TFEB4NTNUW9O1TKRWMF3/escher-768x432.png The Cognitive Scientist: Strange Loops All the Way Down https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png The Cognitive Scientist: Strange Loops All the Way Down https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/chapter-three daily 0.75 2025-08-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605198839337-EMSXYICPEADESA5XJND4/hume.jpg The Child Psychologist: The Hedgehog in the Garden https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605198897915-HVTE316LPGE0ICNNIX5W/image-asset.jpeg The Child Psychologist: The Hedgehog in the Garden https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605199198837-FZ6ON48YHQIREGP62JHN/Alison.Alvey_.jpg The Child Psychologist: The Hedgehog in the Garden Alison Gopnik and Alvy Ray Smith. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605199248333-IF7L9FK7KRI7RK6RZJZY/aeonium-schwarzkopf-768x575.png The Child Psychologist: The Hedgehog in the Garden Aeonium Schwarzkopf, also known as a black rose. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png The Child Psychologist: The Hedgehog in the Garden https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/chapter-four daily 0.75 2023-02-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605199711624-INP66WFHOA7QLP7SB816/2000px-Zener_cards_%28color%29.svg.png The Complexologist: Tragedy and Telepathy | Chapter Four https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605200224469-M54CLWNUNGNLIP6A4EHX/merit-768x948.jpg The Complexologist: Tragedy and Telepathy | Chapter Four Merit Kauffman, Paris, 1986. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605200292303-JRUFVXB4KMGWDW7UO203/participatory-universe.jpg The Complexologist: Tragedy and Telepathy | Chapter Four https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605200343315-1XA62XQW5LO509TMNCFR/horgan-tucson.jpg The Complexologist: Tragedy and Telepathy | Chapter Four Photo by David Chalmers of me giving a talk at the 2016 conference on consciousness in Tucson. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605200392141-EH9N9VTW5QT8OCHZFNA7/kauffman-spoon-768x1024.jpg The Complexologist: Tragedy and Telepathy | Chapter Four https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png The Complexologist: Tragedy and Telepathy | Chapter Four https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/chapter-five daily 0.75 2024-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605202637672-FLXVW814XV4KNFW0JJ9Q/Saks.pool_-768x754.jpg The Freudian Lawyer: The Meaning of Madness | Chapter Five Elyn Saks (far left) and other members of her family in Miami circa 1965. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605202663824-D7WFNEZDR38PZRLGPYKU/Saks.Vanderbilt.72-768x546.jpg The Freudian Lawyer: The Meaning of Madness | Chapter Five Saks with two philosophy professors and their wives at Vanderbilt University, 1972. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605202815032-M4EJUS2LEFTZB9WOT41V/Memoirs-of-My-Nervous-Illness_1024x1024.jpg The Freudian Lawyer: The Meaning of Madness | Chapter Five https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605202964059-G1FOIEE5JMIXVE5AGJK7/A-Beautiful-Mind.jpg The Freudian Lawyer: The Meaning of Madness | Chapter Five https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605203077143-3T6KRVG2CB4LKXWK6R72/image-asset.jpeg The Freudian Lawyer: The Meaning of Madness | Chapter Five https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605203233676-ECBFZX61XU3YJ689AYVD/King-of-Hearts.jpg The Freudian Lawyer: The Meaning of Madness | Chapter Five https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605202693737-LI6QNILVCTETDVYBA2TD/Saks.Yale_-768x1126.jpg The Freudian Lawyer: The Meaning of Madness | Chapter Five Saks and a classmate at their graduation from Yale Law School, 1986. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605202719641-ZSJ3L6JSPK4P175GA28M/SAKShoriz1c-768x512.jpg The Freudian Lawyer: The Meaning of Madness | Chapter Five https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png The Freudian Lawyer: The Meaning of Madness | Chapter Five https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/chapter-six daily 0.75 2023-02-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605211517416-LF744HMWAY8JTHE72CYV/QuestionMark_%28album%29.jpg The Philosopher: Bullet Proof | Chapter Six https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605211584364-NEX0V3SONROF4Z9Y7O5I/flanagan.son_.81-768x536.jpg The Philosopher: Bullet Proof | Chapter Six Flanagan and his son Ben, 1981. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605211631817-9P9BL0W7C73X3UDQDIBQ/andy-griffith-768x512.jpg The Philosopher: Bullet Proof | Chapter Six Childhood home of Andy Griffith, Mt. Airy, North Carolina. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605211680569-D9BJ5SWLOOT7HWRTTSNM/flanagan18-768x1024.jpg The Philosopher: Bullet Proof | Chapter Six Owen Flanagan in Maine, 2018. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605211787562-FYE4ZLJ2N0YJ24ICMTFX/optogenetics.jpg The Philosopher: Bullet Proof | Chapter Six Photo used to market optogenetics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605212039005-VWUDQAICPOSXZUDYEKA7/trungpa.jpg The Philosopher: Bullet Proof | Chapter Six Chogyam Trungpa https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png The Philosopher: Bullet Proof | Chapter Six https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/chapter-seven daily 0.75 2024-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605213051521-ADV2A1YVUP88AJSN2RAT/Goldstein.24.jpeg The Novelist: The Gladsadness | Chapter Seven Goldstein as matron of honor at her sister’s wedding. She was 24 and a graduate student at Princeton. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605213116090-NFIC7WKS37CPZRO748X3/image-asset.jpeg The Novelist: The Gladsadness | Chapter Seven Baruch de Spinoza, 1632-1677. Wikimedia Commons. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605213179707-06WUU3N0XVEMDJAHMXVY/Roberts-KurtGodel-680x1023.jpg The Novelist: The Gladsadness | Chapter Seven Kurt Gödel, 1906-1978. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605213271003-PW59MK25WV9346EE46Q6/triump-des-willens.jpg The Novelist: The Gladsadness | Chapter Seven https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png The Novelist: The Gladsadness | Chapter Seven https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/chapter-eight daily 0.75 2023-02-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605215048575-MJIBYMJ0II74Q4ZXBTR5/pimento-soursop-680x907.jpg The Evolutionary Biologist: He-Town | Chapter Eight Fruit of Annona muricata https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605215157212-T17SR0MDS67ZW54ECRH7/time-1977.jpeg The Evolutionary Biologist: He-Town | Chapter Eight https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605215232396-CBXGUDCU39CH0IJ5EZ6M/huey-trivers.jpg The Evolutionary Biologist: He-Town | Chapter Eight Trivers and Huey Newton at the christening of Trivers’s twin daughters, 1979. Newton became one girl’s godfather. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605215302008-ZFVQ9FY6DD5YAUSUKBW7/trivers-jamaica.jpg The Evolutionary Biologist: He-Town | Chapter Eight Trivers in Jamaica. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605215377856-HWGOC5XUHZ9MYGSCP1LL/datura.jpg The Evolutionary Biologist: He-Town | Chapter Eight Datura https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605215449781-0QHLIZTMN80COMJEIA7U/henry-james.png The Evolutionary Biologist: He-Town | Chapter Eight https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605215490958-HDDVTGVFPSBUWTB5UWZX/lovers-leap.png The Evolutionary Biologist: He-Town | Chapter Eight View from Lover’s Leap, Jamaica. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png The Evolutionary Biologist: He-Town | Chapter Eight https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/chapter-nine daily 0.75 2023-02-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605219346973-3NR3BOFN3I323UUSITDK/crossing-mccloskey.jpg Chapter Nine: The Economist: A Pretty Good Utopia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605219410536-DZ0FW56OUZXQU06OQWNJ/donald-mccloskey.jpg Chapter Nine: The Economist: A Pretty Good Utopia Donald McClocksey, 1994 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605220358636-RT2QULHJC8G9WRBQOJQL/Johann_Heinrich_F%C3%BCssli_063.jpg Chapter Nine: The Economist: A Pretty Good Utopia Tiresias, a clairvoyant as well as gender shapeshifter, tells Odysseus what he must do to get home in an 18th-century painting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605220454240-6HYMBJAUJ9VSKO2U90PL/deirde-mccloskey.jpg Chapter Nine: The Economist: A Pretty Good Utopia McCloskey in her living room. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605220540493-NG19KA7WMQO261XVHPFD/Commerce-McCloskey.jpg Chapter Nine: The Economist: A Pretty Good Utopia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605220561672-88BOFPYZ336DZ4EA0K6G/Economics-McCloskey.jpg Chapter Nine: The Economist: A Pretty Good Utopia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605220584030-5K7OBPAWHSZTMDVD6WV8/Ideas-McCloskey.jpg Chapter Nine: The Economist: A Pretty Good Utopia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605220778443-EERHPKPWL9EQQ64IDINI/ralphs.jpg Chapter Nine: The Economist: A Pretty Good Utopia The Ralph’s “Pretty Good” Grocery is in Gaston, Oregon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605220908812-3AUTIJLP0VRSDFPXP9DE/DadWagon.jpg Chapter Nine: The Economist: A Pretty Good Utopia My father, also named John Horgan, in the late 1950s with one of the perks of his job. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605220950712-QN9DJ8RDTZTSDTIMYWDW/horgan-pussyhat.jpg Chapter Nine: The Economist: A Pretty Good Utopia Me in Washington, D.C., January 21, 2017. My pal Robert Hutchinson took the photo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png Chapter Nine: The Economist: A Pretty Good Utopia https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/wrap-up daily 0.75 2023-02-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605221729025-HN7WP7DXUT0JKP18UVNE/tucson-rabbit.jpg So What? | Wrap-Up https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png So What? | Wrap-Up https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/thanks daily 0.75 2023-02-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1605146960513-PBUBEWPTV7Q8B7T8RZDB/0_knot-logo.png Thanks https://johnhorgan.org/books/mind-body-problems/discussion daily 0.75 2023-05-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1617486774331-CCJC6WM2YSJM5XWPF88T/%27the+nocturnal+levitation%27.jpg Discussion https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1617487867228-K2H5ECRVZFK37P7G8J6L/%27witnessing+the+dream+state%27.jpg Discussion https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1621202109299-7GV6CI16W2HLJDXGY7TV/image2.jpeg Discussion - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1621028601266-QL4QXIANFV0WQBBTSTGZ/image0.jpeg Discussion - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/introduction daily 0.75 2023-07-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8be66e75-8835-4c22-9edb-04cfea710d29/MQE+feb8-6.png Introduction: Old Man Gets More Befuddled - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/fc3f0112-9009-40d7-bb25-c27a53455819/SABINE+AND+ME.jpg Introduction: Old Man Gets More Befuddled - Make it stand out Sabine Hossenfelder and me in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 2018. This book is kind of her fault. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7134a3da-141f-4e82-b323-5f4f375a5e74/EOS+2.6.21.jpg Introduction: Old Man Gets More Befuddled - Make it stand out A sample of what my girlfriend calls my “scary Unabomber writing.” In this notebook entry, dated February 6, 2021, I wonder whether investigations of quantum mechanics will lead to an infinite regress of what physicist Terry Rudolph calls “mist” (explained in Chapter Eleven). EOS stands for “End of Science.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ebf265a8-3883-4e0e-8a35-d34b3989ee97/ROBERT+SHOT.jpg Introduction: Old Man Gets More Befuddled - Make it stand out My buddy Robert Hutchinson. We never did make it to Namibia. Photo: Ruth Hutchinson. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e6ea4865-dd01-470b-a7d8-2cca0f2da464/FREEDOM+TOWER.jpg Introduction: Old Man Gets More Befuddled - Make it stand out Sunrise as seen from my apartment in Hoboken. That is the Freedom Tower rising above the Hudson River and Manhattan skyline. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/115b3231-2e40-4d94-a3c7-9be5b9f2d72b/Mac.ElCap.jpg Introduction: Old Man Gets More Befuddled - Make it stand out That red speck is my son Mac climbing El Capitan in 2018. Fail to learn quantum mechanics, you feel dumb. Fail to climb a mountain, you can end up dead. Photo: Tom Evans of El Cap Report. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-three daily 0.75 2023-12-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b1e7569e-a76a-4518-82cf-090ba0a42d24/MQE+COVER+1.jpg Chapter Three: The Minus First Law - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4df28b3b-3def-45dd-8e7c-ae6e447b0be2/QUICK+COVER.jpg Chapter Three: The Minus First Law - Make it stand out “Quick” is a stretch, but this book really helped me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/21b464df-8d72-43a4-80dd-8f0e9c7f4112/Zeno_Dichotomy_Paradox_alt.png Chapter Three: The Minus First Law - Make it stand out Zeno’s paradox, as depicted on Wikipedia. The downside is you never get anywhere. The upside is you never die.. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/c50809e2-96c9-4783-98a1-1d5cc046430d/LIMITS.jpg Chapter Three: The Minus First Law - Make it stand out Quick Calculus depicts the slope of the function y = x² at a particular point, x = 3, as the limit of the slope of increasingly short lines connecting two points on either side of x = 3. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a0607e55-fc22-49e0-b6dd-c2a3aa7b9b52/SKULL.jpg Chapter Three: The Minus First Law - Make it stand out This skull hangs over the couch where I like to work. Or not work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/5ae7cafd-1edd-401a-8133-0700286e7bfd/INTEGRALS.jpg Chapter Three: The Minus First Law - Make it stand out Quick Calculus depicts the integral of a function, which equals the area under the curve, as the limit of an increasing number of increasingly narrow rectangles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/68aca435-9904-4210-aa19-deba53d0b79a/Randi+match1.jpg Chapter Three: The Minus First Law - Make it stand out After I blogged about Andrei Linde’s hopping-match trick in 2006, James “The Amazing” Randi, a magician, emailed me an explanation of the trick, with this photo/diagram. I prefer Linde’s “kvan-toom flook-choo-a-shoon” hypothesis. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/5f28fc49-ddb4-4324-8605-de7d577f5306/DAD+AND+KIDS.jpg Chapter Three: The Minus First Law - Make it stand out Me and my siblings (from left to right: Wendy, Matt, Martha, Patty) with my father on his 90th birthday, January 17, 2014. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-five daily 0.75 2023-06-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6f178044-e1b9-4d5d-88ec-413d0005ff6f/feb8-3.png Chapter Five: Competence Without Comprehension - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7fff094c-3788-473f-81fd-fd879413323c/Rube_Goldberg%27s__Self-Operating_Napkin__%28cropped%29.gif Chapter Five: Competence Without Comprehension - Make it stand out This is an artist’s conception of a Hermitian operator. No, wait, it’s Rube Goldberg’s automatic mouth-wiping device. Source: Wikipedia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/2e19b0dd-e172-427e-841a-c5b55378638e/TOWER.jpg Chapter Five: Competence Without Comprehension - Make it stand out Math at work: clock tower at Hoboken terminal keeps time even on a misty day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/058bf6e8-1950-45f3-a3e7-defb47d676a2/wheeleru.gif Chapter Five: Competence Without Comprehension - Make it stand out This drawing evokes John Wheeler’s suggestion that our observation of the universe brings it into existence, kind of. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8dd8b7b8-af09-4204-b163-b50ab572fc49/BAYES+BIG+BANG.png Chapter Five: Competence Without Comprehension - Make it stand out Sheldon riffs on Bayes theorem on the nerdy sitcom Big Bang Theory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/10c7d7a6-2c25-4c71-901c-c206e7f18f5d/Ptolemaic+orbits.jpg Chapter Five: Competence Without Comprehension - Make it stand out Ptolemaic-style orbits of Venus, Mercury and the Sun. They’re kind of beautiful, actually. From Wikipedia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a2e499e5-36a6-45f6-8d05-da67dc99d54e/WALLACE.jpg Chapter Five: Competence Without Comprehension - Make it stand out David Foster Wallace often wrapped a white bandana around his head, as if covering a wound. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8791759a-ffcf-48a2-9df3-6b6a146d7426/480px-Pythagorean.svg.png Chapter Five: Competence Without Comprehension - Make it stand out Is the Pythagorean theorem, which is quite simple, really, the key to everything? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/43fc26ef-7ef3-4971-803a-56fafd5371c5/NOTES+7.24.20.jpg Chapter Five: Competence Without Comprehension - Make it stand out Notes on R.I.G. Hughes and Pythagorean theorem in Quantum Notebook #2, July 24, 2020. I’m also trying to understand sailing in terms of vectors. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-four daily 0.75 2023-09-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ed6e56d7-0118-4ba4-943c-a42df93c42d5/feb8-2.png Chapter Four: I Understand That I Can't Understand - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/23be9d47-08a1-4d0c-acab-efcb91931abc/BROOKLYN+BLM.jpg Chapter Four: I Understand That I Can't Understand - Make it stand out Black Lives Matter protest in Brooklyn, June 2020. I’m not sure if this is the one in which my daughter got knocked down. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/980de768-6185-4c30-a436-0dc6828c7b0d/MANGA+COVER.jpg Chapter Four: I Understand That I Can't Understand - Make it stand out Reiji (foreground) and Misa. The guy in the background is Misa’s older brother and Reiji’s karate teacher. The algebra is linear, the human relations, not so much. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/373d5f43-a421-4ba2-b5f2-cfe326eda78f/MANGA+MATRICES.jpg Chapter Four: I Understand That I Can't Understand - Make it stand out Reiji explains how to multiply matrices. What seems magical is reduced to mechanical, step-by-step procedures. As Reiji says, linear algebra is “just numbers, no Keanu.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/80d470a2-a0fc-494c-91cb-109604926c21/transform_basis.png Chapter Four: I Understand That I Can't Understand - Make it stand out In linear algebra, you can transform a grid so that square units become parallelograms, as shown in these images from 3Blue1Brown.com, but your grid lines must remain straight and parallel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a517239e-9ff3-41cd-850a-06be90a76ace/npr.brightspotcdn.png Chapter Four: I Understand That I Can't Understand - Make it stand out Race complicates efforts to achieve justice in Cleveland. Judges and lawyers tend to be white and defendants black. I found this photo of a Cleveland court on the Ideastream website. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/5df32a76-058d-45fa-a154-2406917e9175/GOLF.jpg Chapter Four: I Understand That I Can't Understand - Make it stand out Reiji uses minigolf to explain vectors. Each shot represents a new vector, with a specific length and direction. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9aa15bed-18b0-4382-9a3c-78b8888e2605/GLAMROU.png Chapter Four: I Understand That I Can't Understand - Make it stand out Amrou Al-Kadhi, a.k.a. Glamrou, says quantum mechanics subverts the whole notion of fixed identities. Right on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f2f365e0-6114-4426-9aa5-6990e72c99e6/HOBOKEN+BLM.jpg Chapter Four: I Understand That I Can't Understand - Make it stand out Black Lives Matter protest in Hoboken, New Jersey, just down the street from where I live. Photo Hoboken Girl. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-eight daily 0.75 2023-06-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/426e2419-3725-467a-a576-a12339e0d122/feb8-7.png Chapter Eight: Order Matters - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/77e9cda3-f0b9-4144-90c3-b6815ffb87e1/STUMPS+3+copy.jpg Chapter Eight: Order Matters - Make it stand out The Idea of Order in Hoboken. From this perspective, these stumpy wooden remnants of an old pier just south of Hoboken terminal look pretty jumbly and disordered, right? But if you keep walking along the Hudson River… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7af11f3f-9b82-4a65-9e7a-0103d3c6b308/STUMPS+5+copy.jpg Chapter Eight: Order Matters - Make it stand out … the stumps assemble into a sensible matrix of columns and rows. If only that would happen with the formulas of quantum mechanics! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/533b27ab-c1ba-467d-988e-bf6fe995853f/WITTEN.jpg Chapter Eight: Order Matters - Make it stand out Edward Witten, string theorist, who once told me that the order in which you discover deep truths doesn’t matter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9c2d86d3-45ca-4f80-bd61-299e377ac612/JOHN+WHEELER.jpg Chapter Eight: Order Matters - Make it stand out John Wheeler, who thought the order in which you ask and answer questions matters a lot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/15739e28-004c-43c8-8215-699c8c8f6d5d/CHIEF+O%27BRIEN.jpg Chapter Eight: Order Matters - Make it stand out Chief O’Brien, a character on Deep Space Nine, fixing something that almost certainly involves quantum mechanics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/61021e0e-37e5-4797-a84f-84c4682e20cb/BOUND.jpg Chapter Eight: Order Matters - Make it stand out Graphical depictions in Griffiths of bound state (a), scattering states (b) and hybrid quantum state. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f808d807-f923-4cdc-b281-db7b511606d7/TRAIN.jpg Chapter Eight: Order Matters - Make it stand out Sign at a railroad crossing warns in French: “ONE TRAIN MAY HIDE ANOTHER,” which is profound if you think about it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/3628a3a7-10a3-4ca5-be20-0e030740f45b/NOTES+11.4.20.jpg Chapter Eight: Order Matters - Make it stand out Quantum Notebook #3, notes from the day after the Presidential election. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-nine daily 0.75 2023-06-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/a75386fc-4f44-4efc-b26f-abbc8efad857/feb8-2.png Chapter Nine: The Two-Body Problem - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8eb404ba-98ae-4538-8be1-02ba2ad72398/Dirac_function_approximation-1.gif Chapter Nine: The Two-Body Problem - Make it stand out I found this animation of the Dirac delta function on Wikipedia. My PEP553 professor calls the function “mathematical skullduggery.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1d967ed2-1451-4727-9bf4-7af3a43b8f82/SOUTH+POLE.jpg Chapter Nine: The Two-Body Problem - Make it stand out Me at the South Pole in November 1992, early summer, when the sun never sets. It was minus 40 degrees, both Celsius and Fahrenheit. I had to keep blinking so my eyelids didn’t stick to my eyeballs. That’s my recollection, anyway. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/15a5cd05-ff97-4bc6-a9b6-f56638af4fa8/TWO-BODY+PROBLEM.png Chapter Nine: The Two-Body Problem - Make it stand out Even two-body problems can be hard to solve exactly. This image, which I found on Wikipedia, shows factors affecting the orbit of a moon (A) around a planet (B). Imagine how complicated things get when two objects with free will orbit each other. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/11bc22cb-100d-433b-942b-e73e1ee6efd4/TOPOLOGY.jpg Chapter Nine: The Two-Body Problem - Make it stand out Funny, right? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/29375c52-5e5e-4c9c-8465-3a61480c7447/KABBALAH.png Chapter Nine: The Two-Body Problem - Make it stand out “Tree of Life,” a key concept of the Kabbalah, shows relations between different “emanations” of creation, represented by Hebrew letters and numbers. I found this image on Wikipedia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6296e9f2-cb43-4595-9e4d-6d08fdc13eb0/NOTES+12.10.20.jpg Chapter Nine: The Two-Body Problem - Make it stand out Quantum Notebook #3, notes from final session of PEP553, December 10, 2020. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-seven daily 0.75 2023-06-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6d57ccb6-5f76-4135-b670-2c9d4cd9ba12/feb8-5.png Chapter Seven: The Investment Principle - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/162fa5ae-5e3c-453a-b69e-20571d86f649/GEESE.jpg Chapter Seven: The Investment Principle - Make it stand out Geese and humans mingle on the Hoboken waterfront. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ea6aa572-bd90-4d04-ba4d-fe6379206be2/PARTICLE+IN+BOX.gif Chapter Seven: The Investment Principle - Make it stand out Wikipedia shows the classical-physics version of the particle in a box in A, top left. In B-F, there is no particle, there are only wave functions, with which you calculate the probability of finding the particle in a specific location when you look in the box. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/fd6310bc-1d12-454c-b52d-7b143d7d6789/standing+wave.jpg Chapter Seven: The Investment Principle - Make it stand out You don’t need to know the mathematics of standing waves to surf on one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d8e5c9f0-7069-4b94-95d8-22b2dbc7a85d/Marvin_Minsky_at_OLPCb.jpg Chapter Seven: The Investment Principle - Make it stand out The artificial-intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky, shown in 2008, feared our tendency to keep doing something we’re good at. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/24320555-f70d-45ce-91d0-2524d55d69cd/Tunneling+Wikipedia.png Chapter Seven: The Investment Principle - Make it stand out Quantum tunneling occurs when a wave function leaks through a barrier instead of bouncing off. E and V stand for the kinetic and potential energy of the particle represented by the wave function. See Wikipedia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0343b858-9255-4f5b-9e88-589aa46f8bf4/A%2BSerious%2BMan.jpg Chapter Seven: The Investment Principle - Make it stand out Larry Gopnik, the “hero” of the Coen brothers’ film A Serious Man, teaches quantum mechanics but doesn’t really understand it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9f9e4439-5e2f-41bc-b335-85f6ca31be18/NOTES+10.27.20.jpg Chapter Seven: The Investment Principle - Make it stand out From Quantum Notebook #3, October 27, 2020. Sometimes my notes are just cries of despair. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-ten daily 0.75 2023-11-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d9a3513f-7687-43c1-baec-d155c9f2299a/feb8-3.png Chapter Ten: Entropy - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/2f93acf0-d928-4634-af61-ad701335a8e1/LONGEVITY.png Chapter Ten: Entropy - Make it stand out Mega-optimist Steven Pinker makes the case for progress with charts like this. When I showed my gloomy philosopher/friend Garry this chart, he commented that a longer life is not necessarily a better life, given how miserable most of us are. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/8506620a-6a19-4a95-91bf-0fa01a3d52f5/PENROSE+CYCLIC.jpg Chapter Ten: Entropy - Make it stand out Artist’s rendition of Roger Penrose’s conformal cyclic universe, which predicts eternal cosmic births and deaths. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e92e230d-1d32-4ee5-b8e0-f4bae3379e97/BIDEN.jpg Chapter Ten: Entropy - Make it stand out Biden pleads for unity in his inauguration speech. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/323be764-bb3a-405f-864f-0767bc3740ed/JohnStewartBell.jpg Chapter Ten: Entropy - Make it stand out John Bell, shown in 1972, seemed less intent on solving quantum paradoxes than on drawing attention to them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/393de613-0f40-4995-9147-d25e6a101fdc/Paul_Feyerabend_5.jpg Chapter Ten: Entropy - Make it stand out Philosopher Paul Feyerabend sent me this photograph of himself before I interviewed him in 1992. When he said during the interview that he frequently washed dishes, his wife, physicist Grazia Borrini, said, “Once in a blue moon.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/41145a90-476e-4da9-ba01-c8eef1b4e545/pond_hockey%5B1%5D.jpg Chapter Ten: Entropy - Make it stand out My pond-hockey buddies on Lake Alice, Garrison, New York. We often play after sunset, until we can barely see the puck. Photo by veteran player John Benjamin. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-eleven daily 0.75 2023-06-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/fb737c1d-e3d3-44d6-942e-4e7e4b3a7ca8/MQE+COVER+2.png Chapter Eleven: The Mist - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/5ba3e0ed-e59f-4e05-990d-363147e0660a/Terry+Rudolph.gif Chapter Eleven: The Mist - Make it stand out Terry Rudolph, the R of the PBR theorem and author of Q Is for Quantum. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b843bf3c-0efa-4f77-a6a1-1caca94f7144/BOXES.jpg Chapter Eleven: The Mist - Make it stand out NOT boxes and SWAP boxes are analogous to switches in conventional computers. NOT boxes switch the color of balls, and SWAP boxes reverse the color of two balls. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6fcbabf4-cbd8-4ef8-81d8-6c3c6b374e75/PETE+BOX.jpg Chapter Eleven: The Mist - Make it stand out The PETE box puts a ball in a “misty” state, in which the ball now has an equal probability of being white or black. This misty state is the equivalent of a qubit, the basic unit of information in a quantum computer. The misty state vanishes as soon as you look at it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/112ea20a-22b1-49c7-8bb6-e2f35c734d8e/MINUS+BLACK.jpg Chapter Eleven: The Mist - Make it stand out Drop a black ball into a PETE box and it ends up in a misty state consisting of a negative black ball, which only exists in misty states, and a white ball. Negative black balls baffle Rudolph’s mom and me. But they are crucial to quantum computations, because they cancel out ordinary black balls. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/caf99a1e-23d0-4169-84b7-86094ba02823/SQUARE+RULE.jpg Chapter Eleven: The Mist - Make it stand out Rudolph explains how the square rule computes probable outcomes for a misty state consisting of two white balls and three black balls. The square rule is one of the reasons that quantum and conventional probabilities diverge. That’s my scribble in the upper-right corner. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6b402101-335f-4b2b-9640-6289b9b752e4/Q+BS+WS.jpg Chapter Eleven: The Mist - Make it stand out Rudolph’s calculations can get hairy, for example when he is showing how PETE boxes crack codes protecting gold bars. Ws and Bs stand for white and black balls. “Archimedes” is the name of the device used to input codes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9b27501f-9731-4d16-8b30-38083815c6ca/escher_stairs.jpg Chapter Eleven: The Mist - Make it stand out In M.C. Escher’s “Upstairs and Downstairs,” we go up and down stairs and never get anywhere. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1669d13f-cc23-4d57-a230-1a66e6da1486/Q+NOTES+2.6.21.jpg Chapter Eleven: The Mist - Make it stand out Quantum Notebook #4, February 6, 2021, in which I struggle to get the peculiar notations of Q Is for Quantum. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/de788c54-5e9e-4639-bd99-4b468d0fc1f8/MIST+2.jpg Chapter Eleven: The Mist - Make it stand out I can’t see the spire of Manhattan’s Freedom Tower on this morning, but I know it’s there, behind the mist. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-thirteen daily 0.75 2023-03-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/89870b6b-c030-4b43-8f06-960d8fcf7ab3/MQE+feb8-9.png Chapter Thirteen: Irony - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4cf7155f-7c86-4350-9af6-abb4899a141e/Fish-River-Canyon-sunset.png Chapter Thirteen: Irony - Make it stand out Fish River Canyon, Namibia. This is where my friend Robert Hutchinson wanted to go with me and my son Mac. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/88e4763b-7627-4f01-ae02-b56d29922206/Borges_Grave_Cemetery_Geneva.jpg Chapter Thirteen: Irony - Make it stand out Jorge Luis Borges, whose stories explore the perils of knowledge, died and was buried in Geneva. I found this photo of his grave on Wikipedia. The figures are Norse soldiers heading into battle. Borges was a fan of Norse mythology. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/35afc2d0-11c4-4ce4-a8d6-19874485df9e/DrawingHands.jpg Chapter Thirteen: Irony - Make it stand out Escher’s drawing of hands drawing each other, from Wikipedia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/76494498-4e15-45d4-9c1b-833ea8865820/gefter+and+me.jpg Chapter Thirteen: Irony - Make it stand out Amanda Gefter and me chatting online in December 2020. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/405a7419-dc28-4d53-a75f-a25b7b4a838a/ALBERT+COVER.jpg Chapter Thirteen: Irony - Make it stand out David Z Albert’s book. The painting is Joan Miro’s “Landscape (The Hare).” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/5e83682f-8857-41b1-a637-dbd514c94789/MOBY+DICK.jpg Chapter Thirteen: Irony - Make it stand out Cushion given to me by Emily to help me keep things in perspective. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/epilogue daily 0.75 2023-06-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1af42867-ae82-47d1-8941-e6e76406acf6/feb8-1+%281%29.png Epilogue: Thanksgiving - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0f9a624b-4138-492a-9d64-84178c69217c/elbow+stitches+copy.png Epilogue: Thanksgiving - Make it stand out View of my elbow post-surgery, June 2021. This photo illustrates a fundamental law of nature: shit happens. But that doesn’t mean we’re victims of fate. Fuck fate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/eb89ca9d-babf-4a6f-ae53-61f8b563b581/SKYE+SHEEP.jpg Epilogue: Thanksgiving - Make it stand out My daughter Skye with a friend. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/acace22e-3334-4c05-998e-4987271fbffd/ME+AND+ROBERT.jpg Epilogue: Thanksgiving - Make it stand out Me and Robert, Thanksgiving Day, 2021. I don’t remember why we’re sticking fingers in our noses. Probably just for the hell of it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/02bb4421-b5fa-47c1-bc32-71508d80e538/ROBERTS+STONE+copy.jpg Epilogue: Thanksgiving - Make it stand out Robert loved tramping through the wilds of Iceland. Photo: Ruth Copeland. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-twelve daily 0.75 2023-03-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f96186a0-fa66-4563-9fe9-14e5ad788937/MQE+feb8-6.png Chapter Twelve: Thin Ice - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9af81276-ef6c-47da-b8d1-89bb52c24c9e/BLOWTORCH+ICE.jpg Chapter Twelve: Thin Ice - Make it stand out Veteran hockey player John Benjamin uses a blowtorch to fix potholes in the ice before our game. I still repeatedly tripped over potholes and injured my right elbow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/bf435b2c-75a2-43b3-b43a-faf3c9093ab8/TimMaudlin_2880x16201.jpg Chapter Twelve: Thin Ice - Make it stand out Tim Maudlin, a philosopher of physics, who seeks truth fiercely. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/581f003b-3962-4337-bf5a-9f7c0442b799/david_bohm_and_jiddu_krishnamurti.jpg Chapter Twelve: Thin Ice - Make it stand out David Bohm with Jiddu Krishnamurti. Photo: Krishnamurti Foundation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/7b6ead30-4d1b-4097-892d-057b2063d3b5/PSYCHEDELIC.jpg Chapter Twelve: Thin Ice - Make it stand out Stories about quantum computing are often accompanied by groovy, content-free images like this one, which is actually my photo of a little psychedelic lamp that my daughter gave me for Christmas. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/326e1e85-b00a-45e5-adf2-3d54439b7dbf/Aaronson_3123_promo.jpg Chapter Twelve: Thin Ice - Make it stand out Scott Aaronson is worried about hype emanating from his field, quantum computing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/728fb3fa-f8d0-421f-8048-4accd2309819/TOKAMAK+1975.jpg Chapter Twelve: Thin Ice - Make it stand out Princeton Tokamak, circa 1975, in a photo downloaded from Wikipedia. Pretty cool, huh? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/3c134668-b6ab-422d-b37b-8cd257a2fa64/BARAD+COVER.jpg Chapter Twelve: Thin Ice - Make it stand out Like many books I’ve read for my quantum experiment, this one was tough going at first but grew on me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d8930f31-255c-4e13-8ad4-e7f930109646/BARAD+CHART.jpg Chapter Twelve: Thin Ice - Make it stand out Karen Barad’s map shows the entanglement of “quantum physics”—in bold, center—with many other components of modern culture. “Quantum computers” are a bit above and to the right of “quantum physics.” Pardon my fingers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e4c05a9c-da9f-468b-8266-11c8d6fe4517/Nils+Toast.jpg Chapter Twelve: Thin Ice - Make it stand out After our teammate Lars died in 2022, his son Nils, wearing his father’s favorite winter cap, toasted him with aquavit before a game. That was the only drink I’ve had since 2009. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-one daily 0.75 2023-10-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0d70ed09-7597-4c83-829d-fc18435257a0/MQE+feb8-9.png Chapter One: The Strange Theory of You and Me - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/35b1f818-6540-4b40-be46-acb07e2a45fb/QED.jpg Chapter One: The Strange Theory of You and Me - Make it stand out My battered copy of QED. Why the oil slick on the cover? Answer below. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/20694a2c-bac8-4119-ad35-1ed9516e1318/QED+REFLECT.jpg Chapter One: The Strange Theory of You and Me - Make it stand out Feynman’s explanations seem simple at first but get harder and harder. Just explaining partial reflection of light off a pane of glass takes you deep into quantum mysteries. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e835d553-8acf-45af-aa1c-f46d4c885232/QED+1.jpg Chapter One: The Strange Theory of You and Me - Make it stand out Image showing how the percentage of light reflected off panes of glass varies with panes’ thickness. If light consisted of waves, this oscillation could be explained as an effect of wave interference, but Feynman insists that light consists of particles, called photons. Quantum interference stems from interference not of actual, physical waves but of waves of probabilities. Weird, huh? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b735d7bc-a278-458c-9174-f72c29ffaa7d/QED+2.jpg Chapter One: The Strange Theory of You and Me - Make it stand out Feynman uses little whirling arrows, which I call “whirligigs,” to calculate the probability that light will reflect off a pane of glass. The whirligigs correspond to something called phase, which is the relative position of a wave on a timeline, but Feynman doesn’t mention phase, perhaps because he wants us to think of the light as particles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ef1e165b-9617-4640-88aa-e286b4e7373e/MBPs.kindle.jpg Chapter One: The Strange Theory of You and Me - Make it stand out I poke at the mind-body knot in my 2018 book Mind-Body Problems, with an “s.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/89d48c5d-3d6d-458f-bdea-1a08a85f5e89/BABIES+PLUS+NOTE.jpg Chapter One: The Strange Theory of You and Me - Make it stand out My copy of Babies came with a note from Robert, at the bottom of this photo. He tells me to ask his wife Ruth Copeland, a former rock star, to sing “Leonard Susskind’s beloved vaudeville ditty, ‘My baby just fell down the wormhole!’” Robert always had a strange sense of humor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1e704d59-81a8-4ae4-b7c0-14e631d56894/OXFORD+VERSE+copy.png Chapter One: The Strange Theory of You and Me - Make it stand out My copy of The Oxford Book of American Verse, which contains Hart Crane’s “Voyages.” The book’s look, feel and smell give me flashbacks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9595573f-b4b1-43a5-8710-a6393651c81a/NOTES+5.23.20.jpg Chapter One: The Strange Theory of You and Me - Make it stand out Page from Quantum Notebook #1, May 23, 2020, in which I wonder, while reading Feynman’s QED, whether light gets trapped inside a pane of glass rather than bouncing off. Feynman eventually addresses this issue. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-two daily 0.75 2023-06-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f4ede504-db9f-4373-93c5-5f30332c45a4/MQE+COVER+2.png Chapter Two: Laziness - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ccf3df6c-7955-4f09-8c06-610deff44ed1/MY+BUDDHA+copy.png Chapter Two: Laziness - Make it stand out Buddha greets me when I walk in my front door. He’s amused because he’s achieved permanent, sublime Laziness and I haven’t. He also probably gets quantum mechanics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6da52c0b-2800-4828-9919-a7f88fdccabc/SUSSKIND+COVER.jpg Chapter Two: Laziness - Make it stand out This is not a pop-physics book. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/87da733d-fa5b-4be3-9d62-f99686749f87/CHOPRA+HORGAN.jpg Chapter Two: Laziness - Make it stand out Deepak Chopra and me in 2018 talking about something deep. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9ccfe9b5-f8d0-42be-b053-8d1cf9efe3b2/COMPLEX+NUMBERS.jpg Chapter Two: Laziness - Make it stand out Susskind shows how to represent complex numbers. The horizontal and vertical axes consist of real and imaginary numbers, respectively, which combine to form complex numbers such as z = x + iy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1606e148-8c8b-4a90-9254-0c0e1bbec13c/SINE+AND+COSINCE+WIKIPEDIA.png Chapter Two: Laziness - Make it stand out From Wikipedia, which has fantastic entries on mathematics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/57b2fe52-6ac0-429b-9a89-4746eac8b009/Her2013Poster.jpg Chapter Two: Laziness - Make it stand out I love this film, even though it’s very sad. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f67f8aa4-b2a2-4f1c-80da-91c28f544e8f/1_cy7BsTfD1IwUUfOTzLtyBA.png Chapter Two: Laziness - Make it stand out Euler’s identity https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/37dd3b99-14c9-4a2d-b37b-f1a092522c21/least+action.png Chapter Two: Laziness - Make it stand out A lifeguard can run faster than she can swim, and light goes faster in air than water, so the fastest path from A to B is not the shortest path. Unlike the lifeguard, light conforms to the principle of least action perfectly and without conscious calculation, which is pretty amazing if you think about it. From Wikipedia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/72c31d71-b309-4b22-95d6-cd22b900503e/NOTES+5.29.20.jpg Chapter Two: Laziness - Make it stand out Page from Quantum Notebook #1, May 29, 2020, which records my notes on trigonometry, Euler’s number and logarithms. https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/chapter-six daily 0.75 2023-06-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e91a3b13-ea9c-4e83-853f-d72e8a7422d8/feb8-4.png Chapter Six: Reality Check - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/172387ff-2147-4857-8c9d-3b95ff4b8c90/GRIFFITHS.jpg Chapter Six: Reality Check - Make it stand out That damn cat still spooks me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/40bfaf6b-c28b-4588-8ac5-cc38cf68ec0b/S+EQUATION.jpg Chapter Six: Reality Check - Make it stand out This is a photo of the Schrodinger equation, which I don’t know how to type out. See below for full page of Griffiths on which the equation appears. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/6b73676f-e371-4119-9343-74a92bbbf89f/GRIFFITHS+P+3.jpg Chapter Six: Reality Check - Make it stand out Page 1 of Chapter 1 of Griffiths, plus my grumpy annotations. The Schrodinger equation is in the box in the middle of the page. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/ac6322f2-d120-4835-99b8-5804aebdbaf1/BECKER.jpg Chapter Six: Reality Check - Make it stand out Good question. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/0c6d1638-0a0a-47e1-987e-145876413665/Simone_Weil_04_%28cropped%29.png Chapter Six: Reality Check - Make it stand out Simone Weil, 1909-1943, the radical activist and mystic, wrote about links between mathematics, morality and spirituality. Photo from Wikipedia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/3a2103e3-ddad-4d32-813c-c51ce8cc98a3/SPOCK.png Chapter Six: Reality Check - Make it stand out Spock fetishizes mathematical precision in ways that are dumb. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/dcc215a9-f441-4215-9b88-895e0bb9c6d4/HITLER+BESSEL.png Chapter Six: Reality Check - Make it stand out Hitler listening to his generals telling him that he might have wasted his time studying Bessel functions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b1556426-41a9-4827-a907-ed6620e9bf08/The_Ashtray_%28Or_the_Man_Who_Denied_Reality%29.jpg Chapter Six: Reality Check - Make it stand out I love this crazy book. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e39f22f0-a977-4888-b748-748ff33a3545/NOTES+9.6.20.jpg Chapter Six: Reality Check - Make it stand out Page from Quantum Notebook #2, September 6, 2020, on which I try to solve an easy probability problem in Griffiths: calculate the average age, median age and most probable age of a group of people with different ages. See last line. https://johnhorgan.org/about-john-horgan daily 0.75 2024-12-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/3d500d8a-5d87-47f1-9c45-70deefe4ad52/AFTER+ACCIDENT.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9cbb97e1-8f17-4518-a2c2-1d780c7788f6/MQE+feb8-6.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d70a2b0a-aec2-43f4-abab-4b07f4b51169/MBPs.kindle.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/939d87f6-9835-4208-a8e9-54df01f32c54/Horgan-The+End-1.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/31741ea0-a93c-4ed9-93fe-17f5c378f83a/END+OF+WAR.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f1234da4-1a4c-4a54-b3fe-611989f736c6/Pay+Attention+Amazon.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4b4f6858-eca2-4e6a-a8fe-c184b3be2f9e/RATIONAL+MYSTICISM.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/146327c5-0be6-4b72-ba2b-83532adba50c/UNDISCOVERED+MIND.jpg https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment daily 0.75 2023-08-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/89870b6b-c030-4b43-8f06-960d8fcf7ab3/MQE+feb8-9.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/1af42867-ae82-47d1-8941-e6e76406acf6/feb8-1+%281%29.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/fb737c1d-e3d3-44d6-942e-4e7e4b3a7ca8/MQE+COVER+2.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d9a3513f-7687-43c1-baec-d155c9f2299a/feb8-3.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/e91a3b13-ea9c-4e83-853f-d72e8a7422d8/feb8-4.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/426e2419-3725-467a-a576-a12339e0d122/feb8-7.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9cbb97e1-8f17-4518-a2c2-1d780c7788f6/MQE+feb8-6.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/b1e7569e-a76a-4518-82cf-090ba0a42d24/MQE+COVER+1.jpg https://johnhorgan.org/home daily 1.0 2024-12-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/414ff822-86da-4a16-a363-1738942b03d6/pond_hockey+cropped.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9cbb97e1-8f17-4518-a2c2-1d780c7788f6/MQE+feb8-6.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d70a2b0a-aec2-43f4-abab-4b07f4b51169/MBPs.kindle.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/939d87f6-9835-4208-a8e9-54df01f32c54/Horgan-The+End-1.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/31741ea0-a93c-4ed9-93fe-17f5c378f83a/END+OF+WAR.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f1234da4-1a4c-4a54-b3fe-611989f736c6/Pay+Attention+Amazon.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4b4f6858-eca2-4e6a-a8fe-c184b3be2f9e/RATIONAL+MYSTICISM.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/146327c5-0be6-4b72-ba2b-83532adba50c/UNDISCOVERED+MIND.jpg https://johnhorgan.org/about-cross-check daily 0.75 2026-03-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/13654c29-386a-4912-9957-199fe416783c/Indian.Lake.Hockey.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/9cbb97e1-8f17-4518-a2c2-1d780c7788f6/MQE+feb8-6.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/d70a2b0a-aec2-43f4-abab-4b07f4b51169/MBPs.kindle.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/939d87f6-9835-4208-a8e9-54df01f32c54/Horgan-The+End-1.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/31741ea0-a93c-4ed9-93fe-17f5c378f83a/END+OF+WAR.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/f1234da4-1a4c-4a54-b3fe-611989f736c6/Pay+Attention+Amazon.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/4b4f6858-eca2-4e6a-a8fe-c184b3be2f9e/RATIONAL+MYSTICISM.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac380b9cda2c532cffb9e8/146327c5-0be6-4b72-ba2b-83532adba50c/UNDISCOVERED+MIND.jpg https://johnhorgan.org/blog daily 0.75 2023-03-06 https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/thanks daily 0.75 2023-03-27 https://johnhorgan.org/books/my-quantum-experiment/discussion daily 0.75 2024-10-26