Okay, first a disclaimer. This is not a post about quantum computing. I prolly know less about quantum computing than you do. But the thing is that I have to clean the mess that my room has become and reinstall gutsy on my comp so I am feeling quite lazy and this post is basically just to kill time.
I was today in the library after a whole semester, which was because I have to prepare a presentation on Geothermal energy(its another story for some other time maybe).
So anyways I was getting hungry and as I was sitting with Meesum, he suggests that we go to CC canteen and grab a bite.
On the way we run into ekka… and he is off to a talk on quantum computing. Now I did pass a course on quantum physics(yay!!!) and one on introduction to computing(yay again, i even got a good grade) but quantum computing is nothing like putting one and one together I quickly realize. The talk begins with Hilbert spaces and if I remember correctly, it was just briefly mentioned in the course. Then, it gets worse soon, there are Bell inequalities and spins(oh the horror!!!) beings discussed. Of course I should have known never to set my foot inside, the whole class there were only profs… Prof. Srihari being the only face I can recognize(he taught us Physical chemistry and man he is awesome…. I never would have got a good grade in the course had it not been for him… he made it all so exciting…. now I sound like a teenager, which I am not and I might just start crying any moment so I guess I’ll just stop gushing). So anyways the talk is not about quantum computing, but its about how a lecturer should approach a course on quantum computing…. so not my cup of tea. I and Meesum are just sitting there and I am praying to God that oh please make it so that Meesum doesn’t understand a word out of it… anyways the horror continues for some more time and then, Sir starts to talk about Richard P Feynman(my hero, yay, my hero, if I were a girl…. or at least if he were just alive…. then you know, you can imagine….. though I am usually straight… rest in peace man, I’ll soon meet up.) So anyways he is talking about the Feynman lectures volume 3…. and he says “…the equations are beautiful.”
That my friends is the first time in my almost 4 long years of stay, in fact in my almost 16 year long academic career, that someone refers to equations are beautiful. Who does that? Equations are after all, just that, a statement that the arbitrary expression on the left hand side is equal to( or equivalent… the fine difference) that almost equally unparsable expression on the right. How can an equation be beautiful?
Reminds me of a story, or maybe an allegory, I have never tried to verify how true it really is. So it is England in whatever century and Victoria is the reigning monarch. So she organizes this huge convention or seminar whatever… and invites all major scientists, thinkers, philosophers, whatevers to London, to discuss whether or not God exists. Remember we are talking about the post industrial revolution London. I am pretty sure that the crowd would have made the average IQ of London jump quite a few points. Now the raging debate is fierce. Since I am Agnostic, it means that I am pro motion, but that really doesn’t matter anyways. So anyways, among this whole clamor is Leonhard Euler, mathematician extraordinaire. Finally, he is also called up to lecture. He goes up to the board and writes what is now known as Euler’s identity(I think). Just in case, we are on the same page…. e^i*pi = -1 (yea, yea I am trying to learn MATLAB and Sage too… now you know) . On the board. There it is, for all to see, proof that God exists. Of course, what he really means(again my opinion) is that there is an underlying order to things, that things are the way they are because they can’t be anyway else. It is obviously a powerful equation, when you think about it. There is an exponential, an iota(complex numbers), pi(trigonometry), and -1(integers). It is a statement of unity underlying functions, trig, cmplx nos, integers, arithmetic… everything. Or it is just me. Anyways, however you define a beautiful equation, this is one.
I have this really nagging habit of talking for hours about things that I don’t really understand. Remember that I am giving a presentation on Geothermal energy, only God knows what I’ll speak about. Did you know that Goethe, the famous poet(you have heard his name, right? I have never read any of his works, but supposedly he is very very good) is also considered the Father of Geology. So anyways, this little rant was not to tell that I know so much more about all stuff. It is about the idea that I found intriguing. Beautiful equations. Next I’ll talk about the equations I found irresistibly sultry, sexy and made me horny. Just kidding. Though there always is the Schroedinger’s equation. Now that is one hell of a raunchy equation. People would agree I guess.
Anyways. I have always thought of equations as, you know, devices for calculations. Plug in some numbers and get some new numbers. That sort of a thing. Also there is something that I just can’t resist putting this little thing. As anyone who did a course on Quantum Mechanics, knows that the momentum operator is a gradient. What is velocity in quantum terms? Something that I can never really grasp. So what I learnt is that, consider one of the simplest wave function, exponential-i-k-x. A plot of its probability magnitude would appear as a helix. A slinky. Now when you rotate a slinky, it appears to move either forward or backward. That my friends, is velocity. Thus, when you write the operator, you would find that it is just the Fourier transform appearing. Of course he also defined mass from a quantum mechanics. Something about particles switching back and forth, that I didn’t really follow.
So, that I believe is it. More or less.
While I am at it, I remember one more incident from today that I would like to recount. I was roaming the library looking for a book on geothermal energy. I ended up in the literature section somehow. There are some Jackie Collins and Sydney Sheldons lying around. Just looking at them fills me up with disgust. I hate such trivial writers. There is absolutely no content, you read their books, you gain nothing. You learn nothing. The books are formulaic. Writing after all is a profession for them. It fills me up with rage, just thinking about it. So anyways, I move a few shelves down. I notice a hardbound volume called Situations. Curious, I pick it up. Its a collection of writings of Jean Paul Sartre. Some short stories maybe. A letter to Albert Camus. Now Camus happens to be one more of my heroes. It is a rather long list and includes diverse characters like the Master-Chief, Feynman, Azhar, Jim Morrison, the Coen brothers… so on. So intrigued, I keep looking. There is some writing, a story I gather. Its called ‘Of Mice and Men.’ I read just the first paragraph. Skim through it, more like. I don’t remember a single word of what he wrote. I do remember however, a feeling of complete dejection, upon reading it. The first thought that I have is, I can never write anything that is even a fraction as good as it was. Just touching the book I felt was a sacrilege. I couldn’t hold it in my hands. I was terrified. Of course you guys would be like, what complete shit. He’s just raving or something, but I am not. I understand exactly what I am saying. I just hope others get it. The writing is so good, so precise, it is horrifying. I started having trouble breathing, I felt extremely nauseous and I just couldn’t stand straight. I was literally swaying. That is how good the writing was. I have never experienced anything like that before. I sure hope never to feel so again. There was this one time, when I heard a Nirvana cover recording of the man who sold the world, which was rather close, I think now. Oh and also when I saw the Man from Earth( brilliant movie, a must watch for everyone in your family and your dog too.) but nothing of the same magnitude. Suddenly, I realized, how small I really am. That I and you too, no offence, we don’t matter. That we can never think anything like this, ever. Even if all we did was to keep thinking all day long.
