Article Analysis: Whoa, Dude, Are We Inside a Computer Right Now?

The article "Whoa, Dude, Are We Inside a Computer Right Now?" written by Ben Makuch was published in the Vice Magazine. One could argue that the magazine isn't a scientific journal but as the interviewed person, called Rich Terrile is a well-regarded scientist who works simultaneously for the NASA and is writing a book about this subject, we can assume his credibility. Furthermore, Rich Terrile corroborates his arguments by naming respected scientists who already dealt with this hypothesis, for example Ray Kurzweil or Nick Bostom and at one point he also quotes Einstein to support his argument. As the magazine is trying to attract younger audiences, the colloquial language could be seen as intrinsic ethos. Logos is also present in the article. For example, Rick Terrile says that the universe is pixelated and that the pixels can't be broken down into smaller entities, thus the universe is logically finite. The other logical assumption we can find in the text is the reference to Moore's Law, which assumes that the computing power doubles every two years. If the universe is finite and the technical advances keep accelerating, then at some point in time the universe will be computable. Pathos is used several times in the article. Already in the introduction we can feel an appeal to the audience's sense of identity, because he writes:"It's an idea that every college student with a gravity bong and The Matrix on DVD has thought of before ". Always when he compares real life with video games he tries to affect the reading audience as they can draw an analogy to something that they might very much like. This also requires the readers to have some kind of knowledge about video games. 

CAJ 2 - Planetary Science - The Kepler Mission

My first step towards the exploration of the Universe is a NASA mission that provides us with the most recent discoveries that were considered to be science-fiction but are now scientific reality.

The Kepler Mission is one of the most important ongoing missions in planetary science. The main purpose of the Kepler Mission is to find Earth-like planets in the extrasolar system. This means, planets that orbit stars outside of our solar system. Basically this mission is supposed to find our new home. It is a real challenge to find an Earth-like planet, even in the extrasolar system. The conditions needed for living organisms are many: a solid surface, the right temperature, liquid water, an atmosphere that provides air to breath. All these conditions have to be present at once. As the chance for a planet being at exactly the right distance from it's star and being composed of the right substance and material and being Earth-sized, is very low, scientists have  to work  hard to find a planet that fulfils all of these criteria and is thus habitable.

The main device of this mission is the Kepler Telescope. The Kepler Telescope was launched in March 2009 and the initially planed lifetime was three and a half years. As the noise while progressing the data from the incoming photons of the stars was greater than expected, the mission will last longer than originally expected. If the telescope remains intact, the mission will be funded till 2016. The telescope has detected 961 extrasolar planets in more than 76 stellar systems. All of these planets vary in size, composition and mass.

The telescope operates with a photometer (device to measure light intensity). While orbiting the Sun, the photometer points to one direction in the northern constellation of Cygnus, Lyra and Draco. This is right next to the well-known Milky Way.
The squares on the picture show the field of view the telescope analyses permanently.

The photometer measures the light intensity of these stars in that field of view, and if a planet orbits the star, then the brightness of the star changes. This change in light intensity is detected by the photometer. The
phenomenon when a planet orbits the star is called transit.  The size of the planet can be calculated by the time it takes the planet to orbit the star and by the decrease in brightness that is detected by the photometer. By knowing the orbital size and the temperature of the star, the temperature of the planet can be calculated. This is crucial, as the Kepler Mission searches for habitable planets and by this calculation it knows which stars are worth further analyzing.

The telescope has a 0.95 meter diameter which is the already mentioned photometer. It has an exceptionally large view of 105 square degrees. A normal telescope has a field of view of 1 square degree (square degree is a measure similar to degree that helps measuring parts of a circle but square degree is used to measure parts of a sphere).  By providing the telescope with such a large diameter, it is capable to observe a very big field of view. The telescope is permanently looking at more than 100.000 stars and simultaneously analyzing the incoming data.

The telescope and the team working on this mission, have made many new discoveries. For example, planets orbiting two suns like in Star Wars, aren't fiction anymore but reality. Scientific reality.

Further discoveries and information about the Kepler Mission will follow.
Stay tuned.

Resources:
http://kepler.nasa.gov/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_(spacecraft)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyjbJ3Rw7Cs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q86E2abw4AY

PSA/ADVERTISEMENT

As this topic really awakened my interest, I decided to do a PSA and an advertisement.

PSA:

DEATH! 

What a horrible sounding word, though it is as natural as birth. Loosing someone you love is a very hard thing, but a natural one.  People have been confronted with it since ever. 

Show some respect to the person who died and don't mess with his/her fake identity.

Advertisement:

Which way do YOU choose for grieving?

 An after-death avatar helps. Alcohol doesn't.


Resources: 

http://a57.foxnews.com/global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/Health/660/371/Using%20Computer.JPG?ve=1&tl=1

http://www.contextview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Dependency-to-Alcohol.jpg

CAJ 1 - Planetary Science - Introduction

My CAJ topic is "planetary science", which is the study of planets, solar systems, moons and terrestrial bodies in the Universe. The focus of my research will mainly include the space telescopes and their mission to find a habitable, earth-like planet in space. I will introduce the Kepler Mission in depth and the major achievements and discoveries that are attributed to it. I will also introduce the Hubble Telescope and its importance for planetary science. Furthermore, the research will focus on the recent projects and developments that are supposed to help in achieving better results in analyzing and finding planets. The future prospect of planetary science will also be discussed. My goal is to expose the importance of this topic for the future of humanity and to prove how interesting planetary science is. 

a day in the life of a touring hardcore-punk band

A day in the life of a touring hardcore-punk band begins usually with confusion. Sleeping every night in a different flat can cause disorientation in the first minutes of wakefullness. After having realized where they are, the band asks for a cup of coffee and depending on the environment for a hot shower. After everyone had a coffee and the hangover subsided, the band gets in the van and types in the address where it is supposed to play that evening. What follows is a long-distance drive to another city or even another country. Playing board-games or listening to music helps the band to kill boredom but after four, five days on tour, nothing seems to help. So the hours spent in the van are usually the longest. First thing the band asks for after having arrived at the destination is a short sightseeing-tour. After hours spent in the van the band really enjoys stretching their legs and having a walk in an unknown city. If they are particularly lucky they have even the opportunity to see the ocean and spend some time watching the waves clashing with the shore.

Happy and refreshed from the walk it is time to see the place where they will play in the evening. Then the band gets served excellent vegan dinner and free beer. This part of the day is the best because except breakfast they haven't eaten anything for the whole day. When enough people turned up, the promoter asks the band to get ready to play.

Excitement grows as the people gather around the stage and the band can't wait to shock the audience with their 15 minutes of angry, noisy "music". Those 15 minutes per day are the reason why the band exists and in that short time they try to give their best. After the show they enjoy the company of totally unknown people and in some cases these small-talks are the beginning of a long lasting friendship. At the end of the day the sleeping bags get rolled out and the band tries to sleep as much and as fast as possible, as the following day will again be long and eventful. 

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