2009 – Gerald E. Marsh

Quantum Mechanics and Motion: A Modern Perspective

Posted on December 27, 2009April 16, 2010Posted in Essays in Science, Physics

Physics Essays Vol. 23, pp. 242-247 (2010)

This essay is an attempted to address, from a modern perspective, the motion of a particle. Quantum mechanically, motion consists of a series of localizations due to repeated interactions that, taken close to the limit of the continuum, yields a world-line. If a force acts on the particle, its probability distribution is accordingly modified. This must also be true for macroscopic objects, although now the description is far more complicated by the structure of matter and associated surface physics.

Quantum Mechanics and Motion-A Modern Perspective

Blessing in Disguise

Posted on November 30, 2009July 31, 2012Posted in General Interest, Global Warming, USA Today Magazine

The real tipping point for civilization is the beginning of another Ice Age—not a world a few degrees warmer.

USA Today Magazine (November 2009) pdf

Global Warming: A Blessing in Disguise

Posted on November 24, 2009Posted in General Interest, Global Warming, Politics

USA Today Magazine (November 2009)

“The real tipping point for civilization is the beginning of another Ice Age–not a world a few degrees warmer.”

USA Today Mag-Nov09

The Demystification of Emergent Behavior

Posted on July 6, 2009January 11, 2016Posted in Biology, Essays in Science, General Interest, Physics

Emergent behavior that appears at a given level of organization may be characterized as arising from an organizationally lower level in such a way that it transcends a mere increase in the behavioral degree of complexity. It is therefore to be distinguished from systems exhibiting chaotic behavior, for example, which are deterministic but unpredictable because of an exponential dependence on initial conditions. In emergent phenomena, higher levels of organization are not determined by lowerlevels of organization; or, more colloquially, emergent behavior is often said to be “greater than the sum of the parts”. The concept plays an especially important but contentious role in the biological sciences. This essay is intended to demystify at least some aspects of the mystery of emergence.

(This is an updated and expanded version of the original post with some portions rewritten to enhance clarity.)

EMERGENT BEHAVIOR

Initiatives to Enhance Nuclear Stability and Non-Proliferation in the 21st Century

Posted on July 1, 2009July 1, 2009Posted in General Interest, Nuclear Policy, Politics

Physics & Society Vol. 38, No.3 (July 2009). Coauthored with George S. Stanford.

Three initiatives that the Obama Administration can undertake that would greatly increase nuclear stability and enhance the non-proliferation regime for many years to come.

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Climate Change: Sources of Warming in the Late 20th Century

Posted on May 28, 2009February 21, 2012Posted in Global Warming

The role of the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, volcanic and other aerosols, as well as the extraordinary solar activity of the late 20th century are discussed in the context of the warming since the mid-1970s. Much of that warming is found to be due to natural causes.

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A somewhat abbreviated version appears in Energy & Environment Vol. 23, No. 1, p. 95 (2012)
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Falling into the Afghan Trap

Posted on May 21, 2009June 30, 2012Posted in General Interest, Politics, USA Today Magazine

USA Today Magazine (May 2009)

The U.S. is bogged down in tactical responses to Taliban initiatives. Little by little, the Soviet experience is becoming more and more relevant.

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When the Stars Begin to Fall: The Waning of the Enlightenment

Posted on May 7, 2009June 30, 2012Posted in Biology, General Interest, Politics

Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism Vol. 17 (1), Spring-Summer 2009
Creationism and Science

As fundamentalist religious thought strengthens its hold on U.S. politics, and increases its role in politics around the world, enlightened values that form the very foundation of modern society are coming under attack. In the United States the wedge issue being used by fundamentalists is a pseudo-debate over creationism and Darwin’s theory of the descent of man.

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