Philosophy of Perceptions
Peter M Ahumada
Tue, Thu, Jan 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23, 28, 30, 04-05:00pm, 2-136
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)
Three of the most important philosophers of perception are Rene Descartes, Bishop Berkeley and MIT's beloved Gian-Carlo Rota. In a brief but serious class, we will explore Rota's philosophy of founding and merge it with Cartesian skepticism and Berkeley's world of perceptions. The scientific world will emerge as a mere consistency of one's perceptions. Readings include the Meditations and the Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous.
Contact: Peter M Ahumada, (617) 864-2007, ahumada@MIT.EDU
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Unifying Gravity and EM by Analogies with EM
Doug Sweetser, '84
Mon Jan 13, Wed Jan 15, Fri Jan 17, 03-05:00pm, 2-105
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)
Prereq: none
Investigate an old hypothesis, that gravity is similar to EM. Clone a Lagrange density for gravity from EM. Quantize the unified field. Impress friends by deriving Newton's law of gravity using perturbations of a normalized potential, dodging the distance dependence problem. Eliminate the need for dark matter and energy using the chain rule. Dine on Grand Marnier chocolate truffles while discussing the subtle underlying ideas.
Contact: Doug Sweetser, '84, doug@theworld.com
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