Recap

Rebroadcast: Michio Kaku

Saturday night's program was a rebroadcast of theoretical physicist Michio Kaku from 5/16/04 conversing about the life and work of Albert Einstein.

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Einstein's Dreams

In Einstein's Dreams, author and physicist Alan Lightman records a series of meditations about the nature of time that Einstein might have imagined while working as a patent clerk in Berne, Switzerland. An excerpt from the book follows:

"In this world, it is instantly obvious that something is odd. No houses can be seen in the valleys or plains. Everyone lives in the mountains.

At some time in the past, scientists discovered that time flows more slowly the further from the center of the earth. The effect is minuscule, but it can be measured with extremely sensitive instruments. Once the phenomenon was known, a few people, anxious to stay young, moved to the mountains. Now all houses are built on Dom, the Matterhorn, Monte Rosa, and other high ground. It is impossible to sell living quarters elsewhere.

Many are not content simply to locate their homes on a mountain. To get the maximum effect, they have constructed their houses on stilts. The mountaintops all over the world are nexted with such houses, which from a distance look like a flock of fat birds squatting on long skinny legs..." read more