Matlab ToDo

The research is looking quite promising. Mary's and Scott's tips were very useful for making my surface plot.

To do:

Find isosurfaces for my function of 4 variables. I can't visualize the 4 variables at once, but I'm ok visualizing 3 variables at a time, with e.g., an onion-peel visualization (each surface corresponds to a value of the function). I don't know if this is standard.

If it isn't, I'll need to write code for computing tangent vectors, generate my own mesh, etc. I really don't want to go down that path.

Also, at some point, I'll want to do some optimization under linear constraints.

oh how I have grown (a very late review of "The Tao of Physics")

In 1996, I found Fritjof Capra's "The Tao of Physics" to be the greatest book ever.

I just looked at it again, and it only took me a couple of minutes to see that it's clearly a classic exemplar of psychoceramics.

Capra sets up this strawman of naive foundationalism (which, possibly, many naive scientists subscribe to), upon which Newtonian theory is built. Then he mentions Geoffrey Chew's "bootstrap philosophy", which "constitutes the final rejection of the mechanistic worldview in modern physics". His thesis is that understanding quantum physics requires a coherentist worldview, like the view espoused by Hindu and Buddhist philosophies. It seems to me that one of the central ideas of this book is based on a pun on the word "consciousness": Capra equates "observer of quantum system" with "human consciousness".

Now, it seems a priori plausible to me that some Eastern philosophies are more receptive to the reality of quantum physics than our Western philosophies. It's possible that Capra has hit on good ideas regarding this connection, but looking for this needle on this haystack of a book does not seem worthwhile. Furthermore, given that the level of attention required for critical reading is a finite resource, this book may also be harmful to your mind.

If I had to psychoanalyze Capra, I would guess that this book was motivated by (1) some kind of nihilism: he wanted give up on real science without feeling bad about it (2) possibly, maybe he had a certain disdain of old-school physicists who have little awareness of their own philosophy. Unfortunately, Capra forgets to ask himself "what am I really saying?", neglects the skeptical perspective, and as a result, goes off the rails.