Fiber arts and Mathematics

"Have you ever wanted to explore the symmetries of the cube and octahedron through an old Japanese art form? Or to investigate fractals using tatting and string art? Or to study the helix by knitting bed socks?" Plus magazine has a review of a book called Crafting by Concepts.

When I saw that, it reminded me of this TED talk from 2009 involving coral, crochet, and hyperbolic geometry.

And writing this post reminded me of the old favorites, Klein Bottle Hat (and Mobius Scarf!)

Beauty's Truth

Find here an old but very interesting essay about what makes a scientific theory beautiful. Essentially, the author argues that the beauty of a theory comes from its truth, and not the other way around. That is, having preconceived notions of what a beautiful theory is can prevent scientists from accepting one that may describe reality better.

Especially interesting given the recent news about the Large Hadron Supercollider. Let's see what happens - maybe we will live to see new theories emerge. This is a historic time.

The most beautiful machine in the world.

Calendars and astronomy have always been one of the main purposes to which people have put mathematical research. Being aware of time, we seem to feel the need to locate ourselves within it. Whether we conceptualize time as linear or cyclical, much of the ritual we concoct has to do with establishing a relationship between it and ourselves and culture.

The Long Now Foundation was established to help humanity think better in the long term. From their website:

The Long Now Foundation hopes to provide counterpoint to today's "faster/cheaper" mind set and promote "slower/better" thinking. We hope to creatively foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years.

One of the projects they are working on to that goal is the machine to which the title of the post refers - a clock meant to keep accurate time for the next ten thousand years. The prototype that has already been built is not only visually stunning, but the very idea of building an artifact meant to still be around - and functioning - in a hundred centuries...I find it practically too audacious to contemplate. The designer chose the time frame he did because that is about the age of the oldest known human technology: pottery shards.

Here is the reason I think this may be the most beautiful machine there is: this sort of long term thinking is the sort we must do if we hope to survive as a species. It is beautiful mechanically, but the idea that led to the design choices that led to the design itself are the source of the beauty.

Every technology is the consequence of a series of ideas and choices. We desperately need good ones.