#fine structure

it doesn't get as much attention as Ra or his scp stuff but I still love it

Ask Ethan: What Is The Fine Structure Constant And Why Does It Matter?

“When we do our best to measure the Universe — to greater precisions, at higher energies, under various conditions, at lower temperatures, etc. — we often find details that are intricate, rich, and puzzling. It's not the devil that's in those details, though, but rather that's where the deepest secrets of reality lie.

The particles in our Universe aren't just points that attract, repel, and bind together with one another; they interact through every subtle means that the laws of nature permit. As we reach greater precisions in our measurements, we start uncovering these subtle effects, including intricacies to the structure of matter that are easy to miss at low precisions. Fine structure is a vital part of that, but learning where even our best predictions of fine structure break down might be where the next great revolution in particle physics comes from. Doing the right experiment is the only way we'll ever know.“

This week, I was asked to explain the fine structure constant as simply as possible. It’s actually a story more than a century in the making, as the previously-observed fine structure of matter let us know that Niels Bohr’s model of the atom was insufficient from the outset! Today, our understanding of how the spin of matter, the relativistic effects that come from moving close to the speed of light, and the inherently fluctuating nature of the quantum fields permeating the Universe come together enables us to probe the structure and nature of matter more deeply than ever before.

A suite of three pieces for two pianos, written October 2014. Incidental music to Sam Hughes’ web novel; titles used with permission.

1st movement: “Unbelievable scenes”

3m 59s. MP3. PDF.

2nd movement: “Power Of Two”

3m 57s. MP3. PDF.

3rd movement: “Crushed Underground”

4m 7s. MP3. PDF.

If you are feeling sad about Worm not happening any more, may I bring your attention to…Fine Structure by Sam Hughes!

Every year, a random person on Earth is struck by lightning and gains superpowers.

Each new superhuman is twice as powerful as the previous one.

This has been going on for ten years.

But as with all Hughes’ stories, it is much larger than that.

Here are some pros and cons in relation to Worm!

Slightly more sci-fi

Much less characters

Slightly larger scope

The ending had to be explained in a 5-page FAQ

Said FAQ was consolidated into 5 pages in a reasonable and conceptually-related order

it ended on a real fucking whimper but i mean after all of THAT any other way would have been crass.

the whole thing (and really this could be said of every web story serially published that i have read, such is the nature of the medium) could stand to the revision of an editor but as it is,it is really good

is more than good, is literally the biggest story i have ever read, i know i said that of worm and i said that of homestuck and what is with this ultra positivist, mega geek, hard sci fi genre of fiction that its defining quality seems to always be “go bigger”.

they always have to end with some anime fight for the fate of the multiverse, always go for the singularity, the end of the world, the destruction of reality, do all these writers really think that the ultimate extrapolation of humanity is “become super god squared inifinity +1″

but once again i liked it so much, i especially liked how subreptitiously and subtly it ended up creating a system of magic with rules and everything, the curve of increasing powerlevels was not a steep one, it felt well paced and earned the lofty heights at which the story rised.

i also really really liked the anachronic and disorganized way the whole picture is presented, it felt like a jigsaw  puzzle the reader had the chance to put together on his own, it took me back to my young days when i watched lost for the first time, it feels a lot like LOST in fact, or a mix between LOST, HEROES and worm. it feels like all those mystery puzzle plot shows that came out around that time.

it also feels a little too divorced from any human emotional reality or proportion, the real human stories of the everyday person on the street, as most of these stories tend to be. and that is fine, that is how those stories go, but i think im going to need a chance of pace, i got satisfied and more, i got my fill of highly conceptual sci fi for now, ill maybe have to take some time off from it.

gigantic story, i loved it, 10/10