Robert’s Big Questions

Good Vibrations?

by Robert Bernstein

Over a year ago, I wrote an article “Wrong but Interesting?” wherein I noted that an idea can be wrong but still valuable for generating new ideas. In that article, I noted an example of an idea that I found wrong, and also not interesting: That “everything is vibrations.”

I love the Beach Boys song “Good Vibrations” for its beautiful metaphors and how the music itself represents these good vibrations. But it is a metaphor and not a literal reality. I might say that I am “on the same wavelength” as my wife, or that I am “in tune” with a friend I am talking to. These are analogies that date back to the early days of radio.

Early radios were finicky, and you were very aware of tweaking the knobs to get your radio exactly in tune with the transmitter.

It might help to understand why it seems that vibrations are everywhere.

More than 2,500 years ago, Pythagoras discovered that the musical pitch of a plucked string is inverse to its length. He imagined the movement of the Sun, Moon, and planets played a “Music of the Spheres” beyond our awareness.

At the other end of the scale, string theory proposes that all matter is ultimately formed out of tiny strings vibrating in different ways.

In my physics and math studies, one of the earliest systems we learned is the “harmonic oscillator.” A common example is a pendulum. Another common example is a weight hanging from a spring.

It is within any system that if you push the thing away from its resting position, something tries to push it back toward its resting position. In everyday life, we don’t see many actual pendulums or weights hanging from springs. But one of the wonders of mathematics that I love is the idea of approximation. It turns out that almost everything in the world “to first order approximation” is a harmonic oscillator!

Doesn’t this mean that the “New Age” people are correct that everything is about vibrations? And being in or out of tune, synchrony or harmony? Not really.

But digital devices use what is called Pulse-code Modulation (PCM). If you look inside a computer, do you think you will see lots of things vibrating? Again, in a trivial sense the answer is yes. Because almost everything looks like a harmonic oscillator to the first approximation.

More than 200 years ago, the mathematician Fourier showed that any arbitrary waveform or signal could be represented as a sum of different pure sine wave vibrations. You simply have to adjust the amplitude, frequency, and phase of each vibration and add them up – and, voilà, you have your chosen signal. We call this collection of summed sine waves a “Fourier Series.” email: ashleigh@west. net. web: www.ash leighbrilliant.com.

But is this a useful way to understand what is going on inside a computer? No. Computer scientists think in terms of on/off bits. And in terms of gates that take a set of inputs and create a logical output based on those inputs.

Yes, in principle, you could do a Fourier analysis of the signals in a computer and be hypnotized by the ever-changing vibrations. But when you awaken from your trance, you will realize you have learned nothing useful about what is happening.

Likewise for our brains. In the 1800s, scientists discovered brain waves. It is a fact that there are characteristic frequencies of these brain waves, and each is associated with a certain activity. From slow Delta waves in deep, dreamless sleep on up through Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. The latter at frequencies up to 100 Hz, associated with higher mental and motor functions.

But this clearly covers only very coarse behavior of our 86 billion brain neurons. Imagine what your TV picture would look like if everything was just simple vibrations! Nothing but mesmerizing moiré patterns. Your TV picture is created by complex interactions of actors, cameras, and coordinated illumination of pixels.

Yes, it is trivially true that “everything is vibrating.” But the wonders of the world are far more rich, interesting and complex!

Ashleigh Brilliant born England 1933, came to California in 1955, to Santa Barbara in 1973, to the Montecito Journal in 2016. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots,” now a series of 10,000.

If “everything” is a harmonic oscillator, then this actually makes it less interesting as an explanation.

Back to the radio analogy. If radio was all about just getting in tune with the transmitter, then you would hear nothing at all. It is the breakdown of the perfect tuning that carries all of the interesting information. This is called “modulation.” You are familiar with Amplitude Modulation (AM) and Frequency Modulation (FM).

Robert Bernstein holds degrees from Physics departments of MIT and UCSB. Passion to understand the Big Questions of life, the universe and to be a good citizen of the planet. Visit facebook.com/ questionbig ensuring that the United States is meeting the needs of the modern workforce and maintaining America’s position internationally.”

Unfortunately, current data from the National Science Foundation shows persistent performance gaps according to students’ socioeconomic status and race or ethnicity. For example, mathematics scores for low-income students in a national cohort of eighth graders were 30 out of 500 points lower than scores for high-income students. The long-term effects of the under-representation of minorities in STEM fields, such as inequity in medical care, are devastating.

Among their colleagues, both locally and across the U.S., Robin Gose – MOXI’s Ed.D., President, and CEO – and her team are respected as leaders in social justice efforts for their dedication to diversity and inclusion. The demographics of museum audiences and staff in the U.S. are out of sync with the country’s demographics overall, but that’s not true at MOXI, where those served mirror the population of Santa Barbara County.

“We’ve got partnerships with over a dozen different local nonprofits who serve underserved or historically underrepresented groups in the STEAM fields as well as adults with disabilities,” said Gose.

In July 2021, MOXI and 18 other museums across Santa Barbara County rolled out Museums for All, a program to make museums more accessible for those receiving food assistance benefits. People who show their CalFresh card can access the museum for as little as one dollar.

The museum hosts inclusive events and programming, such as Mellow Mornings for children and adults with autism, as well as other cognitive disabilities. It offers support to teachers with guides and videos that supplement their lesson plans, and its various educational camps are in high demand. Its Thanksgiving camp, the Academy of Wonder and Wizardry, offers wand building and transfiguration as part of its “world of magic through science” curriculum. The camp sold out in under an hour. Their summer camp, which engages kids in the practices of scientists and engineers, sold out during early bird registration.

“That desire and demand is there,” said Gose, “so that has been very exciting.” I peeked into the makerspace where kids were standing over craft tables while expertly handling rulers, wires, and colorful bits that light up. The museum has gone to great lengths to serve children who would otherwise not have access to this space, which offers kids opportunities to use a 3D printer, among other technologies. More than 60% of visiting students are from Title I schools.

MOXI’s Innovation Workshop is open daily to all museum guests, offering everything from collaborative projects to engineering challenges – such as December’s theme “It’s Lit,” which involved applying circuits to LEDs. Perhaps the best resource is the floating preceptor, who teaches visitors how to use the technology and encourages them to keep trying.

Cultivating a Climate of Change

MOXI is also among 14 members of the Environmental Alliance of Santa Barbara County Museums who have united to creatively explore the impacts of climate change through focused exhibitions, media campaigns, and educational programming. From April through August 2022, kids were challenged to create solution-oriented artwork in relation to climate change. Much of this art was displayed, along with Environmental Graphiti, a gallery of graphs as art, and images of locals working to combat the effects of climate change.

Going along on my own adventure, Bertucci then led me through a bifold glass door and into The McMillan + Kenny Families Fantastic Forces Courtyard, where I launched a quarter-sized ball in the Turntables exhibit. It’s satisfying to watch it go round and round until the centripetal force breaks and the ball rolls off to the side. I resisted the temptation to launch a

MOXI Page 354 facility in her garage in Santa Barbara; she looks forward to using the new Montecito space to expand what she was previously able to offer. The duo’s clientele range from those with limited mobility to former athletes, and everything in between. They also work with clients who are golfers, avid runners, bikers, and casual pickleball and tennis players, within a range of ages.

Montecito Fitness offers free weights, dumbbells, kettlebells, cable machines, an echo bike, and ski erg machine in a spacious, 2,300-square-foot space that feels aesthetically pleasing, private, and luxurious. Clients can also enjoy the infrared sauna, coffee bar, eucalyptus cold towels, and Normatec compression boots. “We wanted to build a space that clients wanted to linger in after their session,” Kirkwood said. The studio is solely used for one-on-one personal training sessions.

While Kirkwood and Furr are running the facility alone, they envision eventually bringing in other like-minded trainers who want to utilize the space for their clients looking for a convenient location, intimate and luxurious facility in which to get their workouts in, which also offers ample parking. “We are continuing to build a tight-knit community and look forward to offering member-only events in the future,” Furr said.

Kodo, Tsuzumi: One Earth Tour

Fri, Feb 10 / 8 PM / Granada Theatre

Tickets start at $20 (Best for ages 8 and up.)

Award-winning Materials Scientist and Science Evangelist

Ainissa Ramirez

The Alchemy of Us: Uncovering Hidden Figures in Science Whose Inventions Changed Our Way of Life

Thu, Feb 23 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE (registration recommended)

“Timely, informative and fascinating.”

– Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction

Dr. Ainissa Ramirez promotes a love of exploration, making complex scientific processes both clear and mesmerizing to just about everyone.

President of the American Psychological Association

Dr. Thema Bryant

Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole, Authentic Self

Fri, Mar 3 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE (Registration recommended)

“Dr. Thema Bryant is teaching people how to come back to themselves and handle challenges along the way of self-discovery.”

–

Nedra

Glover Tawwab, New York Times bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace

Rigorously trained on the island of Sado in the Sea of Japan, Kodo’s soul-stirring taiko drummers bring a youthful joy to their unstoppably energetic, intricately designed and meticulously choreographed displays.

Step Afrika!

Thu, Feb 16 / 7 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

“In the bodies of these skilled performers, the beat is obviously unstoppable.” The New York Times

Step Afrika! continues the long tradition of stepping, integrating contemporary dance and art forms with songs, storytelling, humor and audience participation into a performance that will leave your heart pounding.

Event Sponsor: Jody & John Arnhold

A Timeless Tale Reinvented