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Tag: existence

Would this scholarly paper exist if Dr. Lebens hadn’t written it?

July 22, 2015 Martin Gardiner

“This paper wants to know whether it would exist, or could exist, in worlds in which I didn’t write it. Before we can answer this question, we first of all have to inquire as to what, exactly, this paper is. After exploring two forms of Platonism (pure and impure), and a theory that defines literary […]

Research Newsexistence, paper, philosopher, plato, writing

Pop music: extant and market taxonomized

October 29, 2014 Martin Gardiner

Pop music – does it really exist? Yes it does. For a statistical analysis, see: Does pop music exist? Hierarchical structure in phonographic markets by Andrzej Buda of the Uniwesytet Jagielloński w Krakowie, Poland, and reproduced in Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Volume 391, Issue 21, 1 November 2012, Pages 5153–5159 “I find […]

Arts and Scienceexistence, pop, pop music, statistics

On the existence of Stronzo Bestiale

October 9, 2014 Marc Abrahams

This is one of the many studies credited to co-author Stronzo Bestiale: “Diffusion in a periodic Lorentz gas,” Bill Moran, William G. Hoover [pictured here], and Stronzo Bestiale, Journal of Statistical Physics , vol. 48, no. 3-4 (1987): 709-726. The Retraction Watch blog explains about Stronzo Bestiale: Should papers be retracted if one of the authors is […]

Improbable Investigatorsauthorship, existence

End of the World (or not)

December 22, 2012 Martin Gardiner

Scenario [1] The World has recently ended. So you won’t be reading this. Scenario [2] The End of the World has been greatly exaggerated. Thus you still have the opportunity to consider : ‘Corporeal remains : vulnerability, proximity and living-on after the end of the world’ Environment and planning A., 40 (2), 2008, pp. 423-445. […]

Arts and Scienceend of the world, existence, life the universe and everything

Ode Upon a Particle, of Doubt

December 13, 2011 Marc Abrahams

A poem of sorts, in honor of the announcement that researchers at CERN may have found some evidence that might (and might not) indicate whether or not the hypothetical Higgs particle exists: Last night I saw beneath the stair A particle that wasn’t there. It wasn’t there again today. I wish it would just go […]

Arts and Scienceannouncement, boson, CERN, existence, Higgs, particle

Fillable Entities: Do Holes Exist?

December 7, 2011 Martin Gardiner

“Do holes really exist? And if so, what are they?” These questions were posed by professors Roberto Casati and Achille C. Varzi in their 263 page book on the subject of ‘Holes and Other Superficialities’ (The MIT Press, 1994). And considerable steps were made towards answers. The duo took a comprehensive look into the myriad […]

Boys Will Be Boysexistence, holes
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