The season is changing now to fall.
Awareness of homeostatic challenges felt through temperature regulation.
Visceral acknowledgement that small molecules have profound biological effects.
I for one am literally dying to understand well how it works.
The same way I understand how to draw pictures with a stick in sand.
What fun – a sentence applicable both to NMR and the human experience:
“Confidence is a feeling, which reflects the coherence of the information and the cognitive ease of processing it.” (p. 212 in “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman, 2011)
In other words, “even a Nobel laureate in economics” knows that we experience a feeling of confidence when we get a signal (coherence) that is easy to interpret.
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Unfortunately, as he reminds us, Nature is often reluctant to reveal her secrets: “Declarations of high confidence mainly tell you that an individual has constructed a coherent story in his mind, not necessarily that the story is true”
. . . so verify, validate, and make sure you don’t get fooled into thinking that “what you see is all there is.”
Thank you Prof. Kahneman!
Pulse: The instigator that perturbs the equilibrium. The net effect, those degrees of rotation from some lower-energy steady-state or status quo, depends on the power and duration of the stressor applied. This is where cause is initiated.
Delay: Where evolution from the new perspective begins. The natural drive is to return to equilibrium, yet a new angle is an opportunity for new information. Each new perturbation and set of starting conditions provide their own possibilities. The trick is for the impressions of the new adventure last: To remember and not to lose coherence too quickly.
180º pulse: Just as it sounds, a U-turn, a flip-back, through the looking glass, and the opportunity to return to where you started. Yet returning with a different take, almost as if putting a new spin on things. Perhaps a bit quicker or slower, hopefully not worse for wear, although there always seems to be some cost.
Further delays: Time to reflect. At times it’s best to keep new things coming without pause, other times a pause, or a window for reflection, is most appropriate. Here, knowing what is needed when, is the key to achieving your goals. Timing is often everything.
Acquisition: Finally, a time to collect any coherent observations.
Analyses and interpretations: The fun of patterns, connections, interactions, and relationships. And always more questions. Why is there recursion? Why is Occam’s razor the best choice, or not? How far can fractals reach? Can a brain actually explode? Do things not meant to be ever happen? And if so, what are the consequences? Is technology inevitable? Are humans? What else is out there? And how can we hold on long enough to find out?
nmr trails 