Elegant Universe TV show streaming Video

[n0n]

Yea this is kind of a late post, but the movie was ... well wow, I thought I was watching an infomercial, 3 hours of selling a product called string theory only to be told its M-theory in the last hour. As is it's only somewhat informative, I think they could have done a better job explaining some of the ideas instead of repeating the name 100+ times (I think we got that its called string theory). Sequance is everything.

 

[DivineNathicana]

I thought that the special effects were really amazing, but there was not much information incorporated. One could pick up the gist of the theory, but it was nothing at all like the book. Plus, Greene got really annoying... I somehow got the impression that he is really conceited. Is it just me? haha

 

[misogynisticfeminist]

It indeed show us the intriguing possibilities of strings such as parellel universes and the like and I wished that it would have been a little more technical, but I think that its almost like a commercial selling ST.

 

[DivineNathicana]

Read the book - it's a lot better and a lot more technical.

- Alisa

 

[Tom McCurdy]

Indeed the book and movies only share the name in common. The movie is dumbed down quite a bit, but its effects are very trippy. Its fun to watch with friends who have minor interest in physics... although buy or rent the dvd don't huddle your friends around a streaming video. I really enjoyed talking to people about the movie, although usually their interest in string theory lasts about a week or so before they start running in fear of me mentioning membrane to them when they see me. The book is more technical and it can be read at a variety of paces. I was going snail's pace for the longest time... page/10 minutes or so taking careful notes... but I lost all them so I may finish the last bit sometime. Its very good book but right now i am streched thin speaking of which sleep would probably help me get better.

 

[Omid]

Execuse me experts may I ask what's spring theory ?

 

[mal4mac]

To see "the other side" check this resource site for Roger Penrose, it has links to a lecture of his (if you want video):

http://www.321books.co.uk/reviews/the-road-to-reality-by-roger-penrose.htm

 

[semiphor]

PBS = Public Broadcast System
It is the only commercial free, publically supported TV network in the US.

It does not offer the pablum shown on the big three commercial networks, but shows more esoteric subject matter. Yes, this show was broadcast on Tuesday night at 8:00 pm. Since I work a 6pm-6am graveyard shift I am not able to watch it live. This streaming video is great!

It's free of commercials, but not free of commercialism. They imply that they only live by what people donate - HA! They make 100's of millions on sales of their TV shows' merchandise as well as licensing rights.

That's ok - free market enterprise is what the US is about also, but it's the facade of acting like they need constant donations b/c they are a "poor" station thereby they live solely on public donations is a laugh. Greedy is as greedy does... or "Greed is good if your a socialist."

 

[semiphor]

It was so hoakey and cheesey. Not to mention that many of the things they say are completely stupid. There are plenty of intellegent people out there but no more great thinkers. Physicists have forgotten how to think and become obcessed with the math.

...totally agree with you. I thought the show was written for a 3 year old.

But they are obsessed with the math b/c they have no insight into quantum mechanics... as does no one - even Einstein was lost in the fuzz. So math is a crutch that every theorist is going to use until a spark occurs that points them in the right direction. In Einstein's day there was the ether drift, Planck's constant, and wave mechanics (J.J. Thompson noted that the cathode rays emitted in his vacuum tube behaved as if they had a mass - so he called them electrons).

So the show was cheesey, yes, but the theorists are indeed struggling with the best information they have (aka 'nothing' :) about the underlying structure of reality.

 

[Engineering_Lo]

Read the book - it's a lot better and a lot more technical.

- Alisa

I finally after an eternity, got the book and so far. It's so much more involved than what I've been watching. *sighs* makes having the dvd seem quite dissapointing now.

 

[Alex]

I have the same problems as some of the other users in this forum with watching the videos - the quicktime stream (both the regular and full-screen versions) keep crashing my browser (tried in firefox as well as ie) and the realtime stream is itsy bitsy. How are you guys viewing the quicktime version??

 

[p_branes]

Isnt a sequel to the elegant universe coming or has it already arrived?

 

[selfAdjoint]

Greene has pubished The Fabric of Reality. It isn't a sequel, exactly... It has been discussed a couple of times on PF. Do a search on the title.

 

[polyb]

Greene has pubished The Fabric of Reality. It isn't a sequel, exactly... It has been discussed a couple of times on PF. Do a search on the title.

Actually that was written a few years back by a UK physicist named David Deutsch.

 

[Alex]

I have the same problems as some of the other users in this forum with watching the videos - the quicktime stream (both the regular and full-screen versions) keep crashing my browser (tried in firefox as well as ie) and the realtime stream is itsy bitsy. How are you guys viewing the quicktime version??

Well never mind, the quicktime version only works with older versions of quicktime.

 

[selfAdjoint]

What kind of connection do you have? I use ie with cable access, and it works.

Added: I have Firefox on my home computer, to read the String Cofeetable equations. I haven't tried to view videos with it.

 

[DivineNathicana]

Actually that was written a few years back by a UK physicist named David Deutsch.

He meant The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene, and that's already out. I have it, but haven't started it yet. It looks promising.

- Alisa

 

[Magneto]

Hello everyone, I just joined the forum, it looks like it will be fun. I'm an average Joe interested in why everything in the universe is like it is.

It was nice to see the movie over the net on my own schedule (and free) since I just started reading the book. I had to view using Realplayer also since the Quicktime crashed on my PC too. It would be nice to see more programs like this available to public without someone trying to make a greedy profit from it.
A friend recommended reading The Fabric of the Cosmos as well. He said he enjoyed it more the The Elegant Universe
Maybe since the The Fabric of the Cosmos doesn't go as much into Quantum Mechanics, it won't make my head ache trying to visualize what the author is stating!

 

[Hyperreality]

Quicktime Bug

The reason why Quicktime crashes on the program is because the newest version Quicktime 6.5 has a bug.

Download any verion of Quicktime older than 6.5 will work nicely.

P.S. I don't think Apple website provide older version of Quicktime anymore, older version can be found easily using Google.

 

[peephole]

I didn't really understand what to do with what you gave us KERNELCRACKER.
I am have the same problem, and i really want to watch these. So please could u tell me what to do with what you gave us. tkx.

 

[kernelcracker]

Hello,

Just right click on the links above, and save target as, and it will download the files to your harddrive. All the files together is about 300 megs worth.

Lazyuser

 

[fakhradin808]

Here is a link to the PBS web site. where you can watch the Nova shows.

You get to see and hear the String Theory Pioneers.

I am fakhradin sefatpanah.I studied physics in kurdistan university.
I am very glad to see your link(URL=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html)
thank you.

 

[Shekwan]

oh, I'm doing a research paper on superstring theory, and I have used the document as a source, can anyone tell me when did the program first air?

 

[FeynmanMH42]

Am I right in thinking that Greene and Randall dated in high school?
... probably not. ^_^

 

[linhtm]

How can i do to download all them ?

 

[Mattara]

I just love this 3 hour documentary about the elegant universe.

linhtm, you cannot download them due to copywrite issues.

 

[Raza]

How small is the "string" compared to an atom?

 

[linhtm]

thats stupid .string is only a imagination tool ,atom is matter

 

[selfAdjoint]

How small is the "string" compared to an atom?

It's not absolutely pinned down, but one relationship I've seen offered is Planck Length : string length :::: string length : proton diameter.

 

[FeynmanMH42]

If a string was the size of a proton, then the proton would be the size of the Earth. And the Earth would be the size of the entire observable Universe.

 

[Schrodinger's Cat]

oh, I'm doing a research paper on superstring theory, and I have used the document as a source, can anyone tell me when did the program first air?

Check the PBS website.



I just saw this miniseries and I have to say that it was quite interesting. String theory is indeed seductive. LOL

 

[Dcase]

Trivial statement in part 3

The series was recently rerun on PBS.

Greene stated that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line [paraphrased] - which is technically correct only in the plane.

A geodesic is shortest distance between two points in curved space with the straight line the geodesic of the plane.

 

[pibomb]

I read the book, The Elegant universe, and liked it. Although string theory seems a little stechy when it comes to sub-planck lengths, it overall does seem like an unproved version of the T.O.E.

 

[Nariad]

It is really great stuff. I should add this to the Romanian portal of popularization of particle physics I created for Clubul Fizica particulelor-portal de popularizare a fizicii particulelor: http://fizicaparticulelor.ro

 

[Jonatan]

What a disappointment you can't watch this show in Sweden...