ep: briefly, who are you and what do you do, what are you studying, etc.?

who: john howard ii
what: physics student and teaching assistant at the university of nebraska at omaha
research interests: electromagnetic and gravitational field theory, nuclear physics, solar energy, and sound physics.

ep: in your opinion, does physics have anything to do with politics, or, how would you define physics in terms of politics?

jh: politics works its way into all aspects of civilization. where there is power that one has over another, there is a political system.

i was trying to think of a physical model of the politician and was unsuccessful. as far as entropy is concerned, the politician is the exception to the rule. in the politician is contained the most unprobable state of the system because he has a tendency to go from a state of lower energy to a state of higher energy, while his subjects tend to go from a higher to lower energy level and be comfortable in the lower energy level (i.e. the couch watching tv).

the politician should be just as unlikely as a glass of ice water boiling at stp, but politicians are everywhere. my conclusion is that the human mind and the human spirit have a tendency to override the atomic physical nature of the being. in other words go beyond what is comfortable or normal. as far as i know, statistical mechanics cannot even come close to describing this phenomenon. we must not be 'ready to know'.

ep: what about entropy in that mix?

jh: if you can consider entropy to be "what most of the people will do most of the time", it is exactly what a true politician is a master of. to be successful at applying power, the politician must be able to predict the reaction of his subjects, rivals, and masters.

ep: are there politics with physics, the field of study? how does that manifest?

jh: there are internal and external factors. internal factors could include the power of the physics establishment that exerted over individuals. new theories and concepts which are controversial in terms what is "known", and the physicists who develop them are often crushed to oblivion by the establishment. it is clear that it takes a powerful, persistent, intelligent, and politically astute individual to overcome the physics establishment. examples of individuals who exemplified those high standards would include newton, einstein and planck.

there are also external political factors. the government and industry has an enormous amount of influence on what is and is not studied. in general, industry and government are most interested in applied research to meet their (usually) short term agenda. there is value in this, but there is also value in studying anything we do not understand.

we can discover the answers if we work for them. the question is: are we 'ready to know'?

ep: where is physics going? are any elements in its evolution political?

jh: physics seems to be showing a distinct trend of supporting applied research projects for industry and government, rather then just studying nature for the sake of knowledge. this result is the product of the previous answer.

we are studying superconductors and semiconductors feverishly while ending the super collider project which could have provided us with a more detailed understanding of the phenomena of interest. perhaps we are not 'ready to know'.

"where the money is", is where physics will go, with the exception of the newtons, einsteins and plancks of this world. these brave and talented scientists will emerge immediately before we are 'ready to know'.

ep: do politics enter your everyday life as a student of physics? how so?

jh: politics play a significant role in my everyday life, and the lives of all people in any social environment.

i must deal with my peers, instructors, and my students. there is a different power structure in each one of those groups, which is indicative of the roles i and others must fill in an acceptable manner.

ep: is there anything else you would like to add?

jh: are you 'ready to know'?