I attended, along with two nerdy friends of mine, a great panel at the World Science Festival. The panel was made up of four distinguished theoretical physicists, including a Nobel prize winner. They discussed the latest big thing in physics, which they were calling a new principle: the holographic principle. This being New York, the Skirball Center at NYU was packed full for the occasion.
New principles in physics don't come along very often and there was a sense of excitement amongst the speakers as they described how this was just the tip of an iceberg of new insights into gravity and quantum mechanics. In a nutshell, the principle says that the amount of information contained within a three dimensional space can be represented by its projection onto a two dimensional surface enclosing the space.
It's a rare opportunity indeed to be able to listen to such knowledgable people talk about how they arrived at their conclusions and what their implications may be. Thanks to the World Science Festival for organizing this great event.
