Slapstick

I should have submitted my thesis on July 1st, by the departmental requirements. However, I have not started writing my thesis, because I have the ambition of writing one last mammoth paper and including that in my thesis. This last paper is also about quantum hourglasses, and is extension of the first paper. It's a hard paper to write, not least because I am trying to introduce a mathematical field (group cohomology) to the theory of crystals. 

We have went so long without a word, I actually started and finished a book by your recommendation: what is life? Admittedly a very slim book, and my accomplishment pales against your voracious appetite.

Many ideas here that I want to discuss with you. I am rather shocked that entropy has much less applicability than I thought it to have. Something about Erwin's last chapter intrigued me. His two premises are that:

I am in control of my actions.

Physical bodies obey the laws of physics. 

His conclusion: I am god, who controls my body according to the laws of nature. 

Reading this felt like being in a slapstick comedy, where I wasn't sure if actors were acting. Some of his other comments on consciousness seem much more believable, and I particularly liked his metaphor of consciousness as a canvas of sensory experiences. 

I will get back to you about skyping. I am very close to finishing this last paper, it feels like a matter of one to two days. However, my estimations have proven in the past to be very poor, and even if my estimation were correct I do not know if I have one or two days. The 'pride of publishing many articles' may be my downfall.