in the Age of Aquarius LEGO Presenting

® in the Age of Aquarius LEGO Presenting complex technologies to diverse audiences . astronomy – Leiden – 30 Nov 2009 Rob Seaman National Optical Astronomy Observatory IVOA VOEvent Working Group Chair

This talk • A little philosophy • LEGO® telescope demo • A bit of technology • Advertisements • The bribe 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 2

Why is it so hard to explain science and technology? • Complexity? • Unfamiliarity? • Lack of context? • Neurophysiology? • “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”? or perhaps it’s… A competing non-scientific worldview?

Reasons intrinsic to the things being studied • Complexity (astronomy is the study of – well – everything) • Unfamiliarity (rare and distant phenomena) • Lack of context (contingent & hierarchical structure) These are issues of systems engineering

Reasons pertaining to the beings doing the studying • Neurophysiology (linear brains in a non-linear world) • “Having the knack” (only some are cut out for science) • Pre-scientific worldview (Can coexist, or must replace? ) These are issues of social engineering

Spheres of influence • Dot. Astronomy is about “exploring the connections between astronomy and the Internet” present • IVOA “enable[s] the international utilization of astronomical archives as an integrated and past interoperating virtual observatory” • VOEvent is about “representing […] the discovery of a transient celestial event, with the implication that future timely follow-up is being requested” 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 6

Domains Dot. Astronomy VOEvent HTN O/IR “System” 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 7

The Age of Aquarius? When the Moon is in the seventh house And Jupiter aligns with Mars Then peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars – Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical “Astrological gibberish” – Neil Spencer 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 8

Astronomy versus an Astrology worldview ★ AQUARIUS 20 Jan – 19 Feb By tradition, Jupiter (now in your skies) is the planet of luck and liberation, the latter quality meaning that sometimes you're unhitched from people or situations you have outgrown. Even if you're in a comfortable groove, this is the month to stretch your perspective and ambitions, with optimism and idealism central to your mission. Romance? Exciting, but quite a tangle, especially this week. Patience called for. – Neil Spencer 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 9

But a good omen! ★ SAGITTARIUS 22 Nov – 21 Dec The Sun's arrival in your skies today opens a birthday month when your spirit is re-charged and your affairs re-animated. It's handy timing for your professional outlook, where Saturn's shift signals that a deadlock has, for better or worse, been broken. The new rules call for a cooperative ethic; even if you can't be an all-out team player, you need allies, preferably with clout. Fine week for brainstorming. 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 10

Worldview colors everything • We live in an extraordinary age of discovery …that is extraordinarily underappreciated (7 billion humans, ~ 7 thousand astronomers) • Astronomy looks outward many other worldviews (Astrology) look inward • We’re a self-centered species Retaining deeply tribal outlooks 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 11

Tribal Worldviews Humans are hugely diverse: • Politics • Religions • Ethnicities • Economics • Nationalities • Gender identities • New-age “philosophies” 30 Nov 2009 plural • Popular cultures • Musical genres • Sports & games • Hobbies • Social networks • Computer OSes • Pseudo-sciences Coexist in each of us Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 12

Scientific Worldview singular • The universe is one unique shared reality, but • H. sapiens (Cro-Magnon in this neighborhood) have been around for about 400 centuries • “H. science” for less than 4 centuries • Astronomy has been around ~400 decades • The internet for less than 4 decades • Kurzweil says we’re headed for a singularity • One has reason to be skeptical 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 13

Where did the scientific worldview come from? Descartes’ house (or maybe the site of his house? ) His “method”, published in Leiden 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 14

René Descartes • Introduced modern concept of skepticism – “I think therefore I am” (a cliché, maybe, but not therefore untrue) • That is – he created the scientific method – Science has replaced much of philosophy – but science has not dislodged cogito ergo sum (elaborated into the anthropic principle) • Empiricism, phenomenology, epistemology, … – Philosophers’ views of science – an inherent splintering of isms & ologies? • Noumenon vs. phenomenon (Kant) – Inaccessible “thing-in-itself”, inferred via observable physical manifestations – Platonic ideals? (long history of “natural” philosophers: Thales, Democritus, …) 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 15

“We also know there are known unknowns” – Donald Rumsfeld also Hannibal Lector to Agent Starling in Silence of the Lambs Ask yourself, what is thing in itself, by its own special constitution? What is it in substance, and in form, and in matter? What is its function in the world? For how long does it subsist? – Marcus Aurelius Transient Universe 2006 14 Mar 2005 16

First Things First (“time management”) Covey’s “highly effective” habit #3 Transient Universe 2006 14 Mar 2005 17

Domains Dot. Astronomy VOEvent HTN O/IR “System” 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 18

Venn Diagram 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 19

Venn –> Euler Diagram implies shading for empty sets boolean logic Venn shows all subsets whether possible or not Magical, not physical 30 Nov 2009 Euler omits empty subsets shows contained vs. disjoint Science, not science fiction Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 20

Evidence from the Historical Record Gorignak 1. intersection of the Mineral & Animal sets 30 Nov 2009 not Gorignak 2. an Animal disjoint from Four Legs set Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 21

Impose order in the universe Pain-free ontologies Infinite unsorted options Actively assert knowledge • many (most? ) are impossible • animals are biological entities • (un)conditional logic, not physics • only some have 4 legs 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 22

Try to show this with a Venn Diagram! 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 23

How can we demonstrate the limits of the impossible? • With software systems we have learned to expect the depiction of impossibilities (e. g. , special FX) • Astronomy is full of apparently impossible things – So we focus on visualizing dramatic phenomena • But science is precisely concerned with delineating limits – natural laws – Physics is about “articulating your intuition” – Bayesian statistics, physical priors, null hypotheses, … • Robots are one way to ground system behavior in the physical constraints of the real world 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 24

The emerging VOEvent. Net AAVSO SWIFT, GLAST etc Microlensing Survey Exeter Data. Scope etc VOSpace etc GCN CBAT NASA GSFC SDSS SNe U Wash/Stanford Data Mining Exeter Liverpool Telescope La Palma VO-GCN OGLE III Las Campanas Exeter Palomar-Quest Caltech Backbone Faulkes South Australia Caltech Faulkes North Hawaii LANL NOAO Palomar P 60 Caltech Pairitel Berkeley Gemini Surveys CTIO/KPNO Roy Williams Andrew Drake Rob Seaman Robert White JAC Hawaii Alasdair Allen Matthew Graham Phil Warner Scott Barthelmy Sky. DOT (database) RAPTOR x 8 LANL UKIRT Hawaii Tools/Services Community Key Roles Publisher Author Filter Subscriber Repository Event Flow VOEvent 26 May 2006 Other

Thread Safe Astronomy Rob Seaman NOAO Data Products Program

VOEvent Lifecycle • • Publish / subscribe paradigm Alerts generate follow-ups These comprise rich threads Threads create telescope behavior HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 27 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

Multi-threading • • Forked execution Simultaneous tasks Typically lightweight Time slicing HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 28 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

• • • DARPA Grand Challenge $2, 000 challenge Autonomously cover ~200 km course 5 finished, ~30 kph Previously, none > 10 km Stanford winner – Drive-by-wire – Focus on SW HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 29 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

Autonomous astronomy? • The challenge isn’t to build one autonomous car - or robotic telescope • The challenge is to build a complete ecosystem • System of systems HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 30 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

• • Issues for an autonomous astronomy ecosystem Standards Observing modes and paradigms Telepresence (remote observing, tng) Data representation / compression Proprietary data rights Market pressures Data transport etc. HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 31 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

Hardware versus Software Hardware • State of the art Software • Options – but frozen • Expensive – not canned features • Cheap – but can budget • What is impossible? • Laws of Nature HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE – deceptively so • What is possible? • Nurture 32 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

– often central to Star Trek plots • Absurdly general purpose – – minimal configuration zero experimental design all wavelengths / particles? continuous cadence (picoseconds? ) Probes • “Probes” appear in many science fiction stories • Infinite bandwidth, zero latency – no data reduction needed • Can detect or infer unknown phenomena or noumena (note: not the “melodic death metal band” from Finland) e. g. , “see” dark matter & energy ? HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 33 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

NXT Specs • • • 32 -bit ARM Lab. VIEW 3 servo motors 4 sensor ports Extensible 64 KB + 256 KB • Bluetooth • USB HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 34 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

Issues • Heterogeneous technology • Gearing versus form factor – physiology, not just anatomy • Power / cable wrap • Interesting sensors – can be expensive HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 35 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

Possibilities • • • Engineering prototype (“toy”) Outreach Curriculum Interacting telescopes Emergent behavior Multiple programs HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 36 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

Impossibilities • Functioning optics HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 37 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

Extending the demonstration • Current prototype plays “Simon says” • Tie this into one or more expressive astronomical applications • Behavior is as important as the graphics • Must be robust • Prizes! HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 38 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007

Hot-wiring the Transient Universe Posters courtesy Pete Marenfeld of NOAO

Visions of VOEvent “… a VOEvent where the Solar eclipse ofobserver “Novel view of the location of the 11 July mattered” 1991…”

Some upcoming meetings • Eventful Universe, Tucson, 17 – 20 March 2010 • IVOA Inter. Op, Victoria, 17 – 21 May 2010 • SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation, San Diego, 27 June – 2 July 2010 (Observatory Operations III) • ADASS XX Bo. F, Boston, 7 – 11 Nov 2010 • AAS Meeting Workshop? , Seattle, 9 – 13 Jan 2011 • Hotwired III, Tucson? , Spring 2011? • New Horizons in Time Domain Astronomy, Oxford, 26 – 30 Sep 2011 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 41

Abstract • Astronomy is the most dramatic of the sciences. It is also the most foreign to everyday life. The complex technologies involved in modern astronomical research often act to enlarge the gulf. This is particularly true of the astronomical time domain, in which the observational assets of numerous networked telescopes must be combined in ever changing synoptic and transient response observing modes via a rich suite of computer software and protocols. Even among professional astronomers few have the opportunity to visit remote mountaintop observatories; by their very nature, interconnected networks of such telescopes are impossible to view from a single location. Thus professionals as well as the public often must view various sorts of depictions of distributed facilities in order to comprehend the most basic facts of their operations. Conveying the complex dynamics of networked telescopes requires more than a static picture. LEGO NXT robotics provides a rich environment for modeling the behavior of complex network-based technologies engaged in otherwise opaque empirical investigations. We demonstrate the application of NXT to modeling celestial transient response observing using the VOEvent protocol of the IVOA in combination with web services. We discuss how best to use such models to reach a target audience. (These devices can be seen at http: //www. noao. edu/noaonews/mar 08/pdf/93 dpp. pdf) 30 Nov 2009 Dot. Astronomy – Leiden 42

Kepler LEGO Demo http: //kepler. nasa. gov/ed/lego. html HOT-WIRING the TRANSIENT UNIVERSE 43 Tucson - June 4– 7, 2007