that no one listens to it? That no one has heeded its warning? Without gravity the slinky would collapse from both ends towards the middle. With gravity, the force of the retraction upward against the mass of the top cancels out with downward force of gravity at the bottom end, until the top gets to the bottom and the slinky doesn't retract anymore. Am I at all correct? Fascinating subject -- but why this terminology? "Knowing" and "information"? Either it's not sufficiently explained in the episode, or there is a problem here: Personifying physics (like personifying, or attributing 'mind' to, say, evolution) is a misleading leap, no? What a great description of information flow - it reminded me, in a way, of the idea of the "adjacent possible" as described in Steven Johnson's book Where Good Ideas Come From and WSJ article http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424\\... Information, ideas, possibilities... all travel from point to point to point through individual connections. Leave a Comment Register for your own account so you can vote on comments, save your favorites, and more. Learn more . Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. We reserve the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting. By leaving a comment, you agree to New York Public Radio's Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use . Content type* Object pk* Timestamp* Security