Theodore Modis

Science With Street Value is an autobiography written in the third person. That makes it artificial-sounding, as if the narrator was a fly on the wall, wherever “Ted” (Theodore Modis) was or went. The fly also knew all his thoughts, feelings and rationales. It is disconcerting enough to make the reader miss the point.

The point, as far I can tell, is that Ted lives his life noticing all the physics underlying everything he does, is, observes, and ponders. The narrator quotes Ted: “(Science) is meant to deliver value by all possible means, including ways not anticipated by scientists.”

It means he looks at familiar things in different ways: Repeated identical stimulation causes dullness. Lack of variety deadens sensitivity. Man can last longer without food than he can without water, and without air he can’t survive at all. No two people see the same thing in the same way.

As Ted’s life progresses, he gets more and more sophisticated in his appreciation and application of physics. He is drawn to a quasi-spiritual group (Gurdjieff), which influences him for the rest of his life. He follows it to its roots in Europe and becomes a member. Their lifelong struggle is called The Work, a Talmudic quest of self-discovery that never ends. He managed to get work in Switzerland at CERN, then at Digital Equipment, and opened his own consulting business. He has written several books, generally focused on forecasting and prediction, and advised technical journals on others’ papers and books.

From time to time Ted waxes philosophical: A three dimensional world is the coldest, most separate world. Growing up in the three dimensions features loneliness and desolation. The more dimensions, the more commonalities emerge. To completely describe something, we need six dimensions: three physical, one of time, one for all lifetimes (repetitions in time), and a sixth in all possibilities including unimaginable ones.

He also propounds numerous facts that are at very least debatable: War will disappear from the face of the earth only when cultural differences disappear. An expenditure of 15% of one’s income is equivalent to expending 15% of one’s energy. Life is like a battery: the potential difference between those who have money and those need it drives the economy. Applying his favorite construct, the S-curve, he has decided that Mozart had written 90% of his music by the time he died in his mid-thirties. So we didn’t miss much by his early passing.

Modis thinks he can predict creative output using the S-curve, and thereby show when people have outlived their creativity and productivity. He says that most people who die of old age have reached 90% of their potential. I wonder what Picasso’s life would do to his theory. Or AE Hotchner or FDR for that matter.

Ted really locked on to Kondratieff’s wave theory, which posits that things happen in 56-year cycles. But this is observation, not physics. As Ted must know, the universe does not work on Man’s conception of time. Man invented time, based on observations in this tiny corner of the universe, and measures everything by it. So while Ted has managed to find numerous examples of repetition that (more or less) match the 56 year cycle, most events don’t, and there is no physics basis for it.

He also gets tangled up in astrology, which would drown the credibility of any physicist, making his whole body of work suspect. So While Theodore Modis likes to think he is living a life of applied physics, I’m not sure it is worth a book.

David Wineberg… (mehr)

This is the dramatic true story of the Modis family in Greece from 1921 to the early 2000s. It mainly centers around Theodosia, her husband Giorgos Modis, and their children Agla and Theodore. Written by Theodore and based mainly off of his reflections and those of his family, this is a great example of the day-to-day life of an ordinary, yet extraordinary, woman who faced and overcame many trials through her amazing life. Through times of war, times of economic depression, times of pain, and times of loss, Theodosia stayed strong. This book is a tribute to her inner strength and bravery.

I found the book very interesting and engaging. The short Historical Background sections scattered throughout were incredibly helpful, and the book itself was as close to first-person as you can get once one has passed away. The book taught me much about Greece throughout the 20th century, without in the least becoming boring. I highly recommend it to any history buffs, war historians, genealogists, and people interested in Greek history in general. Five shining stars!… (mehr)

This book tells the story of Theodosia Modis, from her youth to the end of her long life. She was a brave girl and woman who lived through civil wars between Greeks and Turks, forced expulsions and population swaps, wars, loss of family members and much more. She also found love and raised a family. The author, her son, intersperses brief explanations of Greek or Turkish history which adds context and helps empathize with Theodosia. It is clear that the author is not a professional biography-writer (although he has written many scientific articles). The writing style is a big jarring at times and mostly just simple narration. But Theodosia's character intrigued me enough that I didn't mind too much. Worth reading if you enjoy biography and/or are interested in real-life impacts of history on a family.… (mehr)