I just read a book called The Translator. Astonishing really how different someone's view of objective reality can be.
On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 5:19 PM, denstar <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 1:29 PM, Larry C. Lyons wrote: >> >> I'll have to look at the reference you gave later, its blocked by websense >> here. > > It was a review for a book, and apparently the review was better than > the book was, say other reviewers, but here's what I was talking > about: > > For a start, Einstein was himself a pioneer of quantum theory, having > suggested in 1905 that light was quantized in other words, that it > was not smoothly continuous, but could only exist in multiples of very > small packets, or quanta. At the time, Kumar relates, this was just > too radical for physicists to accept. Two decades later, the great > Danish physicist Niels Bohr and his colleagues, who had taken this > idea and run with it, were now too radical for Einstein to accept. > > But Einstein did not merely snipe ineffectually from the sidelines at > those who were doing important science. He was taken very seriously at > the time, as Kumars thrilling narrative of a series of epic > thought-experiment battles between Einstein and Bohr shows. The > popular misconception of his role was in part Einsteins own fault, as > he liked to repeat his slogan God does not play dice at every > opportunity yet, as Kumar demonstrates, his real objection was not > to the probabilistic or statistical interpretation of quantum > mechanics, but to its radical denial of an independent reality. > ... > ... > Kumars story finishes by noting the results of a 1999 poll of > physicists at a Cambridge conference as to which interpretation of > quantum mechanics they preferred. Of 90 respondents, only four voted > for the Copenhagen interpretation, but 30 favoured the modern version > of [...] many worlds. Significantly, 50 ticked the box labelled none > of the above or undecided. The question of the ultimate nature of > reality is, it seems, still a live problem. Somewhere, Einstein is > puffing on his pipe and smiling ironically. > > Course now I want to read this other book, "Quantum Zoo", which had > more favorable reviews. > > Wow. Letting reviews shape my decisions. How crazy is that? > >> objective reality? not sure. we do not see things feel or taste >> things, we rely on the interpretations that the data processing system >> gives us. > > I would perhaps argue that due to this, even if there *is* an > objective reality, we're incapable of appreciating(?) it. > > Or maybe it's comprehension/appreciation is innate to us, and we're > sorta silly-ly looking around for more, um, proof(?)-- to express what > I'm getting at in my truly poor fashion. :) > >> with most people, with just a bit of talking with them they will > ... > > The deal about the chair reminds me of another one of Adam's deals: > The Somebody Else's Problem cloaking field. > > I swear, that dude was (is?) just dialed in! (I put the is? there > because, well, existence is strange) > > This thread is awesome. It's got the potential to go anywhere, at > anytime. And all from blatant troll bait (not bait for trolls, > rather, trolls baiting). Not bad. > > Do Gelly/Sambo keep score, I wonder? Anybody up to do some rather fun > stats type stuff for the list content? > > Larry, you've probably got some good ideas for fun ways at looking at > the content-- funner stuff than just number of posts or number of > responses to posts, etc.. Anything off the top of your head? Just to > really take this thread for a spin, and perhaps shed light on our own > unnoticed, um, hypno-SEP-field-type-deals. > > Rather! > :DeN > > -- > Truth cannot be defined or tested by agreement with 'the world'; for > not only do truths differ for different worlds but the nature of > agreement between a world apart from it is notoriously nebulous. > Nelson Goodman (this quote was "rando > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:312887 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
