I salute Lee's new subject designation. I believe if we are up to identifying concepts with common sense content as well, we should not restrict ourselves into the model-distinctions of (any) physics but generalize the meanings beyond such restrictions. Of course: I am no physicist. My apologies.
To Russel's 4 coordinates of (any?) event: how come the occurrence (event!) of a 'good idea' in my mind - (mind: not a thing, not a place, not time-restricted) should have t,x,y,z coordinates? Naively yours John Mikes --- Lee Corbin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Russell submits the following as clarifications: > > > An event is a particular set of coordinates > (t,x,y,z) in 4D > > spacetime. This is how it is used in GR, anyway. > > > > An observer moment is a set of constraints, or > equivalently > > information known about the world (obviously at a > moment of time). > > It [the observer moment] corresponds the the > "state" vector \psi > > of quantum mechanics. > > and Stephen inquires > > > Hi Russell, > > A possibly related question. Given your > definition of events and OMs, > > does it not seem that they complement each other, > assuming that events have > > more quatities associated, such as > 4-momentum-energy? > > Well, Russell did also say that OMs and events > seemed to him about as > alike as chalk and cheese. It's starting to look > that way: > > I quote Hal: > > Calling them [causal patterns] "observer > moments" seems > to be a bit of a stretch, given the enormous > number of > orders of magnitude difference between what we > would > normally recognize as a conscious OM and one of > these > trivial ones [e.g. a 302-neuron nematode OM]. > > So, alas, it seems that the firmly established > meanings of > "event" and "observer moment" can't really be said > to be at > all the same thing. (Folks like Russell and Hal have > been > using the term "OM" for years and years, and "event" > has > a pretty standard meaning in physics.) Observer > moments have > to do with something conscious (and, evidently, > pretty complex). > And of course, as Hal wrote later on, consciousness > exists on > a gray scale. > > Lee > > P.S. In normal physics an event, as Russell says, is > associated > with coordinates. Nonetheless I, for one, had always > supposed > that indeed something was happening there, e.g., a > photon was > emitted. Well, in familiar physics we may also say > that in the > usual three-space there is quantum activity at each > point. This, > at least for me, makes the terms a little more > meaningful. > >
