Re: New Paper by Thomas Hertog and Stephen Hawking
On 30 Dec 2009, at 05:59, Colin Hales wrote: > > > Jason Resch wrote: >> Described in this article: >> http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=2617 >> >> "This summation of all paths, proposed in the 1960s by physicist >> Richard Feynman and others, is the only way to explain some of the >> bizarre properties of quantum particles, such as their apparent >> ability to be in two places at once. The key point is that not all >> paths contribute equally to the photon's behaviour: the straight-line >> trajectory dominates over the indirect ones. >> >> Hertog argues that the same must be true of the path through time >> that >> took the Universe into its current state. We must regard it as a sum >> over all possible histories." >> >> > > So we "must", must we? Assuming mechanism, I don't see how we can avoid this. > > A mathematical construction by humans, happens to cohere to some > extent > with reality. > A mere description. > > A million other descriptions, also constructed by humans, could be as > predictive of how the universe appears. > > What extra belief system must exist in order that someone conclude > that > we 'must' chose a "sum of all histories" as "the" story? Why is the > universe compelled to be such a thing? Well, then it is also the simple explanation of the behavior of particles in nature. Something which, in my opinion, confirms the statistics on computations which is forced by digital mechanism. > > Rhetorical question...don't answer. Just think. Oops! > > happy new year, everythingers. Happy new year Colin, Bruno http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-l...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
Re: New Paper by Thomas Hertog and Stephen Hawking
Happy NewYear, Colin, you just came up shy from the notion that all this is a part of the anthropocentric maze. Physicists' hegemnony over (scientific?) thinking is embedded into the math-maze of numbers and this, too, may be a human invention (according to D. Bohm). So all the 'stories' and conclusions (including Russell's 'Occamistic simplification') are products of the human mind - not a 'MUST believe' for the existence we are part of. All is included in your 'perceived reality' we have access to. We are handicapped into our human limitations, tacitly we should accept that. Of course we cannot step out of our borders, but as a consequence of thinking 'human' we should be cautious when drawing ALL_generalized conclusions. We don't know 'what else' is going on. Even limitedly (distorted?) what we are concerned with. Everything is more than the everything we can imagine. John Mikes On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 11:59 PM, Colin Hales wrote: > > > Jason Resch wrote: > > Described in this article: > > http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=2617 > > > > "This summation of all paths, proposed in the 1960s by physicist > > Richard Feynman and others, is the only way to explain some of the > > bizarre properties of quantum particles, such as their apparent > > ability to be in two places at once. The key point is that not all > > paths contribute equally to the photon's behaviour: the straight-line > > trajectory dominates over the indirect ones. > > > > Hertog argues that the same must be true of the path through time that > > took the Universe into its current state. We must regard it as a sum > > over all possible histories." > > > > > > So we "must", must we? > > A mathematical construction by humans, happens to cohere to some extent > with reality. > A mere description. > > A million other descriptions, also constructed by humans, could be as > predictive of how the universe appears. > > What extra belief system must exist in order that someone conclude that > we 'must' chose a "sum of all histories" as "the" story? Why is the > universe compelled to be such a thing? > > Rhetorical question...don't answer. Just think. > > happy new year, everythingers. > > cheers > colin > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To post to this group, send email to everything-l...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-l...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
Re: New Paper by Thomas Hertog and Stephen Hawking
On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 03:59:24PM +1100, Colin Hales wrote: > > > Jason Resch wrote: > > Described in this article: > > http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=2617 > > > > "This summation of all paths, proposed in the 1960s by physicist > > Richard Feynman and others, is the only way to explain some of the > > bizarre properties of quantum particles, such as their apparent > > ability to be in two places at once. The key point is that not all > > paths contribute equally to the photon's behaviour: the straight-line > > trajectory dominates over the indirect ones. > > > > Hertog argues that the same must be true of the path through time that > > took the Universe into its current state. We must regard it as a sum > > over all possible histories." > > > > > > So we "must", must we? > > A mathematical construction by humans, happens to cohere to some extent > with reality. > A mere description. > > A million other descriptions, also constructed by humans, could be as > predictive of how the universe appears. > > What extra belief system must exist in order that someone conclude that > we 'must' chose a "sum of all histories" as "the" story? Why is the > universe compelled to be such a thing? > > Rhetorical question...don't answer. Just think. > > happy new year, everythingers. > > cheers > colin > "Must" in the sense that it is a "neat" idea, or even a "beautiful" idea. This will correlate to some notion of simplicity under Occam's razor. Then it is probably coupled in this case with giving the right answer. Of course it is always possible that it will be found wanting tomorrow :). -- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Mathematics UNSW SYDNEY 2052 hpco...@hpcoders.com.au Australiahttp://www.hpcoders.com.au -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-l...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
Re: New Paper by Thomas Hertog and Stephen Hawking
Jason Resch wrote: > Described in this article: > http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=2617 > > "This summation of all paths, proposed in the 1960s by physicist > Richard Feynman and others, is the only way to explain some of the > bizarre properties of quantum particles, such as their apparent > ability to be in two places at once. The key point is that not all > paths contribute equally to the photon's behaviour: the straight-line > trajectory dominates over the indirect ones. > > Hertog argues that the same must be true of the path through time that > took the Universe into its current state. We must regard it as a sum > over all possible histories." > > So we "must", must we? A mathematical construction by humans, happens to cohere to some extent with reality. A mere description. A million other descriptions, also constructed by humans, could be as predictive of how the universe appears. What extra belief system must exist in order that someone conclude that we 'must' chose a "sum of all histories" as "the" story? Why is the universe compelled to be such a thing? Rhetorical question...don't answer. Just think. happy new year, everythingers. cheers colin -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-l...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
