Notes
[Notebook Turkey, DB 55]
[Sunday 5 May 2002 - Saturday 11 May 2002]
[page 75]
Sunday 5 May 2002
Monday 6 May 2002
Tuesday 7 May 2002
Wednesday 8 May 2002
Thursday 9 May 2002
From translation to transformation., The things we see in this dynamic world are the symmetries of transformations. So as we systematically transform the sentence 'I love you' into all the languages that have ever been spoken, everyone sees the symmetry. What is not changed in all these translations is the meaning of "I love you". This meaning is the particular state of human existence called love. In the human world, love, and just about everything else in our personal relationships, is so complex and takes so long to work out that it is hard to find our way about. The life of tiny physical particles is also very complex and involves a lot of interaction, but it is a lot simpler than human life and can be observed in relatively simple situations.
Physics is based on the notions of translation or transformation. We find in quantum mechanics that a given state of a particle or system of particles may be expressed in an infinity of different ways. This is analogous to the expression of a human state (like love) in any of an infinity of different languages. One of our tasks is to painlessly build up the mathematical model necessary first of all to understand the conversations of physical particles and expand these ideas to the much more complex realm of human affairs.
This explanation is itself a transformation and it has a symmetry which we call symmetry with respect to complexity.
Friday 10 May 2002
PhD: A critique of Bernard Lonergan's "empirical residue" from the point of view of the quantum 'no cloning' theorem.
[page 76]
Saturday 11 May 2002
Literature is second only oratory in power, but easier to ban, and frequently is.
Possibly what we're looking for in the literary line is a mathematical/theological plugin that works for every human language and puts an interpretative slant on things that shows that we are all one community. Our aggressive streak is a necessary adjunct to survival, since we will all fight to the death to avoid death. This is unnecessary, however, if nobody is threatening to kill us. The first step toward removing the threat of death is to remove the need for it, that is to remove starvation. This is a complex process, because each of us has a broad range of needs, all of which must be satisfied if we are to feel peace and so be able to live peacefully.
Literary espionage is a question of files : Le Carre Small Town
51. le Carre.The written word has been more important than
people for a long time, and is the foundation of empire, the way the
throne extends its eyes and ears to the different quarters of its
realm and maintains sovereignty, more valuable to than the individual
lives of its subjects.
There is no choice until the degree of freedom becomes available.
