Notes
[Sunday 21 December 2008 - Saturday 27 December 2008]
[Notebook: DB 65 Symmetric U]
[page 32]
Sunday 21 December 2008
Force = rate of flow of momentum = ma = MLT-2
Energy = force x distance = F.s =
ML2T-2
Power = rate of flow of energy = E/t =
ML2T-3
Velocity = distance / time = LT-1
The contrast between traditional theology and quantum mechanics could not be greater. The former is a prison of the spirit, confining us to the tiny world of people who lived and wrote two or three thousand years ago. For theologians like Polkinghorne, these ancient manuscripts are they key to life, the Universe and everything. Polkinghorne Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, is open to everything, a modern day metaphysics which describes the network of
[page 33]
communication which has brought the Universe into being from nothing and whose creative powers can never be exhausted.
'I know that many (some people for whom I have a high regard in other matters, such as Mr Locke) hold to the doctrine of toleration' I disagree most strongly if that us taken to mean worship outside the body of the Established Church. A state can no more survive without general unity in religion than it can without common purpose in government, for to deny the Church is ultimately to deny all civil authority. It is for this reason I support the virtuous mediocrity of the Anglican settlement observances between the meretricious gaudiness of Rome and the squalid sluttery of the fanatical conventicles.' Pears, Instance, page 455. Pears
The control envisaged by Christianity emerges from an omniscient and omnipotent god. The lack of control characteristic of quantum mechanics follows from mathematical argument, what I call Chaitin's rule or the principle of requisite variety - the past cannot control the future because it lacks the requisite variety of bandwidth. Variety (cybernetics) - Wikipedia
The 'problem of evil' arises insofar as the Universe is 'full' so that old creations must often die if there is to be room for the new. The Christian idea of eternal life contradicts this to some extent (given Landauer's hypothesis), because in a given locality there may not be enough 'matter' to represent all possible spirits forever.
Monday 22 December 2008
Our worst mistake has been to think that we are too good for the Universe that created us.
[page 34]
Boltzmann's Law:
density = n = exp (- potential energy / kT )
This occurs in any network where energy and momentum are conserved and communication is by instantaneous collision.
Feynman I 40-3 '... the probability of finding molecules in a given spatial arrangement varies exponentially with the negative of the potential energy of that arrangement divided by kT'. Feynman
From Boltzmann's law to gravitation and the expansion of the Universe.
'The requirement for the determination of exactly how things evaporate, exactly how things should happen in a given circumstance, involve the following. First, to discover the correct molecular force law V(r), which must come from something else, quantum mechanics say, or experiment. But given the law of force between the molecules, to discover what a billion molecules are going to do merely consists in studying the function exp (- SUM Vij / kT ). Surprisingly enough, since it is such a simple function and such an easy idea, given the potential, the labor is enormously complicated; the difficulty is the tremendous number of variables.'
In the real world, probability theory mediates between discrete and continuous mathematics as demonstrated by quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics.
Perfect gas = no mutual attraction (only collision): in
[page 35]
physical theology: all collisions are described by an analogue of fair trade, ie conservation of energy and momentum. We may say an unfair trade involves the creation or annihilation of energy or momentum, and this is a reduction of the entropy of the Universe and a violation of the principle of stationary action.
Tuesday 23 December 2008
Jungk page 97: Houtermans: 'every decent man confronted by a totalitarian regime ought to have the pluck to commit high treason.' Jungk
Quantum mechanics = Turing + Shannon
Maybe even Quantum field theory = Turing + Shannon
The stationary features of the Universe match the stationary features of mathematics - eigenvalues.
What does the eigenvalue equation mean in computational terms?
Wednesday 24 December 2008
Religion and quantum mechanics share the trait (imposed by the theory of communication) that both define a 'straight and narrow' to which reality must in some way adhere. In quantum mechanics this restriction is expressed by the eigenvalue equation. In religion we have things like the ten commandments, which are in general constraints of human communication: thou shalt not kill, rape, lie, steal etc etc. These constraints, by making truthful
[page 36]
communication possible, are the foundations of the structure of the world.
So the question becomes how does the symmetric network model deal with the eigenvalue equation? A basic mathematical operation in quantum mechanics is the computation of inner products, ie the integration of products. This process is the foundation of the multiplication of matrices and corresponds geometrically to computing the angle between two vectors.
Thursday 25 December 2008
The Universe is pixellated on the scale of Planck's constant. We see this in the non-commutative multiplication of matrices representing conjugate observables like position and momentum.
Insight [Quantum coherence] Nature 453 7198 19 June 2008. Vedral
Roman Catholic Church on stem cells Dignitas personae. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
3D space is the result of an optimization process, since it is the simplest space that allows unlimited uninterrupted connections between any two points within it, as in computer wiring. We might call it irretrievably convex.
Friday 26 December 2008
Three rules for Technological fixes: Sarewitz and Nelson Nature 456:871 Sarewitz & Nelson
[page 37]
'I. The technology must largely embody the cause-effect relationship connecting problem to solution.
'II. The effects of the technological fix must be assessable using relatively unambiguous or uncontroversial criteria.
'III. Research and development is most likely to contribute decisively to solving a social problem when it focuses on improving a standard technological core that already exists.'
Saturday 27 December 2008
'What he had not learned from Latin or Greek he was learning from the people of New South Wales. It was this: you did not learn the language without entering into a relationship with the people who spoke it with you. His friendship with Taragan was not a list of objects, or the words for things eaten or not eaten, thrown or not thrown. It was the slow constructing of the map of a relationship.' Grenville, Lieutenant page 233. Grenville
'I cannot be part of this' page 282
Quantum mechanics is the language of the Universe. Christianity is the language of a ruling class who, like their God, will do anything, even kill, to get their way.
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