21Sep 2022 by Nigel Fleming No Comments

linkedin post 2021-05-23 04:50:18

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THE PROBLEM OF TIME. “The canonical quantisation of general relativity leads to a quantum state-vector which is a functional of 3-geometries; (this subject is known as ‘quantum geometrodynamics’). But there are immense mathematical and conceptual difficulties about this quantisation. Prominent among the conceptual difficulties is what is what is perhaps the best-known philosophical topic arising from quantum gravity: the so-called ‘problem of time’.” https://lnkd.in/dMm_YkR View in LinkedIn
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21Sep 2022 by Nigel Fleming No Comments

linkedin post 2021-05-23 04:47:34

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OTHERNESS. “The Copenhagen interpretation is one that requires, not an observer, but a ‘classical background’ external to the system. And, arguably, one obvious candidate for such a background is the continuous spacetime manifold of our usual quantum theories (both quantum mechanics and quantum field theories). But we admit to giving this sort of interpretation little credence.” https://lnkd.in/dMm_YkR View in LinkedIn
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21Sep 2022 by Nigel Fleming No Comments
linkedin post 2021-05-24 04:14:00

linkedin post 2021-05-24 04:14:00

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BLACK HOLE THERMODYNAMICS. We continue with some extensive in depth examinations of additional important work by Professor Jacob Bekenstein, a remarkable theoretical physicist, who made “who made fundamental contributions to the foundation of black hole thermodynamics and to other aspects of the connections between information and gravitation.” He was a student of the remarkable Princeton physicist John Archibald Wheeler, who supervised his precocious PhD. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Bekenstein View in LinkedIn
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21Sep 2022 by Nigel Fleming No Comments

linkedin post 2021-05-23 05:19:39

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SO ENDS this immensely interesting and difficult paper, where a reader like me is simply hanging on by their fingernails to follow this radiant stream of thought. Understanding how physicists see the world is somewhat of a rare sport: Einstein introduced relativity in 1905, and we are still choking on digesting what it all means, but be assured, while it will undoubtedly continue to change, it is a radical and important view of reality. View in LinkedIn
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21Sep 2022 by Nigel Fleming No Comments

linkedin post 2021-05-23 05:14:37

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NO HOWLERS, YET. “Broadly speaking, our conclusion is twofold. First, we concede that there are large conceptual difficulties in both programmes’ attempts to have classical spacetime ‘emerge’ (as well as ferocious technical difficulties). But second, more positively, we see no knock-down conceptual errors, or philosophical howlers, in these attempts, as they have been developed so far. In that sense, there are good prospects for work for the future.” https://lnkd.in/dMm_YkR View in LinkedIn
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21Sep 2022 by Nigel Fleming No Comments

linkedin post 2021-05-23 05:09:55

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THE TOWER OF ASSUMPTIONS. “But similarly, when one can asks for an explanation of a law, the explanation will typically invoke another such law (relating them deductively, or by the one being a limiting case of the other), and one can ask for an explanation of that law—so again a regress beckons, and apparently one must eventually accept a ‘mere happenstance’ of laws also.” https://lnkd.in/dMm_YkR View in LinkedIn
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21Sep 2022 by Nigel Fleming No Comments

linkedin post 2021-05-23 05:07:17

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THE LOGICAL STACK. “Second, this thought is indeed questionable! After all, one can explain a particular fact; and one can ask for an explanation of a law. Agreed, the explanation of a particular fact will typically invoke another such fact (usually an earlier one, as in what philosophers call ‘causal explanation’), and one can ask for an explanation of that fact—so that a regress beckons, and one is tempted to think that one must eventually accept a ‘mere happenstance’.” https://lnkd.in/dMm_YkR View in LinkedIn
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