S C I E N C E
“Science is always discovering odd scraps of magical wisdom and making a tremendous fuss about its cleverness.”
ALEISTER CROWLEY
ALEISTER CROWLEY
Astro physists look at the very very big. Quantum physists look at the very very small. Recently they realised that they were looking for the same thing. Cern CERN and built the LHC etc. Both ends of the telescope point at the same thing. Hermes. As above so below.
As members of the public we seek two forms of validation. It was discovered now and it was discovered over here.
If the same knowledge existed a thousand years ago it is a mere curiosity. It it was discovered a thousand years ago in the east even worse. [1] it was discovered using 'western' scientific methods and it was discovered within living memory.
Rope untwisting and retwisting.
As members of the public we seek two forms of validation. It was discovered now and it was discovered over here.
If the same knowledge existed a thousand years ago it is a mere curiosity. It it was discovered a thousand years ago in the east even worse. [1] it was discovered using 'western' scientific methods and it was discovered within living memory.
Rope untwisting and retwisting.
You are in no better or worse position than any scientist or (natural) philosopher past or present. Thought experiment. Shoulders of giants. Available knowledge. The most advanced and stable science is that of QM and that is ALL thought experiments and conjecture.
“Science is always discovering odd scraps of magical wisdom and making a tremendous fuss about its cleverness.” Aleister Crowley quote“The joy of life consists in the exercise of one's energies, continual growth, constant change, the enjoyment of every new experience. To stop means simply to die. The eternal mistake of mankind is to set up an attainable ideal.” Aleister Crowley quote
“Science is always discovering odd scraps of magical wisdom and making a tremendous fuss about its cleverness.” Aleister Crowley quote“The joy of life consists in the exercise of one's energies, continual growth, constant change, the enjoyment of every new experience. To stop means simply to die. The eternal mistake of mankind is to set up an attainable ideal.” Aleister Crowley quote
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_particle
"The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you."
— Werner Heisenberg
"The reality we can put into words is never reality itself."
— Werner Heisenberg
"The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you."
— Werner Heisenberg
"The reality we can put into words is never reality itself."
— Werner Heisenberg
A thought experiment or Gedankenexperiment (from German) is a mental exercise which would consider a hypothesis, theory,[1] or principle. Given the structure of the experiment, it may or may not be possible to actually perform it, and, in the case that it is possible for it to be performed, there need be no intention of any kind to actually perform the experiment in question. The common goal of a thought experiment is to explore the potential consequences of the principle in question.
Famous examples of thought experiments include Schrödinger's cat, illustrating quantum indeterminacy through the manipulation of a perfectly sealed environment and a tiny bit of radioactive substance, andMaxwell's demon, in which a supernatural being is instructed to attempt to violate the second law of thermodynamics.
In the philosophy of thermal and statistical physics, Maxwell's demon is a thought experiment created by the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell to "show that the Second Law of Thermodynamics has only a statistical certainty."[1] It demonstratesMaxwell's point by hypothetically describing how to violate the Second Law: A container is divided into two parts by an insulated wall, with a door that can be opened and closed by what came to be called "Maxwell's demon"; the demon opens the door to allow only the "hot" molecules of gas to flow through to a favored side of the chamber, causing that side to gradually heat up while the other side cools down.
The second law of thermodynamics is an expression of the tendency that over time, differences in temperature, pressure, and chemical potential equilibrate in an isolated physical system. From the state of thermodynamic equilibrium, the law deduced the principle of the increase of entropy and explains the phenomenon of irreversibility in nature. The second law declares the impossibility of machines that generate usable energy from the abundant internal energy of nature by processes called perpetual motion of the second kind.
The second law may be expressed in many specific ways, but the first formulation is credited to the German scientist Rudolf Clausius. The law is usually stated in physical terms of impossible processes. In classical thermodynamics, the second law is a basic postulate applicable to any system involving measurable heat transfer, while in statistical thermodynamics, the second law is a consequence of unitarity in quantum theory. In classical thermodynamics, the second law defines the concept of thermodynamic entropy, while in statistical mechanics entropy is defined from information theory, known as the Shannon entropy.
Famous examples of thought experiments include Schrödinger's cat, illustrating quantum indeterminacy through the manipulation of a perfectly sealed environment and a tiny bit of radioactive substance, andMaxwell's demon, in which a supernatural being is instructed to attempt to violate the second law of thermodynamics.
In the philosophy of thermal and statistical physics, Maxwell's demon is a thought experiment created by the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell to "show that the Second Law of Thermodynamics has only a statistical certainty."[1] It demonstratesMaxwell's point by hypothetically describing how to violate the Second Law: A container is divided into two parts by an insulated wall, with a door that can be opened and closed by what came to be called "Maxwell's demon"; the demon opens the door to allow only the "hot" molecules of gas to flow through to a favored side of the chamber, causing that side to gradually heat up while the other side cools down.
The second law of thermodynamics is an expression of the tendency that over time, differences in temperature, pressure, and chemical potential equilibrate in an isolated physical system. From the state of thermodynamic equilibrium, the law deduced the principle of the increase of entropy and explains the phenomenon of irreversibility in nature. The second law declares the impossibility of machines that generate usable energy from the abundant internal energy of nature by processes called perpetual motion of the second kind.
The second law may be expressed in many specific ways, but the first formulation is credited to the German scientist Rudolf Clausius. The law is usually stated in physical terms of impossible processes. In classical thermodynamics, the second law is a basic postulate applicable to any system involving measurable heat transfer, while in statistical thermodynamics, the second law is a consequence of unitarity in quantum theory. In classical thermodynamics, the second law defines the concept of thermodynamic entropy, while in statistical mechanics entropy is defined from information theory, known as the Shannon entropy.
Famous thought experiments[edit]PhysicsThought experiments are popular in physics and include:
- Bell's spaceship paradox (special relativity)
- Brownian ratchet (Richard Feynman's "perpetual motion" machine that does not violate the second law and does no work at thermal equilibrium)
- Bucket argument – argues that space is absolute, not relational
- Double-slit experiment (quantum mechanics)
- Elitzur–Vaidman bomb-tester (quantum mechanics)
- Einstein's box
- EPR paradox (quantum mechanics) (forms of this have actually been performed)
- Feynman sprinkler (classical mechanics)
- Galileo's ship (classical relativity principle) 1632
- Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment (rebuttal of Aristotelian Gravity)
- GHZ experiment (quantum mechanics)
- Heisenberg's microscope (quantum mechanics)
- Kepler's Dream (change of point of view as support for the Copernican hypothesis)
- Ladder paradox (special relativity)
- Laplace's demon
- Maxwell's demon (thermodynamics) 1871
- Monkey and the Hunter, The (gravitation)
- Moving magnet and conductor problem
- Newton's cannonball (Newton's laws of motion)
- Popper's experiment (quantum mechanics)
- Quantum pseudo telepathy (quantum mechanics)
- Quantum suicide (quantum mechanics)
- Schrödinger's cat (quantum mechanics)
- Sticky bead argument (general relativity)
- Renninger negative-result experiment (quantum mechanics)
- Twin paradox (special relativity)
- Wheeler's delayed choice experiment (quantum mechanics)
- Wigner's friend (quantum mechanics)
- Artificial brain
- Avicenna's Floating Man
- Bellum omnium contra omnes
- Big Book (ethics)
- Brain-in-a-vat (epistemology, philosophy of mind)
- Brainstorm machine
- Buridan's ass
- Changing places (reflexive monism, philosophy of mind)
- China brain (physicalism, philosophy of mind)
- Chinese room (philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, cognitive science)
- Coherence (philosophical gambling strategy)
- Condillac's Statue (epistemology)
- Gettier problem (epistemology)
- Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (epistemology)
- Hilary Putnam's Twin Earth thought experiment in the philosophy of language and philosophy of mind
- How many men? (taxation as theft)
- Inverted spectrum
- Kavka's toxin puzzle
- Mary's room (philosophy of mind)
- Molyneux's Problem (admittedly, this oscillated between empirical and a-priori assessment)
- Newcomb's paradox
- Original position (politics)
- Philosophical zombie (philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, cognitive science)
- Plank of Carneades
- Prisoner's Dilemma
- Ship of Theseus, The (concept of identity)
- Simulated reality (philosophy, computer science, cognitive science)
- Social contract theories
- Survival lottery, The (ethics)
- Swamp man (personal identity, philosophy of mind)
- Shoemaker's "Time Without Change" (metaphysics)
- Ticking time bomb scenario (ethics)
- Teleportation in fiction (metaphysics)
- Trolley problem (ethics)
- The Violinist (ethics)
- Utility monster (ethics)
- Zeno's paradoxes (classical Greek problems of the infinite)
- Balls and vase problem (infinity and cardinality)
- Gabriel's Horn (infinity)
- Infinite monkey theorem (probability)
- Lottery paradox (probability)
- Sleeping beauty paradox (probability)
- Halting problem (limits of computability)
- Turing machine (limits of computability)
- Two Generals' Problem
- Dining Philosophers (computer science)
- Buttered cat paradox
- Braitenberg vehicles (robotics, neural control and sensing systems) (some have actually been built)
- Doomsday argument (anthropic principle)
- Dyson sphere
- The Lady, or the Tiger? (human nature)[13]
- The Planiverse