Helmut Oellers <oell...@syntheticwave.de> wrote: > 2011/4/26 Dave Malham <d...@york.ac.uk>
>> On 24/04/2011 19:11, Helmut Oellers wrote: >>> ...modern computers are also clever. Today nothing is unaccountable if we >>> know the formula and all variables. >> >> That's a BIG assumption - and given the essentially chaotic (in the >> mathematical sense) nature of the Universe, wrong. We are now pretty certain >> that nothing is that predictable and that that idea's basically (old) >> Science Fiction - we have moved from E. E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensman" universe >> ( where ultimately intelligent beings could predict everything because they >> knew the complete starting conditions and laws of the Universe) to the >> Discworld universe of Terry Pratchett where one flap of a Quantum Weather >> Butterfly's *** wings can change the course of the entire Universe (and >> confound even the Gods). > Hello Dave, > > what you are describing, I would consider as the ?Heisenberg uncertainty > principle?, which disclosures, as closer we look at the things, as less we > can discover. Accordingly, in the quantum world the random exist, really > not computable. However, in the macro world of whole air molecules, the > conditions are describable. No, not the Heisenberg uncertainty principle just, as Dave stated, chaos. At times, the weather system gets itself into a chaotic state. The motion of the planets is also thought to be chaotic. These are macro. This example of the weather system gave rise to the (unsubstantiated) claim that the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil can set off a tornado in Texas. (The location of the butterfly and its effects vary.) This very nice example was then purloined and mangled by Terry Prachett who introduced a spurious reference to Quantum Theory. Regards, Martin -- Martin J Leese E-mail: martin.leese stanfordalumni.org Web: http://members.tripod.com/martin_leese/ _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list Sursound@music.vt.edu https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
