[extropy-chat] still no biscuit!

[Dirk Bruere]

Jeff Medina wrote:

>On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 15:27:27 -0600, Damien Broderick
><thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>At 03:24 PM 1/19/2005 -0500, Eliezer wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>the hypothesis of conservation of momentum is not that momentum is
>>>conserved 90% of the time or even 99.9999% of the time.  The hypothesis of
>>>conservation of momentum is that momentum is conserved 100.00000% of the
>>>time.  We may be uncertain, but the hypothesis of "conservation of
>>>momentum" hypothesizes a state of affairs in which reality is *not*
>>>uncertain; a reality in which it is *absolutely certain* that momentum
>>>will be conserved on each and every occasion.
>>>      
>>>
>>It's true that physicists thought so 100 years ago. Then they found that
>>with the conjugate properties position and momentum, 100% accuracy in
>>measuring position meant momentum went all over the ship. Bugger, eh?
>>    
>>
>
>Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle does not conflict with conservation
>of momentum. It is a limit on measurement capabilities, not an
>indicator that momentum goes "all over the ship" when position is
>measured.
>  
>
That's a matter of opinion.
A strict interpretation says that there is a tradeoff between the 
position and momentum and that there is no 'real' absolute values for 
either that are subject to a measurement limit.

-- 
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org



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