Vkothii
10-13-08, 11:39 PM
Einstein was an 'intelligent' man. He obviously had a view of the world that was, for his time, very different logically than anything that science had cobbled together until then.
In some of his correspondence he makes allegorical and metaphorical references, to the overarching themes he discusses--as prosaic tales of chance encounters, that although they contain characters and events, are explanations of his attitudes to the 'problems' that the new quantum ideas, to which he also undeniably opened the door, led him to.
His resignation perhaps, to the inevitable conclusion that QM tells us our experience is a "blind beggar", that the nature of reality, being ruled by chance, can only lend to us an illusion that we can predict outcomes, or see anything at all.
This is a short but pithy tale (my ital.) about the blind beggar of our gestalt:
"Dear Heisenberg,
As I was attempting to explain to you before you flew off the handle yesterday, God simply doesn't play dice.
To give you an example, Schrodinger and I were having beers on the rue du MontBlanc the other day when I turned to him and said, "I just realized I don't have any money on me."
"Neither have I," Schrodinger replied. Suddenly we were approached by a blind beggar. "Kind sirs," he said, "won't you please help me feed my family?"
I exclaimed, "Of course, my good man," and reached into his tin as if to make a donation. In reality I removed twenty pfennig, precisely the sum Schrodinger and I needed to pay for our beers.
Now what do you suppose is the likelihood that this man should have appeared purely by chance? Don't you think this speaks pretty strongly for an orderly universe?
Of course, when I put these questions to Schrodinger, he said we could always have stiffed the waitress.
Bring me a new walking-stick and all will be forgiven.
Yours,
A. Einstein" (Geneva July 24, 1927)
This may or may not be a tale about a true incident (if it is, Albert was probably a bit of a prick after all, surprise surprise).
In some of his correspondence he makes allegorical and metaphorical references, to the overarching themes he discusses--as prosaic tales of chance encounters, that although they contain characters and events, are explanations of his attitudes to the 'problems' that the new quantum ideas, to which he also undeniably opened the door, led him to.
His resignation perhaps, to the inevitable conclusion that QM tells us our experience is a "blind beggar", that the nature of reality, being ruled by chance, can only lend to us an illusion that we can predict outcomes, or see anything at all.
This is a short but pithy tale (my ital.) about the blind beggar of our gestalt:
"Dear Heisenberg,
As I was attempting to explain to you before you flew off the handle yesterday, God simply doesn't play dice.
To give you an example, Schrodinger and I were having beers on the rue du MontBlanc the other day when I turned to him and said, "I just realized I don't have any money on me."
"Neither have I," Schrodinger replied. Suddenly we were approached by a blind beggar. "Kind sirs," he said, "won't you please help me feed my family?"
I exclaimed, "Of course, my good man," and reached into his tin as if to make a donation. In reality I removed twenty pfennig, precisely the sum Schrodinger and I needed to pay for our beers.
Now what do you suppose is the likelihood that this man should have appeared purely by chance? Don't you think this speaks pretty strongly for an orderly universe?
Of course, when I put these questions to Schrodinger, he said we could always have stiffed the waitress.
Bring me a new walking-stick and all will be forgiven.
Yours,
A. Einstein" (Geneva July 24, 1927)
This may or may not be a tale about a true incident (if it is, Albert was probably a bit of a prick after all, surprise surprise).