$10,000 question: Is reality digital or analog?

Why confine it to be an either/or?

One of the biggest surprises in Physics were 'quanta' of energy, ...

I should think both apply.
 
phlogistician said:
Why confine it to be an either/or?

One of the biggest surprises in Physics were 'quanta' of energy, ...

I should think both apply.
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So, you believe reality is BOTH analog and digital, at the same time?

I'm no scientist, and know VERY little about physics. So I'm not here to argue...

I'm just curious as to how they can both apply.
 
Gremmie said:
So, you believe reality is BOTH analog and digital, at the same time?

I'm no scientist, and know VERY little about physics. So I'm not here to argue...

I'm just curious as to how they can both apply.
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I'm curious as to why you think it has to be exclusive. While 'digital' seems quite appealing, because matter forms into discrete particles, and energy is emitted in quanta, we have other such effects, such as red shift, which change wavelengths of photons from their original value, concepts such as 'temperature' and 'pressure' which are mean values, so unless we have a theory that unifies relativity and quantum mechanics, the large, average picture, which will not have fixed values, and is, due to the large number of particles involved, effectively 'analog', we have to contend with both. We aren't ever going to calculate a jagged orbit, for instance.
 
phlogistician said:
I'm curious as to why you think it has to be exclusive. While 'digital' seems quite appealing, because matter forms into discrete particles, and energy is emitted in quanta, we have other such effects, such as red shift, which change wavelengths of photons from their original value, concepts such as 'temperature' and 'pressure' which are mean values, so unless we have a theory that unifies relativity and quantum mechanics, the large, average picture, which will not have fixed values, and is, due to the large number of particles involved, effectively 'analog', we have to contend with both. We aren't ever going to calculate a jagged orbit, for instance.
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Ok, like I said, I am no scientist.. To be honest, I'm not totally sure what you're saying.. So, are you saying both exist at different times? or that both exist simultaneously?

Sorry, If I seem ignorant, but I guess I am, on certain subjects.. I'm just trying to learn new things here...

Thanks for your help.
 
Gremmie said:
Ok, like I said, I am no scientist.. To be honest, I'm not totally sure what you're saying.. So, are you saying both exist at different times? or that both exist simultaneously?

Sorry, If I seem ignorant, but I guess I am, on certain subjects.. I'm just trying to learn new things here...

Thanks for your help.
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Simultaneously, ... particles exist as discrete lumps, so 'digital' if you like, and energy is emitted as quanta, so 'digital' but then you have billions of particles and photons interacting, and we effectively get a great big soup of numbers.

Also, thanks to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, we can't know everything about particles, our knowledge is a bit fuzzy, ... 'fuzzy' sounds like an analog concept, doesn't it? :)
 
phlogistician said:
Simultaneously, ... particles exist as discrete lumps, so 'digital' if you like, and energy is emitted as quanta, so 'digital' but then you have billions of particles and photons interacting, and we effectively get a great big soup of numbers.

Also, thanks to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, we can't know everything about particles, our knowledge is a bit fuzzy, ... 'fuzzy' sounds like an analog concept, doesn't it? :)
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Ahh, ok...I'm still not 100% on this, but I think I have a much better grasp on it.. QM definitely isn't a strong point of mine though..

Many thanks for taking the time to explain... Much appreciated..

As I said, I'm always open to learning ..
 
Everything is programed like in the film "The Matrix" so I believe everything is digital.
 
The real question should be as to whether there are any takers on the contest, rather than just our pet views in regards to the topic. To be honest the topic is itself of interest to me because it touches upon pretty much what I need to write up on anyway, perhaps it will be that excuse to actually finish it. (I'm of course not too happy with my formatting of documentation for the most part or the absence of an in-depth knowledge of counterpart information to act as source material. I guess it's all about perceiverence. )
 
For the universe to be digital or integer based would require a common unit. That does not exist so the universe is inherently analog. Pi is a great example of a non digital universe.
 
Is this visual, audible or both? How are we defining Analog and Digital?
 
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Pinwheel said:
Does time pass by in small discrete steps or does it flow continously?
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It flows continuously. I need more information to answer the OP question. The future is digital afa humans are concerened. Are we contemplating and analog or digital unviverse with no consideration to human because humans are not a necessary component of the universe
 
Pinwheel said:
If you split up a unit of time so small that nothing happens between the two time periods.
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Then it is 0 to 0. You cannot stop time and it does not matter what the system of measurement is. Just like if a clock stops does not mean time has stopped. I measure time by any natural means. Could be a piece of metal rusting could be a boulder transformed into a small pebble...does not matter.

Even the small pebble just gets replaced and it starts all over again. Time has no conscious.

For this...THIS is the true meaning of relentless, this is the definition of tencacity. Do you have another example?

In the organic realm we can say bacteria but bacteria is dependent on time in so much as it uses time and this puts it one level below time...at least. In fact i dont know what exists between time and bacteria. Do you?
 
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