X-Message-Number: 15052 Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 09:40:30 -0800 From: Hugh Hixon <> Subject: Classical perturbation If displacing a gram of matter in Sirius has such consequences, just imagine the effect of somebody in the next room producing a list of random numbers (by quantum-mechanical means). I'd heard of this calculation, but didn't know the origin. Thanks to Lee Corbin for popping it up again. Incidentally, Szilard demonstrated in a paper in the 30's that classical physics also contains uncertainty, by demonstrating that to define the exact location of a single gas molecule by compression requires infinite energy. Hugh Hixon ------------------------------------------ Message #15048 Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 20:49:25 -0800 From: Lee Corbin <> Subject: Quantum Mechanics vs. Uploading (snip) The mathematician E. Borel used to find it very interesting and significant to perform classical computations that show that displacing a gram of matter in the star Sirius by a mere centimeter will change the state of a liter of gas on Earth within a second (after the gravitational influence arrives eight years later, of course). (snip) Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15052