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)

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