Physics Reduced to Probability
Philosophers have said that if the same circumstances don't always produce the same results, predictions are impossible and science will collapse. Here is a circumstance—identical photons are always coming down in the same direction to the piece of glass—that produces different results. We cannot predict whether a given photon will arrive at A or B. All we can predict is that out of 100 photons that come down, an average of 4 will be reflected by the front surface. Does this mean that physics, a science of great exactitude, has been reduced to calculating only the probability of an event, and not predicting exactly what will happen? Yes. That's a retreat, but that's the way it is: Nature permits us to calculate only probabilities. Yet science has not collapsed.
Notes:
Feynman explains that probabilities are the best we can hope for in complex systems.
Folksonomies: complexity probability
Taxonomies:
/science (0.577680)
/science/physics (0.445261)
/hobbies and interests/games/gambling (0.337220)
Keywords:
Probability Feynman (0.965696 (positive:0.306451)), circumstance—identical photons (0.928487 (positive:0.241393)), Physics Reduced (0.869622 (positive:0.306451)), complex systems (0.817490 (positive:0.306451)), great exactitude (0.706960 (positive:0.322146)), Nature permits (0.705945 (neutral:0.000000)), different results (0.701522 (positive:0.241393)), probabilities (0.535829 (positive:0.306451)), science (0.456743 (negative:-0.149224)), circumstances (0.277478 (negative:-0.341913)), Philosophers (0.269014 (negative:-0.341913)), predictions (0.254215 (negative:-0.583012)), mean (0.252926 (negative:-0.271579)), average (0.249665 (negative:-0.570436)), direction (0.246077 (positive:0.241393)), piece (0.225544 (positive:0.241393)), glass—that (0.225379 (positive:0.241393)), retreat (0.224075 (negative:-0.542138)), B. (0.222305 (negative:-0.662865)), surface (0.220270 (negative:-0.570436))
Entities:
Feynman:Person (0.805043 (positive:0.306451)), 100 photons:Quantity (0.805043 (neutral:0.000000))
Concepts:
Quantum mechanics (0.945038): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Scientific method (0.933861): dbpedia | freebase
Physics (0.929819): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Mathematics (0.758184): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Theory (0.719284): dbpedia | freebase
Probability theory (0.619290): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Light (0.568741): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Prediction (0.560510): dbpedia | freebase
QED: The Strange Theory Of Light And Matter