Posted on 07/31/2003 1:01:59 AM PDT by JerseyHighlander
Amateur mathematician's time theories published at last University drop-out Peter Lynds, 27, of Wellington says he has further plans for mathematical and philosophical explorations after publication of his theories on the nature of time. Mr Lynds, who studied at university for just six months, said his paper, Time and Classical and Quantum Mechanics: Indeterminacy vs Discontinuity, was being published in the August issue of a Dutch-based journal, Foundations of Physics Letters. The journal specialises in rapid dissemination of research in theoretical or mathematical physics, or the philosophy of science. Now a broadcasting school tutor, Mr Lynds said his paper established that there was a necessary trade-off of all precisely determined physical values at a time, for their continuity through time. In effect, he argues that any moving object is never "at rest", and that the concept of time being broken into specific moments is only a human perception. "No matter how small the time interval, or how slowly an object moves during that interval, it is still in motion and its position is constantly changing, so it can't have a determined relative position at any time, whether during an interval, however small, or at an instant," he said in a statement. "If it did, it couldn't be in motion". He said today the argument challenged age-old assumptions about time and space. Mr Lynds said developing his theories had been a struggle and that as an outsider he had found working with some academics "extremely frustrating". "The work is somewhat unlikely, and that hasn't done me any favours. If someone has been aware of it, my seeming lack of qualification has sometimes been a hurdle too," he said. "I think quite a few physicists and philosophers have difficulty getting their heads around the topic of time properly. "I'm not a big fan of quite a few aspects of academia, but I'd like to think that what's happened with the work is a good example of perseverance and a few other things eventually winning through," Mr Lynds said. "It's reassuring to know that happens." Mr Lynds initially discussed his work with Victoria University physicist Professor Chris Grigson, who recalls him as determined. "I thought the idea was hard to understand," said Prof Grigson, who is now retired. "He is theorising in an area that most people think is settled. Most people believe there are a succession of moments and that objects in motion have determined positions." But Mr Lynds said some other physicists "sniggered" when he originally approached them with the work, and one even tried to persuade a scientific journal not to publish it because of the lack of formal academic qualifications. The paper also addressed other physics issues to do with time, including cosmology, and mounted an argument against the theory of "imaginary time" proposed by British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. The seven-page paper argues that it has the correct solution to motion and infinity paradoxes -- excluding one known as "the Stadium" -- originally conceived by the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea over 2500 years ago. "With his deceivingly profound and perplexing paradoxes, I think Zeno of Elea was a true visionary, and in a sense, over 2500 years ahead of his time," Mr Lynds said. His plans for the near future include the publication of a paper specificially on Zeno's paradoxes themselves in the journal Philosophy of Science, and a paper relating time to consciousness. He also plans to explore his work further in connection to quantum mechanics and is hopeful others will do the same. - NZPA
31.07.2003 11.04 am
Don't know about this one. Can you provide a link to an overview of the problem?
Now, if you're talking about Penrose-type borderline metaphysical ruminations about quantum mechanics and sentient thought, I agree.
This is what I was referring to.
Right. And even if you can't accept the existence of real numbers, you can take the limit of an interval of time to zero, in which case the distance between the two positions at the start and end of the interval will go to zero.
At least that's what that Newton guy tells me.
The paper itself isn't available online yet. I'll defer final judgement until I read it. in the meantime, it will be entertaining to see how many people embrace this as if it's the millenium's first paradigm shift.
I got it too: Specific real numbers don't need any philosophical contortions to exist, even though they form a continuum from one to the "next", so why should time?
(Hey, and I didn't even finish college! WooHoo!)
Reification.
Or is time not part of the material universe.
I can disprove it. The assertion steals the concept of existence to assert there may only be consciousness. You cannot make the assertion without assuming the "it," which consciousness alone is supposed to "cause." If there is only consciousness, there is not "it" for consciousness of. Consciousness of nothing is unconsciousness.
First something must exsit. Then there can be beings to be conscious of it. Consciousness cannot come first. Consciousness cannot be primary.
Hank
It's possible that consciousness is necessary for all existence.
Then there can be beings to be conscious of it.
Then there can be beings who are aware of being conscious entities.
Consciousness cannot come first. Consciousness cannot be primary.
Yes, it can, I suppose.
Consciousness of what?
Hank
Whatever all the ongoing consciousness (as opposed to awareness, cognizance, or just being awake) research is all about.
How about
1) "Hawking radiation", the (so-far unobserved) radiation that comes from a black hole because of a quantum effect, and
2) "A black hole has no hair" The theorem that a black hole is characterized by its mass, angular momentum and electric charge, and **nothing more**. In particular, you can't tell if the mass that collapsed to form the hole was matter or antimatter.
AFAIK, these are original with Hawking.
Didn't you mean phun?
Some time ago, I gave my tenured Phyis prof. son a tee shirt with "Physics is phun, but entropy happenes".
Right!
Credentials are the crutch of Social "Scientists" to give their nonsense credence.
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