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Assorted
1. The history and economics of pie, in a few simple pictures.
2. A very good blog: DesignSponge.com.
3. The complete Mozart, $120 for 170 discs.
4. Does quantum mechanics make sense after all?
Posted by Tyler Cowen on September 6, 2006 at 10:40 AM in Web/Tech | Permalink
Comments
I stumbled on the subheadline in the quantum mechanics article: "When the complicated mathematics is left aside, valuable insights are gained." I usually see that as a warning sign that the reader is about to be completely b.s.'ed.
This particular article didn't turn out to be as bad as I feared, but, it is pretty close to "If you leave out all the complexity in any subject, what remains makes a lot more sense but is not necessarily 100% accurate."
Posted by: DK at Sep 6, 2006 11:54:34 AM
"Naked quantum weirdness", as Quincey puts it so well, has a certain beauty, too: http://www.lactamme.polytechnique.fr/Mosaic/images/HY.6d.0020.d.D/display.html
Posted by: Hannah at Sep 6, 2006 1:07:40 PM
From a review at Amazon.com
"Not to start any inter-EU rivalry, but Amazon.fr is offering it at 90 euro, and the price drops to 75 euro if you're shipping to the US (no VAT). That pretty much pays for shipping. It's a wonderful collection, even if--as to be expected--the quality of the performances varies from disk to disk."
Posted by: Dave Barnes at Sep 6, 2006 3:18:57 PM
Re 4, Richard Feynman: "If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics." Which is funny, since the guy references Feynman.
Posted by: Mike Beversluis at Sep 6, 2006 6:51:40 PM
Even better would be: The History of The Economic Pie.
Posted by: Dave Meleney at Sep 6, 2006 7:32:44 PM
Mike: I think the quote "anyone who is not shocked by quantum mechanics has not understood is " is Bohr rather than Feynman, but you are right; basically, he just mentions "oh yeah, this is a non-deterministic theory of the universe in which states superpose" and says "but hey there's nothing weird about that".
Posted by: dsquared at Sep 7, 2006 6:04:53 AM
(4) again.
I'm tired of "hey, isn't quantum physics weird" pieces, so this one was a nice change. It does miss a couple of things though:
- the article is hinting that by using the action principle you can displace some weirdness into classical physics, but there is a big difference. In classical physics, a system travels along a path of stationary action. In quantum physics, a system travels along all paths, but these paths interfere.
- the article does not mention that the interference among paths (the surveyor's wheel) is determined by probability amplitude. It should, as probability amplitude is the absolute fundamental thing.
Feynman's QED is a magnificent book, as you would expect. It came out just after I finished a graduate-level course on QED, and I wished it had come out six months earlier to explain what all the math I had just stuggled through was really about - it would have been an ideal complement.
Posted by: tom s. at Sep 7, 2006 10:34:50 AM
As for the quote, apparently both said it. At least, I've heard it attributed to several people, and the internets tell me that they both said it via http://phys.wordpress.com/2006/06/09/quantum-mechanical-quotes/ (and if you can't trust the internets as a source of reliable information, well then, what is the world coming to?) Here are the ones that site lists:
# Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it. Niels Bohr.
# If you are not completely confused by quantum mechanics, you do not understand it. John Wheeler.
# It is safe to say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. Richard Feynman.
Posted by: tom s. at Sep 7, 2006 11:14:51 AM
The QM article seems silly and brushes off the problems of QM without seriously tackling them. But Feynman's QED (referenced) is very short and worth a read (and a re-read). In fact it's the only book that tells you so much about quantum physics in so little space.
Posted by: Constant at Sep 7, 2006 7:19:06 PM
"the internets tell me"
But are you sure that the tube that the internets travel through was properly attached?
Posted by: Constant at Sep 7, 2006 7:21:35 PM
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Posted by: Smith at Sep 30, 2006 3:41:49 AM
