Quantum Poetry

Slooze writes "Dennis Overbye's essay in today's New York Times, 'No Man, Quark or Electron Is an Island', discusses the possible societal and even metaphysical effects of quantum physics' poetic metaphors. Are notions about mass without mass, it from bit, entangled particles, and supersymmetry, for example, exerting subtle influences on the way we perceive ourselves and our socio-political relationships?" An odd little piece.

Comments

Mach's principle

[TeknoHog]

I'd like to explain a bit about this wonderful idea that objects have inertia only due to their relative motion. The classical example of Mach's principle is a merry-go-round; according to the principle of relativity, you could argue that people in it are stationary and the world revolves around them (no pun intended, unless Linus is aboard:-).

So how do the people in it feel the rotation? According to Mach, it is a valid viewpoint that they are stationary, but the huge masses of the rest of the universe revolving around them causes a 'magnetic gravitational force'.

The 'magnetic' analogy is useful here: between charged particles there is an electrostatic force, but when they move _sideways_ with respect to their line of separation, there is a magnetic force as well. Similarly, between moving masses there is a 'magnetic gravitational' force perpendicular to their separation.

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