I'm no expert in quantum gravity, but I have sometimes the impression that the pictures of spacetime quantization are often a bit naive; basically the pictures of quantum spacetime look to me more like a classical discrete spacetime. I can't of course exclude the possibility that it's just the presentation.
Think for example of the quantization of the electron spin: It has only two states, up and down. Does that mean that the electron has a certain preferred direction, because, after all, it can only be up and down? Definitely not! You can choose an arbitrary direction, and for each direction you'll find that it is either up or down, and nothing else. But that isn't a contradiction, because the electron isn't just a classical particle whose spin points in a certain direction, and when you measure it, you find out which spin it had. Instead, it's the measurement itself which determines the direction in which you get up or down, and it is the measurement which forces the electron into one of the states. Before it might have been in a superposition. And if you choose another direction, you'll find that the very same state corresponds to another superposition of the up and down states corresponding to that direction. Indeed, for the electron all directions are equal (the current state may be associated with a specific direction, but every direction has an associated state, making no direction fundamentally different than the others).
Now when we come to the Planck length, I can imagine that the very same happens: The spacetime itself is not discrete, just as the directions of the electron spin are not discrete. But if we try to measure it, we can only get discrete values. But those discrete values are not a property of the spacetime itself, because we can make another measurement, and then maybe our discrete values are half a Planck length shifted, just as we can make a measurement of the electron's spin in z direction, and then in x direction, and we will find that the electron's spin after the second measurement is rotated by a right angle, despite the fact that for each measurement individually the only possible values are in opposite directions.
The electromagnetic field of a point particle is infinitely large. In the collisions, the particles don't really collide; they just get so close that the force between them gets quite large.
Probably they refer to the electron's Compton length, which in some sense can be viewed as effective size of the electron. If you try to resolve the electron beyond that size, you inevitably get particle creation.
However if I'm not mistaken, a billionth of a billionth of the electron's Compton wavelength is still about five orders of magnitude larger than the Planck length.
Perhaps most moderators these days simply don't realize they are themselves a troll via troll moderation.
So you say that's not the purpose of the "Troll" moderation? Then why does it say "Troll"? Next you'll tell me that "Funny" moderation is not about the moderator being funny!
Think about it: If you genetically engineer a baby, you've inserted non-natural genes, that is, inventions you can patent. So after the babies grow up, those people cannot have children without paying you for licensing (at the time the general public notices it, many years later, it's already too late). Maybe they'll even insert terminator genes, so that you cannot any more have offspring the normal way, unless you buy a (very expensive) special "medicine" which re-activates the genes needed for production (but only as long as you take it).
Slashdot Mirror
You can easily combine 2 and 3 by throwing apples at windows. :-)
I'm no expert in quantum gravity, but I have sometimes the impression that the pictures of spacetime quantization are often a bit naive; basically the pictures of quantum spacetime look to me more like a classical discrete spacetime. I can't of course exclude the possibility that it's just the presentation.
Think for example of the quantization of the electron spin: It has only two states, up and down. Does that mean that the electron has a certain preferred direction, because, after all, it can only be up and down? Definitely not! You can choose an arbitrary direction, and for each direction you'll find that it is either up or down, and nothing else. But that isn't a contradiction, because the electron isn't just a classical particle whose spin points in a certain direction, and when you measure it, you find out which spin it had. Instead, it's the measurement itself which determines the direction in which you get up or down, and it is the measurement which forces the electron into one of the states. Before it might have been in a superposition. And if you choose another direction, you'll find that the very same state corresponds to another superposition of the up and down states corresponding to that direction. Indeed, for the electron all directions are equal (the current state may be associated with a specific direction, but every direction has an associated state, making no direction fundamentally different than the others).
Now when we come to the Planck length, I can imagine that the very same happens: The spacetime itself is not discrete, just as the directions of the electron spin are not discrete. But if we try to measure it, we can only get discrete values. But those discrete values are not a property of the spacetime itself, because we can make another measurement, and then maybe our discrete values are half a Planck length shifted, just as we can make a measurement of the electron's spin in z direction, and then in x direction, and we will find that the electron's spin after the second measurement is rotated by a right angle, despite the fact that for each measurement individually the only possible values are in opposite directions.
The post I answered to obviously interpreted it literally.
The electromagnetic field of a point particle is infinitely large. In the collisions, the particles don't really collide; they just get so close that the force between them gets quite large.
Probably they refer to the electron's Compton length, which in some sense can be viewed as effective size of the electron. If you try to resolve the electron beyond that size, you inevitably get particle creation.
However if I'm not mistaken, a billionth of a billionth of the electron's Compton wavelength is still about five orders of magnitude larger than the Planck length.
So you say that's not the purpose of the "Troll" moderation? Then why does it say "Troll"?
Next you'll tell me that "Funny" moderation is not about the moderator being funny!
SCNR :-)
Anyone made any of these as an open source project? It shouldn't be too difficult.
Unfortunately we still haven't found out how to put our own code into the universe's program.
Or maybe, I should have said "fortunately" because I'm sure the first use of that would have been as weapon ...
I thought they wanted to CHARGE me money for using wifi.
And I thought almost the same, just without the "for".
If I wanted a Mac, I'd know where to get one.
That'll make it much more easy to detect aspiring criminals ...
Sure, because no non-criminal colours his hair ...
I guess hair colouring and coloured contact lenses will be getting more popular for criminals ...
If it is MY cellphone, they need to keep their fucking hands off of it.
So if they use the other hand to modify your phone, it's fine with you?
Combine the app with the train ticket purchase app. If you are using the train without a ticket, not being able to text will be your least concern. ;-)
Sure, it will be completely safe if the motor is shut off in the middle of the highway, especially if the driver is not paying attention ...
You are aware that you can use both a car and public transportation?
Frankly, with children driving, the question whether they text at the same time would be my least concern. :-)
Well, given that in Germany we are metric, the limit is 250 km/h. :-)
More importantly, radiation that hits you from outside is far less dangerous than radiation from sources you ingest. You rarely eat granite.
Yeah, those proprietary tsunamis suck! All tsunamis should be open ocean! :-)
(And why the Slashcode authors thought it were a good idea to insert a space after a closing em tag is beyond me.)
err ... "needed for re production", of course.
Think about it: If you genetically engineer a baby, you've inserted non-natural genes, that is, inventions you can patent. So after the babies grow up, those people cannot have children without paying you for licensing (at the time the general public notices it, many years later, it's already too late). Maybe they'll even insert terminator genes, so that you cannot any more have offspring the normal way, unless you buy a (very expensive) special "medicine" which re-activates the genes needed for production (but only as long as you take it).
Why?
Seing the number, I at first thought it's a scam. :-)
So a fork from somebody without children would be named "NobodySQL"? Or "NoneSQL"? "NoSQL" is already taken. :-)