Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 18:23:59 -0400
From: Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Newton or einstein?
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

Ern wrote:
> Driving down the road (pe=1/2mv^2) I was thinking about how we live
> in a newtonian world, and that quantum physics is really besides the
> point.
>
> Of course, I was listening to a cd at the time.
>
> So, what do you think? Is Einstien irrelant in everday life? Do we
> live in a locally deterministic universe?

As long as we're talking about things between about the size of a
bacterium and the size of a small planetoid, yeah, things are generally
Newtonian.  Same for light and electricity, as long as you don't look
too closely (cf photoelectric effect, "ultraviolet catastrophe").

As long as you consider your CD player as a Magic Box (cf Discworld),
you're in a Newtonian universe.  As soon as you start looking at the
works (semiconductor lasers, solid- state electronics), it's quantum all
the way.

--
Steve Smith                                    sgs at aginc dot net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."