Third, arguments for metaphysical certainties were made in the context of establishing the thermodynamics of information as a sub-discipline of physics. Second, arguments for metaphysical certainties were made with reference to the practical functioning of typical computers. First, these conceptual shifts engaged materials central to IBM’s business practice. Three sorts of practical considerations are discussed. These conceptual shifts were characterized by an ambivalence opposing strong metaphysical claims to practical considerations. This development was characterized by multiple conceptual shifts: memory came to be seen not as information storage, but as delayed information transmission information itself was seen not as a disembodied logical entity, but as participating in the physical world and logical irreversibility was connected with physical, thermodynamic, irreversibility. Ready for a little light entertainment? What happens if one asks whether an infinite tower of turtles could overcome gravity and support the world? What happens if we ask if there is some mechanism in ordinary Newtonian mechanics that would let a castle float in the air.The origin and history of Landauer’s principle is traced through the development of the thermodynamics of computation at IBM from 1959 to 1982. See also "The Dome: A Simple Violation of Determinism in Newtonian Mechanics" in Goodies. "The Dome: An Unexpectedly Simple Failure of Determinism," download. I analyze and reject each of these reasons. It has been suggested that this indeterminism should be discounted since it draws on an incomplete rendering of Newtonian physics or it is "unphysical" or it employs illicit idealizations. Downloadīecause of the specific shape of the dome at its apex, Newton's equations of motion tell us that a mass at rest at the apex can spontaneously be set into motion. Alper, Mark Bridger and John Earman, "What is a Newtonian System? The Failure of Energy Conservation and Determinism in Supertasks," Synthese, 124(2000), pp. "A Quantum Mechanical Supertask" Foundations of Physics, 29, pp. With John Earman "Comments on Laraudogoitia's 'Classical Dynamics, Indeterminism and a Supertask," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 49 (1998), pp.123-33. Stich (eds.) Benacerraf and his Critics (Cambridge, MA: Blackwells, 1996) pp.231-261. With John Earman, "Infinite Pains: The Trouble with Supertasks," in A. Earman, "Forever is a Day: Supertasks in Pitowsky and Malament-Hogarth Spacetimes," Philosophy of Science, 60 (1993), 22-42. I also set up a supertask system in quantum theory and found that, while there were some pathologies, they turned out to be better behaved than classical supertasks. I have examined many aspects of these supertasks systems in classical and relativistic physics in papers with John Earman. These supertasks systems continue a tradition of puzzlement that was initiated by Zeno in antiquity. In the Newtonian case, they display both indeterminism and violations of energy and momentum conservation. Systems with infinite degrees of freedom can have properties entirely different from those we expect from examining their finite counterparts. Home > research > Supertasks, Indeterminism
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