On 01/08/2008 14:59, "Nabokv-L" <nabokv-l@UTK.EDU> wrote:



-------- Original Message --------   
 Subject:  Re: [NABOKV-L] THOUGHTS Re: Einstein and Langevin, location of New Wye  
 Date:  Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:53:06 -0700 (PDT)  
 From:  Jerry Friedman <jerry_friedman@yahoo.com> <mailto:jerry_friedman@yahoo.com>   
 Reply-To:  jerry_friedman@yahoo.com  
 To:  Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU> <mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>   
 CC:  jerry_friedman@yahoo.com  

--- On Thu, 7/31/08, Stan Kelly-Bootle <skb@BOOTLE.BIZ> <mailto:skb@BOOTLE.BIZ>  wrote:
...

> Before outstaying my welcome, this Planck Time, being the
> theoretically
> smallest measurable interval, presents us with the QUANTUM
> view of time as
> DISCONTINUOUS. A much bigger strain on commonsense than SR
> or GR. Just as
> energy comes in little lumps, time goes by in little jumps.

May I rephrase this comment, losing both its vigor and its
wit?

This Planck Time presents us with the possibility that
a yet-unknown (though there are promising possibilities)
quantum theory of everything might have a mathematical
structure that could be interpretable as saying that time
is discontinuous, if people want to interpret it that way.
------

Your refinement accepted, JF. See my reply to James Studdard/Jansy -- skb
-----
> Quite a jolt if
> you enjoy singing the Hymn: TIME LIKE AN EVER-ROLLING
> STREAM, BEARS ALL ITS SONS AWAY!

But streams are discontinuous, made of atoms.
----
BUT, JF, each ever-rolling atom/molecule in the hymn's putative stream is envisaged as flowing by continuously. The stream is physically discontinuous but its flow occurs in continuous time. "Ever-rolling" is the key implying continuity -- as opposed to "stagger-roll-jerk-roll-pause-roll ...!!"

Enjoyed yr butterfly detour. I was rather taken aback recently while web-browsing the Monarch, to learn that so little is known of the habits of this most-widely studied species. Is this typical of a dubious precision of lepidopteral studies? It does seem, as your research showed, that questions such as "Where can species X and Y geographically coexist?" are too vague for comfort. VN's _literary_ insects are Type-B objects

skb
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