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