Hi Everyone,
We're still waiting to hear from everyone on the run-off vote for our
new weekly meeting time, so I can't announce a date/time yet.
However, we do have an interesting paper to be discussed at the meeting.
The paper, http://arxiv.org/abs/0809.0151, calls into question the
usually unspoken assumption that natural processes can always be
understood in terms of the interations of their sub-components:
> More Really is Different
> Authors: Mile Gu, Christian Weedbrook, Alvaro Perales, Michael A. Nielsen
> (Submitted on 31 Aug 2008)
>
> Abstract: In 1972, P.W.Anderson suggested that `More is Different',
> meaning that complex physical systems may exhibit behavior that cannot be
> understood only in terms of the laws governing their microscopic
> constituents. We strengthen this claim by proving that many macroscopic
> observable properties of a simple class of physical systems (the infinite
> periodic Ising lattice) cannot in general be derived from a microscopic
> description. This provides evidence that emergent behavior occurs in such
> systems, and indicates that even if a `theory of everything' governing all
> microscopic interactions were discovered, the understanding of macroscopic
> order is likely to require additional insights.
Should make for an interesting discussion!
Thanks,
--Ray
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