Word: quantum
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...insight is largely based on his own experience in solving abstract puzzles. And it is true that these mental processes are not explained by existing laws of physics. The answers will come, says Penrose, with the merger of Einstein's theory of relativity, which concerns itself with gravity, and quantum theory, which governs the sub-microscopic world. These two theories are mathematically incompatible, and physicists are hard at work trying to create a quantum version of gravity...
Nonetheless, Penrose's reasoning is powerful, and he delves extensively into such heavy topics as fractal geometry, number theory, quantum physics, entropy and cosmology to give readers the necessary background to understand his ideas. "I have to admit," he says, "that I had been looking for an excuse to write about many aspects of physics and mathematics anyway, and this gave...
...pillow talk they had electrodynamics and atomic kinetics. In 1905 Einstein published a trio of brilliant papers in a single issue of the journal Annalen der Physik, among them the theory of relativity with its subversive notions of elastic space- time and interchangeable matter and energy. Another elucidated the quantum theory of light; still another a proof of the existence of atoms. You could say the 20th century was born in those pages...
Some of the beauty in A Chorus Line lies in the quantum mood leaps it makes, and the cast handles those leaps well enough. But the cast is consistently too chipper or too friendly for the text. Though the performers' high energy is entertaining, more integrity to the premise, a competitive audition, is required. The dancers seem to bond far too soon...
...worries about the relevance of quantum mechanics to the momentum of a charging elephant. But there are events on the border between the visible and the invisible in which quantum effects could conceivably come into play. Possible examples: biochemical reactions and the firing of neurons in the brain. Stapp, Clauser and others believe that a better understanding of how quantum theory applies to atoms and molecules might help in everything from artificial-intelligence research to building improved gyroscopes. For now, though, this boundary area is a theoretical no-man's-land. Certainly physicists are a lot further from understanding...