As forewarned, CERN has presser tomorrow on Higgs

[Prashant Kumar]

Well if you/anyone have/has any physics-y questions regarding the above I'd
be happy to oblige...

On 7 July 2012 14:45, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> This discussion should not end this soon.
>
> Existence, Mass (not RC), Measurement, not meta.
>
> More please.
>
>
> On Friday, July 6, 2012, Monte Davis wrote:
>
>> Umm… by no means all photons are virtual particles.
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] *On
>> Behalf Of *Prashant Kumar
>> *Sent:* Friday, July 06, 2012 7:37 AM
>> *To:* Monte Davis; pynchon -l
>> *Subject:* Re: As forewarned, CERN has presser tomorrow on Higgs
>>
>>
>>
>> What I meant is that you have the same debate regarding identity and
>> individuality, but in the modern debate the object is not souls but quantum
>> mechanical particles. In fact, the mathematical definition of photons is
>> what leads to this debate: because they are massless, photons do not
>> experience proper time they are known as 'virtual particles' and exist
>> outside of the reality of massive particles, in some sense. Now since every
>> photon is identical, you have serious problems defining identity. Think
>> 'spirit world', and you have the connection to Duns Scotus' haecceities.
>>
>>
>>
>> Prashant
>>
>>
>>
>> On 6 July 2012 18:40, Monte Davis <montedavis at verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>> In defense of physicists (of whom I am not one):  what distinguishes
>> massless particles (e.g. photons) from scholastic word-spinning is that
>> (1)
>> their properties are unambiguously, mathematically defined; (2) those
>> p[roperties have led to a century of predictions verified to many decimal
>> places; and (3) they are the only properties consistent with such
>> irrelevant
>> arcana as stars shining, atoms cohering, and DVD lasers playing.
>>
>> My apologies to Abelard and Duns Scotus if that's the kind of thing they
>> were doing and I missed it.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
>> Behalf
>>
>> Of Paul Mackin
>> Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2012 12:24 PM
>> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>> Subject: Re: As forewarned, CERN has presser tomorrow on Higgs
>>
>> On 7/5/2012 11:35 AM, David Morris wrote:
>> > OK, I stand corrected.  Existence w/o mass.  I expect such existence
>> > would never become more organized than at the sub-atomic level.  But
>> > I'm no physicist.
>>
>> Me neither, but somehow I'm reminded of the Medieval controversy over the
>> distinction between essence and existence, if any.
>>
>> P
>> >
>> > On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 10:15 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis at verizon.net>
>> wrote:
>> >> It bestows mass; they haven't [yet] gotten around to a field/particle
>> >> that "bestows existence."
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>  From  David Morris
>> >> Higgs is the new either, a medium that bestows existence.
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>
>
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