From Osher Doctorow
Consider the Conjecture, Principle, or Hypothesis:
1) h = k/n!, k constant, n positive integer
Although it might be argued that this is trivial since such a real k
can be defined simply as n!h which tells us nothing, the Conjecture is
motivated by something rather deeper, namely approximating h by 1/n!.
In other words, in practice we are going to consider:
2) h = (approximately) 1/n! for some positive integer n
where n! is of course 1 times 2 times 3 times ... times n. The k of
(1) can be considered as 'fine tuning" the relationship of (2) and
arguably is very close to 1.
Since n! is the nth derivative of x^n with respect to x for n a
positive integer, n! is Causal via Birkhoff Causation as explained
earlier, so (2) indicates that Planck's constant h is acausal or
non-Causal.
Notice that as h --> 0, n! --> infinity in (2), and that this
corresponds to the Classical (Macroscopic) level as opposed to the
Quantum level. So by this Conjecture, Classical Physics is Causal and
Quantum Physics (whatever it is!) is acausal.
This latter sentence corresponds to a well known rule of thumb in
physics, but since we are interpreting things in terms of phases, how
could a phase be acausal? That is to say, if there is a quantum
phase, how could it be acausal and still be a phase in any way
analogous to liquid, solid, gas, superfluid, superconductor,
Bose-Einstein condensate, plasma, liquid crystal, or even arguably
black hole?
The usual Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle "response" to this question
appears to be unsatisfactory, since among other things it doesn't say
how. Moreover, readers who think about the question might be
well-advised to ask themselves whether Ignorance is a separate phase
from Knowledge, and if so, which do they think is desirable? Be
careful, since science is based on Knowledge rather than Ignorance.
Osher Doctorow
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