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January 16, 2014
The postcard contained only two words: “Hurry up.”
John Archibald Wheeler, a 33-year-old physicist, was in Hanford, Wash., working on the nuclear reactor that was feeding plutonium to Los Alamos, when he received the postcard from his younger brother, Joe. It was late summer, 1944. Joe was fighting on the front lines of World War II in Italy. He had a good idea what his older brother was up to. Haunted by His Brother, He Revolutionized Physics - Issue 9: Time - NautilusPosted by gerardvanderleun at January 16, 2014 2:20 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
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Thanks.
Real life.
Posted by: grace at January 17, 2014 5:32 PM
That was astounding.
My snarky side wants to ask, "did his brother ever make it out of that foxhole alive?" Maybe not that snarky, when you hammer the nail of existence as hard as you can.
Ambiguous time paths, or histories, and photon trajectories that misbehave, are not at all inconstant with my view point as an orthodox Christian. Theology teaches much the same thing, and I mean orthodox (like Luther or Calvin wrote) theology.
My prayer today is that I not alter that ordained photon trajectory that is my given life, and, like that stalwart soldier near Florence in 1944, I can make my peace both on purpose, and in spite of my purpose, at the same time.
Need more sense? Try what CS Lewis said: It doesn't seem like plan because it's all plan.
Posted by: Casey Klahn at January 18, 2014 8:02 AM
So, I have to wonder how this affects the discussion about God and random events creating the universe. If I am understanding this correctly, and I'm probably not, the Wheeler-DeWitt equation describes a universe that can't evolve, which means that evolution as a viable theory can't exist. And because the double-slit experiment demonstrates that the act of measurement (the act of observing, maybe?) creates that which is being measured, then the universe doesn't exist until we start asking questions about it.
That's some seriously heady stuff that the discussion between an intelligent being or evolution could never wrap its head around, but has the potential of sidelining that entire conversation.
Unless, of course, I am misunderstanding all of this, which I probably am.
Posted by: Former Lurker at January 18, 2014 8:06 AM