Why More Is Different

Why More Is Different PDF Author: Brigitte Falkenburg
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3662439115
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
The physics of condensed matter, in contrast to quantum physics or cosmology, is not traditionally associated with deep philosophical questions. However, as science - largely thanks to more powerful computers - becomes capable of analysing and modelling ever more complex many-body systems, basic questions of philosophical relevance arise. Questions about the emergence of structure, the nature of cooperative behaviour, the implications of the second law, the quantum-classical transition and many other issues. This book is a collection of essays by leading physicists and philosophers. Each investigates one or more of these issues, making use of examples from modern condensed matter research. Physicists and philosophers alike will find surprising and stimulating ideas in these pages.

Why More Is Different

Why More Is Different PDF Author: Brigitte Falkenburg
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3662439115
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

Get Book Here

Book Description
The physics of condensed matter, in contrast to quantum physics or cosmology, is not traditionally associated with deep philosophical questions. However, as science - largely thanks to more powerful computers - becomes capable of analysing and modelling ever more complex many-body systems, basic questions of philosophical relevance arise. Questions about the emergence of structure, the nature of cooperative behaviour, the implications of the second law, the quantum-classical transition and many other issues. This book is a collection of essays by leading physicists and philosophers. Each investigates one or more of these issues, making use of examples from modern condensed matter research. Physicists and philosophers alike will find surprising and stimulating ideas in these pages.

More is Different

More is Different PDF Author: Nai-Phuan Ong
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691088662
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
This book presents articles written by leading experts surveying several major subfields in Condensed Matter Physics and related sciences. The articles are based on invited talks presented at a recent conference honoring Nobel laureate Philip W. Anderson of Princeton University, who coined the phrase "More is different" while formulating his contention that all fields of physics, indeed all of science, involve equally fundamental insights. The articles introduce and survey current research in areas that have been close to Anderson's interests. Together, they illustrate both the deep impact that Anderson has had in this multifaceted field during the past half century and the progress spawned by his insights. The contributors cover numerous topics under the umbrellas of superconductivity, superfluidity, magnetism, electron localization, strongly interacting electronic systems, heavy fermions, and disorder and frustration in glass and spin-glass systems. They also describe interdisciplinary areas such as the science of olfaction and color vision, the screening of macroions in electrolytes, scaling and renormalization in cosmology, forest fires and the spread of measles, and the investigation of "NP-complete" problems in computer science. The articles are authored by Philip W. Anderson, Per Bak and Kan Chen, G. Baskaran, Juan Carlos Campuzano, Paul Chaikin, John Hopfield, Bernhard Keimer, Scott Kirkpatrick and Bart Selman, Gabriel Kotliar, Patrick Lee, Yoshiteru Maeno, Marc Mezard, Douglas Osheroff et al., H. R. Ott, L. Pietronero et al., T. V. Ramakrishnan, A. Ramirez, Myriam Sarachik, T. Senthil and Matthew P. A. Fisher, B. I. Shklovskii et al., and F. Steglich et al.

More and Different

More and Different PDF Author: Philip W. Anderson
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814350141
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
I. Personal reminiscences. Introduction. "BCS" and me. A mile of dirty lead wire: a fable for the scientifically literate. Scientific and personal reminiscences of Ryogo Kubo -- II. History. Introduction. Physics at Bell Labs, 1949-1984: young Turks and younger Turks. It's not over till the fat lady sings. Reflections on twentieth century physics: historical overview of the 20t century in Physics. 21st century Physics. Y. Nambu and broken symmetry. Nevill Mott, John Slater, and the "magnetic state": winning the prize and losing the PR battle -- III. Philosophy and sociology. Introduction. Emergence vs. reductionism. Is the theory of everything the theory of anything? Is measurement itself an emergent property? Good news and bad news. The future lies ahead. Could modern America have invented wave mechanics?. Loose ends and Gordian knots of the string cult. Imaginary friend, who art in heaven -- IV. Science tactics and strategy. Introduction. Solid state experimentalists: theory should be on tap, not on top. Shadows of doubt. The Reverend Thomas Bayes, needles in haystacks, and the fifth force. Emerging physics. On the nature of physical laws. On the "unreasonable efficacy of mathematics"--A proposition by Wigner. When scientists go astray. Further investigations -- V. Genius. Introduction. What mad pursuit. Complexities of Feynman coffee-table complexities. Search for polymath's elementary particles. Giant who started the silicon age. The quiet man of physics. A theoretical physicist. Some thoughtful words (not mine) on research strategy for theorists -- VI. Science wars. Introduction. They think it's all over. Science: a 'dappled world' or a 'seamless web'? Reply to Cartwright. Postmodernism, politics and religion -- VII. Politics and science. Introduction. Politics and science. The case against Star Wars. A dialogue about Star Wars. No facts, just the right answers -- VIII. Futurology. Introduction. Futurology. Dizzy with future Schlock. Einstein and the p-branes. Forecaster fails to detect any clouds -- IX. Complexity. Introduction. Physics: the opening to complexity. Is complexity physics? Is it science? What is it? Complexity II: the Santa Fe Institute. Whole truths false in part -- X. Popularization attempts. Introduction. Who or what is RVB? More on RVB. Brainwashed by Feynman? Just exactly what do you do, Dr. Anderson? What is a condensed matter theorist? Global economy II: or, how do you follow a great act?

Beyond Weird

Beyond Weird PDF Author: Philip Ball
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022655838X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.” Since Niels Bohr said this many years ago, quantum mechanics has only been getting more shocking. We now realize that it’s not really telling us that “weird” things happen out of sight, on the tiniest level, in the atomic world: rather, everything is quantum. But if quantum mechanics is correct, what seems obvious and right in our everyday world is built on foundations that don’t seem obvious or right at all—or even possible. An exhilarating tour of the contemporary quantum landscape, Beyond Weird is a book about what quantum physics really means—and what it doesn’t. Science writer Philip Ball offers an up-to-date, accessible account of the quest to come to grips with the most fundamental theory of physical reality, and to explain how its counterintuitive principles underpin the world we experience. Over the past decade it has become clear that quantum physics is less a theory about particles and waves, uncertainty and fuzziness, than a theory about information and knowledge—about what can be known, and how we can know it. Discoveries and experiments over the past few decades have called into question the meanings and limits of space and time, cause and effect, and, ultimately, of knowledge itself. The quantum world Ball shows us isn’t a different world. It is our world, and if anything deserves to be called “weird,” it’s us.

There Is No Theory of Everything

There Is No Theory of Everything PDF Author: Lars Q. English
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319591509
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
The main purpose of this book is to introduce a broader audience to emergence by illustrating how discoveries in the physical sciences have informed the ways we think about it. In a nutshell, emergence asserts that non-reductive behavior arises at higher levels of organization and complexity. As physicist Philip Anderson put it, “more is different.” Along the text's conversational tour through the terrain of quantum physics, phase transitions, nonlinear and statistical physics, networks and complexity, the author highlights the various philosophical nuances that arise in encounters with emergence. The final part of the book zooms out to reflect on some larger lessons that emergence affords us. One of those larger lessons is the realization that the great diversity of theories and models, and the great variety of independent explanatory frameworks, will always be with us in the sciences and beyond. There is no “Theory of Everything” just around the corner waiting to be discovered. One of the main benefits of this book is that it will make a number of exciting scientific concepts that are not normally covered at this level accessible to a broader audience. The overall presentation, including the use of examples, analogies, metaphors, and biographical interludes, is geared for the educated non-specialist.

More is Different

More is Different PDF Author: Nai-Phuan Ong
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691219532
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
This book presents articles written by leading experts surveying several major subfields in Condensed Matter Physics and related sciences. The articles are based on invited talks presented at a recent conference honoring Nobel laureate Philip W. Anderson of Princeton University, who coined the phrase "More is different" while formulating his contention that all fields of physics, indeed all of science, involve equally fundamental insights. The articles introduce and survey current research in areas that have been close to Anderson's interests. Together, they illustrate both the deep impact that Anderson has had in this multifaceted field during the past half century and the progress spawned by his insights. The contributors cover numerous topics under the umbrellas of superconductivity, superfluidity, magnetism, electron localization, strongly interacting electronic systems, heavy fermions, and disorder and frustration in glass and spin-glass systems. They also describe interdisciplinary areas such as the science of olfaction and color vision, the screening of macroions in electrolytes, scaling and renormalization in cosmology, forest fires and the spread of measles, and the investigation of "NP-complete" problems in computer science. The articles are authored by Philip W. Anderson, Per Bak and Kan Chen, G. Baskaran, Juan Carlos Campuzano, Paul Chaikin, John Hopfield, Bernhard Keimer, Scott Kirkpatrick and Bart Selman, Gabriel Kotliar, Patrick Lee, Yoshiteru Maeno, Marc Mezard, Douglas Osheroff et al., H. R. Ott, L. Pietronero et al., T. V. Ramakrishnan, A. Ramirez, Myriam Sarachik, T. Senthil and Matthew P. A. Fisher, B. I. Shklovskii et al., and F. Steglich et al.

Philosophical Papers

Philosophical Papers PDF Author: Paul Humphreys
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199334870
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
This volume contains fifteen papers by Paul Humphreys, who has made important contributions to the philosophy of computer simulations, emergence, the philosophy of probability, probabilistic causality, and scientific explanation. It includes detailed postscripts to each section and a philosophical introduction. One of the papers is previously unpublished.

A Companion to Meister Eckhart

A Companion to Meister Eckhart PDF Author: Jeremiah Hackett
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004236929
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 811

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Book Description
Drawing on the latest European Research on Meister Eckhart since 1970, the volume provides a comprehensive rereading of the Life, Works, Career, Trial of Meister Eckhart. Central Philosophical ideas and sources with an account of his preaching, teaching and the reception of his work from the 14th to the 21st century.

Learn Quantum Computing with Python and Q#

Learn Quantum Computing with Python and Q# PDF Author: Sarah C. Kaiser
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1617296139
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
Learn Quantum Computing with Python and Q# introduces quantum computing from a practical perspective. Summary Learn Quantum Computing with Python and Q# demystifies quantum computing. Using Python and the new quantum programming language Q#, you’ll build your own quantum simulator and apply quantum programming techniques to real-world examples including cryptography and chemical analysis. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the technology Quantum computers present a radical leap in speed and computing power. Improved scientific simulations and new frontiers in cryptography that are impossible with classical computing may soon be in reach. Microsoft’s Quantum Development Kit and the Q# language give you the tools to experiment with quantum computing without knowing advanced math or theoretical physics. About the book Learn Quantum Computing with Python and Q# introduces quantum computing from a practical perspective. Use Python to build your own quantum simulator and take advantage of Microsoft’s open source tools to fine-tune quantum algorithms. The authors explain complex math and theory through stories, visuals, and games. You’ll learn to apply quantum to real-world applications, such as sending secret messages and solving chemistry problems. What's inside The underlying mechanics of quantum computers Simulating qubits in Python Exploring quantum algorithms with Q# Applying quantum computing to chemistry, arithmetic, and data About the reader For software developers. No prior experience with quantum computing required. About the author Dr. Sarah Kaiser works at the Unitary Fund, a non-profit organization supporting the quantum open-source ecosystem, and is an expert in building quantum tech in the lab. Dr. Christopher Granade works in the Quantum Systems group at Microsoft, and is an expert in characterizing quantum devices. Table of Contents PART 1 GETTING STARTED WITH QUANTUM 1 Introducing quantum computing 2 Qubits: The building blocks 3 Sharing secrets with quantum key distribution 4 Nonlocal games: Working with multiple qubits 5 Nonlocal games: Implementing a multi-qubit simulator 6 Teleportation and entanglement: Moving quantum data around PART 2 PROGRAMMING QUANTUM ALGORITHMS IN Q# 7 Changing the odds: An introduction to Q# 8 What is a quantum algorithm? 9 Quantum sensing: It’s not just a phase PART 3 APPLIED QUANTUM COMPUTING 10 Solving chemistry problems with quantum computers 11 Searching with quantum computers 12 Arithmetic with quantum computers

American Mania: When More is Not Enough

American Mania: When More is Not Enough PDF Author: Peter C. Whybrow
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393348199
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
A doctor's bold analysis of the cultural disease that afflicts us all. Despite an astonishing appetite for life, more and more Americans are feeling overworked and dissatisfied. In the world's most affluent nation, epidemic rates of stress, anxiety, depression, obesity, and time urgency are now grudgingly accepted as part of everyday existence they signal the American Dream gone awry. Peter C. Whybrow, director of the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA, grounds the extraordinary achievements and excessive consumption of the American nation in an understanding of the biology of the brain's reward system offering for the first time a comprehensive and physical explanation for the addictive mania of consumerism. American Mania presents a clear and novel vantage point from which to understand the most pressing social issues of our time, while offering an informed approach to refocusing our pursuit of happiness. Drawing upon rich scientific case studies and colorful portraits, "this fascinating and important book will change the way you think about American life" (Karen Olson, Utne Reader).