dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaQuantum Physics and Human Language
| Authors | James B. Hartle |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0610131 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0610131 |
| DOI | 10.1088/1751-8113/40/12/S13 |
| Journal | J.Phys.A40:3101-3121,2007 |
Abstract
Human languages employ constructions that tacitly assume specific properties of the limited range of phenomena they evolved to describe. These assumed properties are true features of that limited context, but may not be general or precise properties of all the physical situations allowed by fundamental physics. In brief, human languages contain `excess baggage' that must be qualified, discarded, or otherwise reformed to give a clear account in the context of fundamental physics of even the everyday phenomena that the languages evolved to describe. The surest route to clarity is to express the constructions of human languages in the language of fundamental physical theory, not the other way around. These ideas are illustrated by an analysis of the verb `to happen' and the word `reality' in special relativity and the modern quantum mechanics of closed systems.
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"abstract": "Human languages employ constructions that tacitly assume specific properties\nof the limited range of phenomena they evolved to describe. These assumed\nproperties are true features of that limited context, but may not be general or\nprecise properties of all the physical situations allowed by fundamental\nphysics. In brief, human languages contain `excess baggage\u0027 that must be\nqualified, discarded, or otherwise reformed to give a clear account in the\ncontext of fundamental physics of even the everyday phenomena that the\nlanguages evolved to describe. The surest route to clarity is to express the\nconstructions of human languages in the language of fundamental physical\ntheory, not the other way around. These ideas are illustrated by an analysis of\nthe verb `to happen\u0027 and the word `reality\u0027 in special relativity and the\nmodern quantum mechanics of closed systems.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0610131",
"authors": [
"James B. Hartle"
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"doi": "10.1088/1751-8113/40/12/S13",
"journal_ref": "J.Phys.A40:3101-3121,2007",
"title": "Quantum Physics and Human Language",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0610131"
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