‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

The Relation Between Mathematics and Physics by Paul Dirac (1939)

172 points · 84 comments · rramadass

  1. taaha47 · · focus · HN ↗
    "I would like to put forward a suggestion as to how such a scheme might be realized. If we express the present epoch, 2 x 109 years, in terms of a unit of time defined by the atomic constants, we get a number of the order 1039, which characterizes the present in an absolute sense. Might it not be that all present events correspond to properties of this large number, and, more generally, that the whole history of the universe corresponds to properties of the whole sequence of natural numbers? At first sight it would seem that the universe is far too complex for such a correspondence to be possible. But I think this objection cannot be maintained, since a number of the order 1039 is excessively complicated, just because it is so enormous. We have a brief way of writing it down, but this should not blind us to the fact that it must have excessivly complicated properties."

    this cannot be an early hint to the result made by chaitin; Chaitin’s Incompleteness Theorem?

    1. rramadass · · focus · HN ↗
      Just to clarify; The term "2 x 109" is actually "2 x 10^9" or 2 billion years which was considered the present epoch i.e. accepted age of the universe at that time.

      Dirac large numbers hypothesis - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Dirac_large_numbers_hypothesis" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Dirac_large_numbers_hypothesis

      1. DonaldFisk · · focus · HN ↗
        Correct (but now we know it should be somewhat higher than that), and 1039 should be 10^39, one of Dirac&#x27;s Large Numbers, the size of the observable universe in atomic units, and also the ratio of electromagnetic to gravitational forces in the hydrogen atom.
        1. rramadass · · focus · HN ↗
          Right. Added the wikipedia link to Dirac&#x27;s LNH above.

          Also found this; The fundamental constants and their variation: observational status and theoretical motivations - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arxiv.org&#x2F;abs&#x2F;hep-ph&#x2F;0205340" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arxiv.org&#x2F;abs&#x2F;hep-ph&#x2F;0205340

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.