4 ms·
It sort of is a bad way in that "uncertain" means that an answer exists but we don't know it, whereas the answer really doesn't exist. However, this is a reall
by Manishearth 10y ago
It sort of is a bad way in that "uncertain" means that an answer exists but we don't know it, whereas the answer really doesn't exist.
However, this is a really minor nitpick and since statistics is used all the time with QM "uncertainty" is just fine. The article is making a mountain out of a semantic molehill.
- tgb 10y agoI have encountered people, in person, that spout new-agey nonsense based largely on the word "uncertainty" in this uncertainty principle. I'm sure they would latch onto other things were it not there, but this definitely feeds into that stuff.
- acqq 10y agoYes, "unsharp" or "the principle of non-sharpness" or something like that, inspired by some German terms used, would be much less prone to misunderstandings and myths. "It's not sharp, but it's OK." Can't be reduced to "stupid scientists are so uncertain."
- EnFinlay 10y agoUnwinnable battle, that one.
- eternalban 10y ago> new-agey nonsense One of these hippie types went so overboard that he even made a "hand wavy" coat of arms to go along with his lateral comments about Buddha and Laotze [1] and question our very ability to fully comprehend an objective reality. [1]: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Coat_of_Arms_of_Niels_Bohr.svg/2000px-Coat_of_Arms_of_Niels_Bohr.svg.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Co...
- Manishearth 10y agonew agey nonsense comes out of every popsciification of physics, this isn't new. Its also still a minor thing IMO.