Re: Pizza Example
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 00:53:54 +0100
Message-ID: <kaXeN8ESmwhAFw3Z_at_thewolery.demon.co.uk>
In message <c0e3f26e.0404191515.429e6820_at_posting.google.com>, Tony
<andrewst_at_onetel.net.uk> writes
>> Yes, you CAN try to analyse and store that information, but you CANNOT
>> do it in Science - entropy is a one-way-street. If you treat a database
>> as an exercise in Pure Maths, I might agree with you, but as soon as you
>> drag the real world into it (and if you don't, what's the *point* of a
>> database), you have to deal with entropy.
>
>Since nothing is lost by the decomposition process (by definition),
>entropy is about as relevant as Schrodinger's Cat and all your other
>pop-science book obsessions.
Let's decompose the real world into its fundamental particles. Ooops ... we've suddenly lost cause-and-effect !
There is a limit to lossless decomposition - quantum mechanics says so. Okay, a GUT or TOE might revise our opinion of this, but that's beyond current knowledge.
Cheers,
Wol
-- Anthony W. Youngman - wol at thewolery dot demon dot co dot uk HEX wondered how much he should tell the Wizards. He felt it would not be a good idea to burden them with too much input. Hex always thought of his reports as Lies-to-People. The Science of Discworld : (c) Terry Pratchett 1999Received on Thu Apr 22 2004 - 01:53:54 CEST