More Really Is Different
Posted by
Ian P. Cook on
Oct 17, 2008; 8:04pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/More-Really-Is-Different-tp1346669.html
All,
Being geographically separate from the corpus of folks on
this list, the reason for this email may have already been discussed,
debunked, railed at, lauded, etc. But since I don't think I've seen it
on the mailing list I thought I'd take a swing at passing it on. If
I've made a mis-step, my apoligies.
http://arxiv.org/abs/0809.0151More Really is Different
In 1972, P.W.Anderson suggested that `More is Different', meaning that
complex physical systems may exhibit behavior that cannot be understood only in
terms of the laws governing their microscopic constituents. We strengthen this
claim by proving that many macroscopic observable properties of a simple class
of physical systems (the infinite periodic Ising lattice) cannot in general be
derived from a microscopic description. This provides evidence that emergent
behavior occurs in such systems, and indicates that even if a `theory of
everything' governing all microscopic interactions were discovered, the
understanding of macroscopic order is likely to require additional insights.
And commentary from NewScientist:
http://tiny.pl/srp2-Ian
--
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Ian P. Cook
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