Laplace on Omniphysics

[barnabas_truman]

"We ought, then, to regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its anterior state and as the cause of the one which is to follow. Given for one instant an intelligence which could comprehend all the forces by which nature is animated and the respective situation of the beings who compose it--an intelligence sufficiently vast to submit these data to analysis--it would embrace in the same formula the movements of the greatest bodies of the universe and those of the lightest atom; for it, nothing would be uncertain and the future, as the past, would be present to its eyes."

--Pierre-Simon Laplace, Essai philosophique sur la probabilite.

Comments

[serendipity17.livejournal.com]

That makes sense, especially when we regard time as the fourth dimension.

[barnabas-truman.livejournal.com]

I first encountered the passage in my high school calculus class, the day after the AP test. Mr. Booze had us read it; we discussed its meaning and its implications. Then we watched an episode of Northern Exposure and wrote essays comparing Laplacian determinism and the theme of that episode. I still have mine somewhere; it was pretty interesting to write. He put a 2-page limit on it, but I had a lot more ideas than that, so I ended up writing a 2-page paper that heavily cited a 15-page credo I had written elsewhere (attached as an appendix). :-)

[serendipity17.livejournal.com]

Post-AP classes were fun. :-)

[whalejudge.livejournal.com]

Mr. Booze? Sounds like math class was more interesting for you than it ever was for me.

[serendipity17.livejournal.com]

None of your teachers had interesting last names? That's too bad. Interesting last names were always good beginning-of-year conversation starters.

[whalejudge.livejournal.com]

No...and in my high school, it was first names anyway.