Rich, Your PS raises a question. Are physicists now certain that each atom has an "individual identity" - that is, can we speak of a specific atom on the bottom of your shoe right now, and if so, will the "SAME atom" exist 100 years from now (assuming is hasn't split)? Clark Kimberling -----Original Message----- From: math-fun-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:math-fun-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Schroeppel, Richard Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:56 PM To: 'math-fun' Subject: Re: [math-fun] math, existence, and God The quantum of darkness is the scoton. Holes don't exist, unless they are black, or are being mobile in semiconductors. Rich PS: There was a long period, ending perhaps in 1920, when the existence of atoms was regarded as questionable: people referred to the Atomic Theory, and discussions of physics or chemistry would implicitly carry along the hypothetical "we can get the right answer by assuming atoms". -----Original Message----- From: math-fun-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:math-fun-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of James Propp Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 10:12 AM To: math-fun@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [math-fun] math, existence, and God Andy Latto writes:
There is a sense in which phlogiston exists, because the theory that things are flammable because they contain phlogiston, which is released
by burning, exists.
Fred Lunnon writes:
The aether exists because Newtonian mechanics exists, ditto.
We hear a lot about the aether, but how come we never hear about what surely should be called the "naether"? This is the medium that darkness travels through. When a dark-sucker (sometimes called a light-source) sucks dark from a room, the dark has to travel through the naether to get there. See e.g. https://www.msu.edu/user/dynicrai/physics/dark.htm or http://members.dslextreme.com/users/rogermw/darksucker.html (If any of you know of more definitive web-sources for dark- sucker theory, or the original attribution, please send me this information --- or should I say, please extract this ignorance from me!) Jim _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun