Entropy and The Information Paradox

[Big Al]

In my pea brain, I lump entropy, relativity, quantum and strings all together in a group that will do nothing to practically influence my life. YMMV.

I suspect that other than the professors whose job it is to discuss those things, very few people are affectd by them.

Now some egg heads will tell me how I am wrong:

ENTROPY: Without it, you'd never have to worry about your coffee getting cold, but there'd be no point in stirring it.

RELATIVITY: Any atomic power stations nearby providing you with electricity? That's your mc^2 in action (general relativity). As for special relativity, you could be right.

QUANTUM MECHANICS: Next time you turn on a transistor radio, a computer, a TV... say thanks to quantum mechanics.

STRINGS: Well, they're still only a theoretical entity. However, in future, who can say what impact they may have on your everyday life?

 

[Dilb]

ENTROPY: Without it, you'd never have to worry about your coffee getting cold, but there'd be no point in stirring it.

RELATIVITY: Any atomic power stations nearby providing you with electricity? That's your mc^2 in action (general relativity). As for special relativity, you could be right.

E=mc² is a special relativity thing. General relativity is used in GPS though.

QUANTUM MECHANICS: Next time you turn on a transistor radio, a computer, a TV... say thanks to quantum mechanics.

STRINGS: Well, they're still only a theoretical entity. However, in future, who can say what impact they may have on your everyday life?

The properties of anything solid can only really be understood with QM, although they're not applied much except in semiconductors. Lasers are probably the best examples of something useful predicted on theoretical grounds before actually being made.

 

[Big Al]

E=mc² is a special relativity thing. General relativity is used in GPS though.

Whoops! Thanks, Dilb - typo on my part. I know GR deals with time dilation, spacetime warping, etc. Thanks also for teaching me how to do superscripts in HTML!

The properties of anything solid can only really be understood with QM,

I'd have to say that applying QM to explain detailed macroscopic properties is pretty much in its infancy.

although they're not applied much except in semiconductors. Lasers are probably the best examples of something useful predicted on theoretical grounds before actually being made.

Masers came first, proving the principle of stimulated emission, so lasers weren't exactly unprecedented. I think I'd have to go with Galileo's concept of a pendulum clock, which was not brought to fruition until fifteen years after his death. The pendulum escapement was a huge leap in accuracy to the point where clocks became useful not only in everyday life, but in the nascent field of science.