[¯|¯] Non siamo materia che rimane, ma strutture (<i>patterns</i>) che si perpetuano

[¯|¯] Non siamo materia che rimane, ma strutture (patterns) che si perpetuano

martedì, Novembre 14th, 2017

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I dedicate this writing to Gambadilegno, a cat (about six years old) "gone away" this morning 11/14/2017 at the veterinary clinic where he was hospitalized through the ASL service.
Below is an aphorism by physicist Norbert Wiener

We are not matter that remains, but structures patterns that are perpetuated

By "structures," Wiener was probably referring to the "internal organization" that characterizes living matter in the autopoiesis paradigm of Maturana and Varela.

In almost contrast to the aforementioned aphorism, we used as the cover image a photo depicting the Danish physicist Niels Bohr, one of the fathers of Quantum Mechanics which, as is known, is that part of physics that studies the behavior of matter on a sub-microscopic scale. The image contains Bohr's aphorism that so-called real objects are composed of intrinsically non-real entities. It is clear that such an assertion contains an obvious contradiction. It is like saying: the chair where I am sitting now (which is a real object) is made up of non-existent objects. In trying to provide a resolution to this paradox, we have to go back in time. Precisely in 1920 (and following years).

We recall that in that historical period there was already a revolution in the field of physics, thanks to the formulation of Special Relativity (1905) and General Relativity (1916) by A. Einstein. In fact, these theories "upset" the conception of space and time inherent in Newtonian mechanics. Furthermore, in the first decade of the 1900s technology made it possible to extend the experimental activity to the sub-microscopic dimension. Put simply: while before physics dealt exclusively with macroscopic dynamical systems, it now had the possibility of exploring the infinitely small, i.e. the atom and its constituents. Incidentally, at that time the atomic structure was not known at all, let alone if it was possible to have an idea about the particles making up the atom itself.

(altro…)