"The surprising discovery of Newton’s age is just the clear separation of laws of nature on the one hand and initial conditions on the other. The former are precise beyond anything reasonable; we know virtually nothing about the latter. ,,, … how can we ascertain that we know all the laws of nature relevant to a set of phenomena? If we do not, we would determine unnecessarily many initial conditions in order to specify the behavior of the object."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Eugene Wigner,
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Initial_condition
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Initial condition
3 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Initial condition →
Related Quotes
"In the Green-function treatment of particle motion, a unit impulse is represented by a force F(t) = δ(t–t′) and is th…"
"Inflation has attracted cosmologists because of its potential to free the standard big bang model from its worst flaw…"
"The process of reasoning called "Mathematical Induction" has had several independent origins. It has been traced back…"
"The method represents a best approximation algorithm of minimal length that, owing to several minimization properties…"
"This method is supreme above all praise; it is certainly the finest thing accomplished in number theory before Lagrange."
"Multiply the arc by the square of the arc, and take the result of repeating that [any number of times]. Divide [each …"
"This is as I have said in my Arithmetic:—The area of a circle is equal to the product of the circumference by one-fou…"
"A sphere is a solid figure described by the revolution of a semicircle about its diameter, which remains fixed.The ax…"
"Having fixed a pole, on a level piece of ground, and having described a circle by a cord attached to the pole, one sh…"
"However, considering the increasingly clear connections between India and the Babylonian cultural sphere, particularl…"