Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Taking Rights Seriously', 'Hilbert's Programme' and 'A Universe from Nothing'

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2 ideas

27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 2. Space
Empty space contains a continual flux of brief virtual particles [Krauss]
     Full Idea: Empty space is complicated. It is a boiling brew of virtual particles that pop in and out of existence in a time so short we cannot see them directly.
     From: Lawrence M. Krauss (A Universe from Nothing [2012], 10)
     A reaction: Apparently the interior of a proton is also like this. This fact gives a foot in the door for explanations of how the Big Bang got started, from these virtual particles. And yet surely space itself only arrives with the Big Bang?
27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 3. Points in Space
The natural conception of points ducks the problem of naming or constructing each point [Kreisel]
     Full Idea: In analysis, the most natural conception of a point ignores the matter of naming the point, i.e. how the real number is represented or by what constructions the point is reached from given points.
     From: Georg Kreisel (Hilbert's Programme [1958], 13)
     A reaction: This problem has bothered me. There are formal ways of constructing real numbers, but they don't seem to result in a name for each one.