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From: usenet@ucbvax.ARPA (USENET News Administration)
Newsgroups: net.math
Subject: Re: a piece of folk-lore
Message-ID: <10480@ucbvax.ARPA>
Date: Fri, 27-Sep-85 11:51:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.10480
Posted: Fri Sep 27 11:51:51 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Sep-85 08:42:09 EDT
References: <1799@psuvax1.UUCP> <9600018@uiucdcsp> <1342@kestrel.ARPA>
Reply-To: tedrick@ucbernie.UUCP (Tom Tedrick)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 17

>> I think Einstein had a particular problem
>> with being made the center of stories--his famous line "God doesn't
>> play dice with the universe"  may not have been his.  (He is said to
>> stated this at a banquet in an argument with a quantum theorist.)
>
>Notice that this story makes Einstein look stodgy, because, if one
>accepts quantum mechanics, "God" DOES play dice with the universe.
>So why is this saying famous? Because it sounds good to people
>ignorant of quantum mechanics?

Another way of looking at this may be that Einstein had philosophical
objections to assuming that randomness is an inherent property of
events. Perhaps Quantum physics can be looked at as a
model rather than a true description. I personally have never
been able to accept the premise that randomness truly underlies
anything, but it is easy to accept as long as it is seen as part
of a model rather than truth.