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- Ye Thuza: We should try to find a private tutor in theoretical physics for Yuna.
- David: Good idea. But do you know anybody who’d be up to the job?
- Ye Thuza: Hmm…
- Ye Thuza: … what about Werner Heisenberg?
- David: I’m quite certain he’s not available.
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Hello,
what about Sheldon Cooper from “The Big Bang Theory”?
🙂 🙂 🙂
maybe Erwin Schrödinger is both available and unavailable in a box, in which Yuna can be tutored?
nameless wrote:
This man has the right idea!
The University of Cambridge has a prominent theoretical physicist, who’s also penned what is probably the definitive layman’s guide to the subject: A Brief History of Time.
Maybe Ye Thuza and David could start off by buying Yuna a copy, then forwarding any questions Yuna has to the man himself (after screening them first!)
David isn’t entirely sure whether he’s available…? Does that mean that concerning Heisenberg’s availability, there’s some Uncertainty in Principle?! >:=)>
> I don’t think he’s available.
That was a foolish thing to say.
When quantum mechanics is involved, there no certain way to say he isn’t available!
Heisenberg? I’m uncertain he’s available. There is Godel, I have his phone number–ah darn, it’s incomplete. Schrodinger . . . is in too much trouble with the SPCA and PETA . . . Lord Kelvin is really cool to the idea . . . Einstein’s relatives have warned him about Yuna . . . Fermat is busy on some theorem . . . maybe Volta, I hear he’s a real live wire . . .
Greenwood Goat wrote:
“Darnit. He just texted me his precise velocity. Now I can’t find him anywhere.”
Several readers congratulated Yuna’s father on not saying, flat out, he was unavailable. As if we could only speak in terms of probabilities.
This shows a fundamental mis-understanding of quantum mechanics. Once an experiment is done, the wave function collapses (or something equivalent happens) and the results are fixed. We’re back to Classical mechanics.
One cannot say a past-event probably did or did not happen. You may not know (in this case, he has incomplete information and needs to check Wikipedia) but that has no effect upon Reality. Something occurred or it didn’t and that’s the end of it.
Probabilities only apply when speaking of future-events.
@ Edda:
Well, presumably, there’s still some inaccuracy – collapse is essentially never perfect. After all, to make the wavefunction collapse to a point for position (for instance), you would need to measure it so precisely that the uncertainty in momentum becomes infinite, which would require incredible (if not infinite) amounts of energy – so much that you couldn’t actually take the measurement to that degree of precision. Therefore, there remains some uncertainty as to whether Heisenberg is, in fact, “available.” Furthermore, there is a non-zero chance that a bunch of virtual particles will form the shape of Heisenberg, so he may in fact be available at that point, just problematic to talk to…
Additionally, for the protest’s completeness’ sake, this is assuming the Copenhagen interpretation is the correct physical one, which is questionable in itself. Certainly it is an effective one, and we don’t necessarily need more from a practical standpoint, but speaking as though that means that the past is certain and the future is unsettled is to take a lot for granted metaphysically – there are many formulations of no-collapse QM.
Also, I should remark that even aside from quantum mechanics there are some statistical mechanical issues surrounding expectations, memory, and the arrow of time which have yet to be fully resolved…
anybody who’d be up to the job?
By “up to the job?” did David mean Smart Enough and Available or Courageous enough to survive long term in close company with Yuna and Ye Thuza ??
Come Back Here You Coward!
Yuna’s little experiment didn’t give off That Much Radiation!
Heisenberg? No, silly. You want a tutor, go for Feynman.
Well – I would argue that Heisenberg can be located somewhere near the Munich Waldfriedhof – but his communications skills have declined a bit…unless Yuna has a whole different skillset than mathematics (which is quite possible (any sufficient technology = …)
@ mittfh:
I think she’s well beyond that level. (The book’s, that is, not the professor’s.)
@ Vidad:
Surely you’re joking.
Probably the only ones who could handle her would be of the same cut of cloth as Esme Weatherwax or Minerva McGonagall.
What about Stephan Hawking? He’s the world’s foremost expert in theoretical physics. Just don’t get into an argument over quantum gravity or the Big Bang singularity.
Cliffhanger wrote:
Inane. The character has never said one intelligent thing in the context of physics.
myth buster wrote:
Hyperbole much?
Crestlinger wrote:
OK, they’re both witches. Only there’s an exponential power differential. Have you ever read Equal Rites? Especially the duel near the end?
Although Yuna is probably this comic’s version of Eskarina Smith: Too awesome to stay in this reality/time/whatever. There’s just no way she’s not the most important character in this comic; she so far overshadows everyone else. Maybe she’ll go away “to do research” one day and will seldom be heard from again.
Wait, if you know you he doesn’t have the time, does that mean you know his position and velocity?
well this reminds me of something I just read:
Women are like an open book….
Book of advanced quantum mechanics… written in chineese… in Braille font… but definitely open.
@ Jerry:
Given Yuna’s letters, I’d side with survival, followed by knowledge of the field. Smart enough could be subjective. A tutor doesn’t necessarily need to be as smart or smarter than the pupil. They just need to be able to help point the student in the correct directions and help them cope with setbacks. For example, keeping Yuna from metaphorically burning every bridge she thinks is lopsided.
A cross between a research librarian and a young adult librarian maybe a good choice. Someone who may not be an expert in physics, but can arrange and manage the contacts with people who are.
My bets on Sandra.
mittfh wrote:
Professor Hawking is retired, well from Cambridge anyway. He currently lives in England, but he specializes in cosmology, but does have a good understanding of quantum mechanics, especially as it relates to point gravity sources (also known as black holes). These days he does have some difficulties keeping up with high-energy children, so you may want to consider somebody else.
@ Magnema:
I’m not strictly wedded to Copenhagen. I did say “(or something equivalent happens)”.
You don’t need perfect accuracy to determine if someone is dead or alive. I grant that there are gray areas, but “mostly dead” is a meaningful distinction only in “The Princess Bride”. ^_^
And I agree with Vidad. As long as you’re wishing for the impossible, Feynman is the way to go.
Werner once outsmarted Einstine by suggesting a massive hole in one of Einstein’s thought experiments to criticize his Uncertainty principle was that the uncertainty would be provided by Einstine’s own General Theory of Relativity, is quite the clever cookie.
However he also reluctantly headed programs within the Nazi Science program and famously miscalculated (to higher that which was necessary) the amount of uranium-365 needed to achieve critical mass. (The U.S. were able to beat them to the discovery partially with Einstine’s help)
I don’t think Yuna would be all that happy about the latter. The miscalculation I meannot the Nazi stuff.
I’m pretty sure he said “I don’t think he’s available” for the fact that he’s dead… Not because any scientific laws that everyone is talking about…
@ Kevin Breslin:
That’s “Einstein”, “U-235”, and there are conflicting accounts as to whether Heisenberg enthusiastically worked on the German bomb or over-estimated the critical mass to convince his bosses a bomb wasn’t feasible and not worth wasting time on.
The British secretly recorded his conversations with his colleagues when he was a prisoner after the War and we still aren’t sure of his true intentions.
Since he IS dead (all this talk about quantum mechanics is just a joke, Hiftaru) we’ll likely never be certain.
@ Edda:
Yes, for practical purposes you can say someone is dead, but there’s still a non-zero probability, which makes his caveat necessary in a theoretical sense.
The standard deviation of deadness can only be non-zero if there is a non-zero probability that he is not dead; therefore, the uncertainty principle states that, unless the deadness operator commutes with every other operator by which something has been measured since (unlikely, to say the least), we cannot say that he is dead with probability 1; there is some non-zero probability that he is alive.
Hey, if you’re gonna aim high.
Are people really arguing in the comments section over a joke?
Strife wrote:
Is that a rhetorical question?
Grumpy wrote:
I’d class Yuna as more like Agatha Heterodyne, Girl Genius.
But, yes, Esme Weatherwax would be a good person to teach her.
I’m not sure What she’d teach, (Probably a strong grounding in Headology) but Yuna would certainly Benefit.
.
And, the Clashes between Esme Weatherwax and Ye Thuna would be interesting as they work out their “Differences”.
.
Novil wrote:
“Man”? Maybe s/he is and maybe s/he isn’t and maybe s/he’s something else entirely! 🙂
@ mittfh:
Larry Gonick? 🙂
Difficult to get hold of the guy, he’s kinda slippery (besides being dead for almost 40 years) – when they know where he is, nobody knows where he’s going, and how fast…
If you want a good tutor, try Leonard Susskind. He is the anti-Hawkings. He is a funny and intelligent physicist who does not buy into the String or M theory stuff. Quantum Loop Gravity, FTW.
@ Iron Ed:
I’m a man, thank you.
Did everyone else read the same comic I did? I checked several times, and David is not expressing uncertainty. I read:
David: I’m quite certain he’s not available.
Uncertainty would be:
David: I’m not quite certain he’s available.
or:
David: I’m not certain he’s available.
or, if you insist on a double negative:
David: I’m not quite certain he’s not available.
… wrote:
I think the text of the comic was changed at some point in the last two days, but perhaps not. Perhaps I just read a version that was easier to bring that joke into, in the confines of my own head.
But as for the joke, David knows Heisenberg is dead. He doesn’t need to know where he’s buried.
Baking Soda wrote:
Ok, you started it!
Maybe Tesla, it could go either way.
Ohm is showing some resistance.
Hertz has been doing frequently.
I think Joules has the energy to do it.
Edison might be more direct about it.
She might be pulled towards Gauss.
But I think she’d run circles around Copernicus.
She might be attracted to Newton too.
Edward Teller is the Bomb though.
@ Far:
She would have all kinds of reactions to Feynman – for each problem, they would work through every route to the conclusion at the same time. Dirac… we’ll have to sea, the delta might be too much. Maybe a female role-model would be best, but Curie is so old she’s practically decaying, and Emmy Noether would teach on a balanced playing field, but that would be symmetric, and then Yuna’s knowledge couldn’t increase because it’d be conserved. Cauchy’s plans are too complex, but she’d get bored with Euclid’s flat voice. Lagrange’s lessons tend to vary, and are minimal when they do. She’s already managed to get an Erdos number of -1 (don’t ask), and Euler turns the complex balance of power into a triggy situation. Faraday has a huge induction ceremony, she wouldn’t know Bohr from atom, and the reasons Riemann can’t teach her are manifold…
… wrote:
No, we didn’t. At the time the comments were made, when this strip was first posted, David’s final speech read: “I don’t think he’s available.” Now it reads: “I’m quite certain he’s not available.” We shall have to see whether it changes state again…
David: It’s possible that he might be available… I have someone I can call and ask.
CUT TO:
Johann Krause from Hellboy (into phone): You want to know if Werner Heisenberg would be able to teach your daughter?
Ghost of Werner Heisenberg: Nein! Just.. nein!
Johann Krause (into phone): Well, I’m afraid he’s not available. His spirit and soul have gone over and returned to the aether. Can’t be contacted at all. Sorry. …Not a problem, my friend! Goodbye. *puts down phone*
Ghost of Werner Heisenberg: *phew*
>:=)>
@ Pedant:
We’re fairly sure he got the Critical Mass calculation wrong, even Allied propaganda was willing to give Nazi scientists credit on the merit of their science, and critize the miscalculations of their own not necessarily the case with the scientists of the USSR. Heisenberg has a fairly good reputation who had the misfortune of being in Nazi’s Germany war.
@ Baking Soda:
Lord Kelvin is responsible for absolutely nothing.
@ Kevin Breslin:
Lord kelvin is responsible for the kelvin temperature scale. He also correctly guessed that heat was a form of energy and not an invisible liquid as the leading ideas of the time claimed.
Knightfall wrote:
You weren’t reading the same set of comments as everyone else, apparently.
Kelvin is responsible for absolutely “nothing”, (absolute zero.)
Has the comic been changed since it was first released or are the German readers writing in English? If neither then you people are misreading it. It currently says “I’m quite certain he’s not available.”
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