Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...

Chapter 6
Battle: Continuous vs Discrete
Since time is a continuum, the moment is always different, so the
music is always different. (Herbie Hancock)
6.1 Development of Physics
The development of physics can be seen as a battle between the continuous
and the discrete, between a God and a Devil, between light and darkness,
between idealism and materialism, with
• the discrete originating in the atomism of Democritus followed by Plato
and Arsitotle,
• the continuum of the continuous taking over in the classical physics of
scientific revolution based on the Calculus of derivatives and integrals
cluminating in the late 19th century with Maxwell’s field equations for
electro-magnetics,
• atomism resurfacing with the development of chemistry and the work
on thermodynamics by Boltzmann in the 19th century, under heavy
attack by the phenomenalism of the continuum advocated by Mach,
• modern physics being born from a contradiction between the continuum
of field theory and the discrete of particle physics with the key words
of quanta and quantum.
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