Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction to the Cambridge University Press Edition
- Introduction to the Original ArXiv.org Posting
- Disclaimers
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Letters to David Baker
- 2 Letters to Howard Baker
- 3 Letters to Howard Barnum
- 4 Letters to Paul Benioff
- 5 Letters to Charlie Bennett
- 6 Letters to Herb Bernstein
- 7 Letters to Doug Bilodeau
- 8 Letters to Gilles Brassard
- 9 Letters to Jeffrey Bub
- 10 Letters to Carlton Caves
- 11 Letters to Greg Comer
- 12 Letters to Charles Enz
- 13 Letters to Henry Folse
- 14 Letters to Bob Griffiths
- 15 Letters to Adrian Kent
- 16 Letters to Rolf Landauer
- 17 Letters to Hideo Mabuchi
- 18 Letters to David Mermin
- 19 Letters to David Meyer
- 20 Letters to Jeff Nicholson
- 21 Letters to Michael Nielsen
- 22 Letters to Asher Peres
- 23 Diary of a Carefully Worded Paper: More Letters to Asher Peres
- 24 Letters to John Preskill
- 25 Letters to Joseph Renes
- 26 Letters to Mary Beth Ruskai
- 27 Letters to Rüdiger Schack
- 28 Letters to Robert Schumann
- 29 Letters to Abner Shimony
- 30 Letters to Jon Waskan
- 31 Letters to Bill Wootters
- 32 Letters to Anton Zeilinger
- 33 Other Letters
- Postpartum
- Index of Names
20 - Letters to Jeff Nicholson
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction to the Cambridge University Press Edition
- Introduction to the Original ArXiv.org Posting
- Disclaimers
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Letters to David Baker
- 2 Letters to Howard Baker
- 3 Letters to Howard Barnum
- 4 Letters to Paul Benioff
- 5 Letters to Charlie Bennett
- 6 Letters to Herb Bernstein
- 7 Letters to Doug Bilodeau
- 8 Letters to Gilles Brassard
- 9 Letters to Jeffrey Bub
- 10 Letters to Carlton Caves
- 11 Letters to Greg Comer
- 12 Letters to Charles Enz
- 13 Letters to Henry Folse
- 14 Letters to Bob Griffiths
- 15 Letters to Adrian Kent
- 16 Letters to Rolf Landauer
- 17 Letters to Hideo Mabuchi
- 18 Letters to David Mermin
- 19 Letters to David Meyer
- 20 Letters to Jeff Nicholson
- 21 Letters to Michael Nielsen
- 22 Letters to Asher Peres
- 23 Diary of a Carefully Worded Paper: More Letters to Asher Peres
- 24 Letters to John Preskill
- 25 Letters to Joseph Renes
- 26 Letters to Mary Beth Ruskai
- 27 Letters to Rüdiger Schack
- 28 Letters to Robert Schumann
- 29 Letters to Abner Shimony
- 30 Letters to Jon Waskan
- 31 Letters to Bill Wootters
- 32 Letters to Anton Zeilinger
- 33 Other Letters
- Postpartum
- Index of Names
Summary
June 1996, “Cyclic Never-Endings”
Yes, yes, I like Montréal! Does that finally answer your question? The only thing I really miss about the states is having a swarm of good physicists around me.
El Jeffy 1:You know, I really miss listen to you babble about quantum mechanics. Nobody around any more to tell me that the moon isn't there when I'm not looking; you even had me believing for a while.
Damn, if I had only stayed there a bit longer…perhaps you would have remained a true believer!
August 1996, “Laws of Thought”
[Referring to the phrase “Quantum Mechanics is a Law of Thought.”:]
El Jeffy 2:I was just reading about the mathematician George Boole, the guy who invented Boolean Algebra. In 1854 he published a book called An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, on which are founded the mathematical theories of logic and probabilities. Is that where your lovely little phrase comes from?
Yes indeedy, that's exactly where it comes from. Quantum Mechanics is a Law of Thought. God I like the ring of that.
August 1996, “Plagiarists”
El Jeffy 3:I am disappointed in you. I never realized that you plagiarized that from poor ol' Boole. Can't think up your own catch phrase, eh?
I think the phrase bothers me far less when applied to something like Boolean algebra. It still gives me the heebies when you refer to real live physical systems with such terminology.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Coming of Age With Quantum InformationNotes on a Paulian Idea, pp. 276 - 278Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011