Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Squamous and Rugose

Or, What Statistical Physics Really Is

To quote the great Samuel Langhorn Clemens, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics."
That's the problem with statistical physics. It's a system that's totally artificially generated to give you certain predictable results out of the chaos of reality.
This explains why, in the middle of Dr. Buna's Mathematical Methods in Physics class, I pulled out my pocket notebook and wrote in it, "This isn't Physics; it's the third kind of lie."
And showed it to Nick.
Who glared at me and made gestures meaning to pay attention to Dr. Buna.
Some people have no sense of humor.

1 comment:

Erica Henderson said...

Lies are bad! And physics is confusing! I say, down with both. They hurt my brain. :(