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UK energy strategies under uncertainty: synthesis report
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Uncertainty
Uncertainty is a fact of life, and uncertainties are inevitable in science and engineering.Computational statistics brings analysis of real data at your fingertips, with uncertainties
Position Uncertainty in the Heisenberg Uncertainty Relation
Position measurements are examined under the assumption that object position
x_t and probe position X_t just after the measurement are expressed by a linear
combination of positions x_0 and X_0 just before the measurement. The
Heisenberg uncertainty relation between the position uncertainty and momentum
disturbance holds when the measurement error \epsilon(x_t) for the object
position x_t is adopted as the position uncertainty. However, the uncertainty
in the measurement result obtained for x_0 is the standard deviation of the
measurement result, and not the measurement error \epsilon(x_0). This
difference is due to the reduction of a wave packet. The validity of the
linearity assumption is examined in detail.Comment: Corrected typos. 18 pages, to be published in Prog. Theor. Phys
Morality, Uncertainty
Non-Consequentialist moral theories posit the existence of moral constraints: prohibitions on performing particular kinds of wrongful acts, regardless of the good those acts could produce. Many believe that such theories cannot give satisfactory verdicts about what we morally ought to do when there is some probability that we will violate a moral constraint. In this article, I defend Non-Consequentialist theories from this critique. Using a general choice-theoretic framework, I identify various types of Non-Consequentialism that have otherwise been conflated in the debate. I then prove a number of formal possibility and impossibility results establishing which types of Non-Consequentialism can -- and which cannot -- give us adequate guidance through through a risky world
Eddington & Uncertainty
Sir Arthur Eddington is considered one of the greatest astrophysicist of the
twentieth century and yet he gained a stigma when, in the 1930s, he embarked on
a quest to develop a unified theory of gravity and quantum mechanics. His
attempts ultimately proved fruitless and he was unfortunately partially shunned
by some physicists in the latter portion of his career. In addition some
historians have been less than kind to him regarding this portion of his work.
However, detailed analysis of how this work got started shows that Eddington's
theories were not as outlandish as they are often purported to be. His entire
theory rested on the use of quantum mechanical methods of uncertainty in the
reference frames of relativity. Though the work was ultimately not fruitful, in
hindsight it did foreshadow several later results in physics and his methods
were definitely rigorous. In addition, his philosophy regarding determinism and
uncertainty was actually fairly orthodox for his time. This work begins by
looking at Eddington's life and philosophy and uses this as a basis to explore
his work with uncertainty.Comment: new version to appear in Physics in Perspective (either Sept. or Dec.
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