Aspects of Algebraic Quantum Theory: a Tribute to Hans Primas

This paper outlines the common ground between the motivations lying behind Hans Primas' algebraic approach to quantum phenomena and those lying behind David Bohm's approach which led to his notion of implicate/explicate order. This connection has been made possible by the recent application of orthogonal Clifford algebraic techniques to the de Broglie-Bohm approach for relativistic systems with spin.Comment: 18 pages. No figure

Quantum Mechanics: Harbinger of a Non-Commutative Probability Theory?

In this paper we discuss the relevance of the algebraic approach to quantum phenomena first introduced by von Neumann before he confessed to Birkoff that he no longer believed in Hilbert space. This approach is more general and allows us to see the structure of quantum processes in terms of non-commutative probability theory, a non-Boolean structure of the implicate order which contains Boolean sub-structures which accommodates the explicate classical world. We move away from mechanical `waves' and `particles' and take as basic what Bohm called a {\em structure process}. This enables us to learn new lessons that can have a wider application in the way we think of structures in language and thought itself.Comment: 20 pages, one figure. Invited pape

Veduta del Tempio di Antonino e Faustino in Campo Vaccino

Giovanni Battista Piranesi is one of history’s best etchers and architects. His two main series of copper etchings, I Carceri (The Prisons) and Vedute (The Views) spread out across the European continent and beyond both during his life and after his death. The “Wonders of Nature and Artifice” exhibition at Schmucker Art Gallery is lucky to have one of his original prints from the Vedute series generously on loan, from the Collection of Professor Charles F. Emmons, Professor of Sociology here at Gettysburg College. The print sizes in at 35 inches by 25 and a half inches, depicting a temple-church combination that stands in the Roman Forum with 18th century Rome stretching out behind it, and various denizens of the 19th century surrounding the structure. The title of the print, Veduta del Tempio di Antonino e Faustina in Campo Vaccino is a very literal one, translating to “View of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina in Campo Vaccino”, Campo Vaccino being a cow pasture that became the Roman Forum before the area was excavated. [excerpt