1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 569: The Second Divine Beast! Laplacemon! Running through the long river of time! Weaving the fate of all living things! Slay!
Inside the University of Paris.

Everyone was shocked by the concept of extreme length and extreme time.

1.6×10^-35m和5.4×10^-44s，这两个数字仿佛有着无穷的魔力，令人不寒而栗。

It represents the current limit of human thinking!
One student couldn't help but exclaimed:
“This is the limit of physics!”

However, Wang Dezhao shook his head and corrected:
"wrong!"

“That’s a bit inappropriate.”

"Professor Bruce's meaning is very clear. The limiting value is the limit of [existing] physics."

“If one day, physicists can create a higher-level theory beyond relativity and quantum mechanics and understand the mysteries of black holes.”

"Then we can go deeper into the limit scale."

When everyone heard this, they suddenly realized what was going on, and then their faces became fanatical!
How shocking it would be if such a feat could really be accomplished!
Definitely can surpass Professor Bruce!

Of course, they can only think about it in their hearts.

Wang Dezhao was also shocked.

Only when he saw the legendary Professor Li in person did he deeply feel the gap between himself, the so-called genius, and the true master.

Faced with Zeno's tortoise paradox, he could only see calculus and limits, and at most add some physical concepts such as spatial limits.

However, Professor Li was able to use this to propose an incredible concept of extreme scale.

Objectively speaking, Wang Dezhao feels that Professor Li’s derivation process is not complicated.

Even an undergraduate like him can understand it.

However, the physical ideas contained and applied in it were beyond his reach.

Far-sighted and with a keen eye!
Remove the layers of fog and gain insight into the most essential core.

Organically combine relativity and quantum mechanics.

"Wonderful!"

"fantastic!"

Oppenheimer, who was standing by, was no longer as cool as before and was also shocked.

He looked at the godlike man on the stage with sharp and fiery eyes.

Since he started school, he has been hearing about Professor Bruce's various deeds.

Like many people, Oppenheimer targeted Professor Bruce.

But now, having witnessed the other party's vast and profound thoughts with his own eyes, he realized how big the gap was.

"It's impossible for anyone to catch up with Professor Bruce in the field of theoretical physics!"

"Even just following closely is a luxury!"

Suddenly, a gleam of brilliance appeared in his eyes:
"No matter how powerful Professor Bruce is, he is not an omnipotent god!"

"I will definitely find a field that surpasses him!"

Compared to the students' shock, Lang Zhiwan, de Broglie and others were much calmer.

In the eyes of the big guys, the concept of extreme scale is not complicated.

Anyone who has a deep understanding of relativity and quantum mechanics can understand its significance.

But understanding is one thing, and I want to use Zeno's tortoise as inspiration to combine relativity and quantum mechanics to find the smallest theoretical scale.

This process is definitely not something that ordinary people can imagine.

If they were familiar with Chinese culture, they would think of an idiom: seeing the big picture from the small details.

Lang Zhiwan and others laughed and said:
"I am more looking forward to the two beasts that will come later."

"What new ideas can Professor Bruce come up with?"

Under the heated gazes of the crowd, Li Qiwei continued:
"Next, it's the second mythical beast of physics, Laplacemon."

"I will explain it to you directly this time."

“After Newton proposed the three laws of mechanics and the law of universal gravitation, classical mechanics did not immediately become as brilliant as imagined.”

"Because these two theories are framework theories, they serve to lay the foundation."

“But they don’t solve a lot of problems by themselves.”

“For example, if you want to calculate the motion of planets or comets, you can’t just apply the law of universal gravitation.”

“It is also necessary to deepen and refine the basic theories in order to face the complex and diverse real-world problems.”

"It was not until the emergence of these two people that classical mechanics reached its true peak! They dominated the physics world for a hundred years!"

"They are Lagrange and Laplace!"

"Lagrange pioneered analytical mechanics."

"He published the book Analytical Mechanics in 1788, using mathematical analysis to study forces and pushing Newton's three laws of mechanics to a new level."

"From then on, mechanics became a real science that could be analyzed and used."

“The age of machinery, steam, and steel has arrived.”

"And Laplace is the master of celestial mechanics."

"He published his monumental work Celestial Mechanics in 1799."

“He applied the law of universal gravitation to the mechanical analysis of celestial bodies and systematized the theory of celestial motion.”

"From then on, physicists could study the motion, shape, and even tidal phenomena of celestial bodies with greater precision and detail."

"It can be said that the publication of these two books truly made Newtonian mechanics worthy of its name and able to explain everything in nature."

“If Newton unified heaven and earth, then Lagrange was the guardian of earth, and Laplace was the guardian of heaven.”

"Lagrange and Laplace were both French."

"This shows how brilliant France once was in the field of physics!"

Wow!
Lang Zhiwan, de Broglie and the French teachers and students in the audience were instantly excited!
Professor Bruce's highly infectious language made them feel as if they had personally experienced that thrilling period.

After Newton's death, his legacy is waiting to be inherited and explored.

Countless geniuses emerged and pushed Newtonian mechanics to its true peak!
And the two most important bosses among them are the French!
What a pride this is.

Lang Zhiwan suddenly felt ashamed.

How glorious French physics once was!

But now French physics has already fallen into the second tier.

He felt a sense of failure and shame for his ancestors.

"Fortunately, thanks to the emergence of de Broglie, France was able to save its reputation."

Li Qiwei didn't know what was going on in Lang Zhiwan's mind, so he continued:
"Let me tell you another little story."

"Napoleon was a student of Laplace."

"After Laplace finished writing Celestial Mechanics, he showed the book to Napoleon, who was then the Emperor of France."

"Napoleon took a quick look and asked a question: Why don't you mention God at all in your book?"

"Laplace said firmly: I don't need the hypothesis of God!"

"Then Napoleon told this to Lagrange, who said: This is a good hypothesis, it can explain many things."

"The different answers given by the two great men actually represent the different views of God in the physics community at that time."

After hearing this, everyone started talking about it.

Everyone knows that Newton believed that God exists and is the "first mover."

The reason why celestial bodies in the universe are rotating endlessly is because God gave them a push at the beginning.

Then, according to Newton's first law, celestial bodies can continue to move forever.

However, Laplace kicked God out of natural science and created the greatest era of Newtonian mechanics!
Li Qiwei's voice narrated: "What's dramatic is that Laplace clearly denied God, but he imagined a being with power comparable to God."

"That's the famous Laplacemon."

"As Newton's number one fan and defender, Laplace's approval of Newtonian mechanics was fanatical."

"In his view, Newtonian mechanics is the ultimate truth of the universe!"

"To unify heaven and earth and explain everything in the world, can't it be called truth?"

"So one day in 1814, Laplace suddenly had an idea: I want to prove that Newtonian mechanics can govern the universe!"

“So, he came up with that famous hypothesis.”

"He once wrote in his "Overview":"

“We can think of the state of the universe at this moment as the effect of its past and the cause of its future.”

“If there is a [wise man] who knows the forces acting on all matter in the universe at a given moment and the interactions between all matter.”

“And he can also analyze this data.”

"Then, the motion state of all matter in the universe will be contained in a precise mechanical formula."

"To this wise man nothing is obscure, the future appears to him as clearly as the past."

“This is the original text of Laplace’s hypothesis.”

"Later generations called this incredible wise man a demon, a beast, a devil, etc. to reflect its mysterious and strange nature."

"So it became today's Laplacemon."

Wow!
Everyone suddenly realized!

With Professor Bruce's in-depth and easy-to-understand description, they understood the ins and outs and background of the birth of Laplacemon.

All theories and hypotheses must be viewed in the context of the times.

Although everyone now knows that Laplacemon's idea is wrong.

But in the era when Newtonian mechanics dominated the world, this hypothesis was undoubtedly full of sacredness.

Newtonian mechanics rules the world!
Moreover, the sense of fate represented by Laplacemon is chilling!

The moment the universe was born, its fate for the next ten billion years until its death was already determined!
Everything that happens in the universe is just a script written in advance.

From the shining to the extinction of a star, from the birth to the annihilation of a photon, it is all just a dream.

This is true even for humans themselves.

If the universe is a stand-alone game created by an advanced civilization, then we are all just NPCs in the game.

There is a fixed programmed plot every day.

At this time, someone will object: I originally wanted to drink water the next moment, but after I realized fatalism, I decided not to drink water and instead went to exercise.

So, does this count as breaking fatalism?

Unfortunately, in the theory of fatalism, even “you refuse to drink water” is part of fate.

It is fate that has arranged for you to have the idea of ​​"rebellion" in advance, and then you think you are really rebelling.

So, you are still within the framework of fate.

I have to say, this decisive universe is too depressing, too dark, and too desperate!
It makes the "free will" that humans are proud of vulnerable.

What you think of as free will is nothing more than the result of the interaction of billions of atoms under higher rules.

Everything in the world has lost its meaning.

Fortunately, this fatalistic determinism was proven wrong!
Ridgeway went on to explain:

"The thought experiment of Laplace Beast actually contains two inferences."

"First, starting from the current state of the universe, can we [reverse-invert] the state of the universe at any time in the past?"

"Second, starting from the current state of the universe, can we [forward calculate] the state of the universe at any time in the future?"

"The tool for development and calculation is Newtonian mechanics."

"It can be said that the result of this hypothesis is the ultimate state of Newtonian mechanics!"

“It has even risen to the level of a thinking paradigm, a philosophical view.”

"From the perspective of current philosophy, this deterministic universe is mechanical materialism."

"Physicists who grow up with this kind of thinking are what I call classical physicists."

"Now, everyone here should know that Laplacemon is wrong."

"Because of the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, we cannot accurately know the position and momentum of a particle at the same time."

"So, naturally, it is impossible to calculate the future state based on Newtonian mechanics."

"However, this only disproves Laplacemon's second inference."

"The past state is already determined, so there is no uncertainty about the particle."

"So how is the first inference disproved?"

"Here, we have to use the knowledge of thermodynamics."

“The second law of thermodynamics is also called the law of increasing entropy.”

“That is, in an isolated thermodynamic system, entropy does not decrease, but always remains constant or increases.”

“This is the inevitable evolutionary direction of the system.”

"If we regard the universe as an isolated system, its entropy is also increasing."

"From the extremely orderly singularity of the Big Bang, it continues to transform into the extremely chaotic space-time today."

"So, Newtonian mechanics cannot explain the problem of entropy in the process of inversion."

“Although Newtonian mechanics is reversible, thermodynamics is irreversible. If it is reversed, entropy will increase.”

"Therefore, it is impossible to reverse the past through the present, which violates the law of increasing entropy."

"Give me a vivid example."

"Suppose there are two cups of identical water."

“Then add the same amount of ink to each.”

"After a while, two glasses of water will become identical diluted ink."

"At this moment, the two cups of diluted ink are in the same state!"

“But their mixing process is definitely different.”

"In other words, two completely different processes leading to the same result."

“Then using Newtonian mechanics to invert the reverse process from diluted ink to clear water, it is impossible to tell which process it is.”

Wow!
All the students were shocked.

The famous Laplacemon is indeed extraordinary!

No wonder he has dominated physics for a hundred years and put many bigwigs at that time under great pressure.

It wants to use Newtonian mechanics to penetrate the long river of time! Master the reincarnation of the world! Weave the fate of everyone!
However, it was defeated by later thermodynamics and quantum mechanics!
For a moment, everyone's mind was in turmoil.

It's as if I had a hand in all of this, it's so moving!

However, just as everyone was immersed in their imagination of Laplacemon.

Li Qiwei suddenly asked a question that shocked everyone.

"But is the second law of thermodynamics necessarily correct?"

boom!
The whole audience was shocked!

(End of this chapter)