Quantum Mechanics for Military Officers

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around a paper titled "Quantum mechanics for military officers" by Andrei Khrennikov, presented at various conferences. Participants explore the implications of the title and its potential irony, as well as the broader context of deriving physics principles from foundational concepts.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that the title of the paper may reflect "Slavic irony," implying a deeper or humorous intent behind it.
  • Others argue that the title should not be dismissed as ironic, pointing to specific sections of the paper that reference the author's background and influences.
  • One participant notes the importance of using only necessary terms in Taylor expansions to avoid triviality in physics derivations.
  • A later reply introduces a personal anecdote about the author's family dynamics, hinting at potential motivations behind the paper's title.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the interpretation of the paper's title, with some leaning towards the idea of irony while others challenge this notion, indicating that multiple competing interpretations remain.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved assumptions regarding the interpretation of the paper's title and the implications of the author's background, which may influence the discussion.

marcus
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http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0609124
Quantum mechanics for military officers
Andrei Khrennikov
Plenary talk at International Conference "Foundations of Probability and Physics-4", Vaxjo, June-2006, and at the Congress of "Quantum Structures Association", Malta, July-2006

"We present a trivial probabilistic illustration for representation of quantum mechanics as an algorithm for approximative calculation of averages."

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I suspect that the title of this paper is an example of what could be called "Slavic irony".
 
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So much of physics can be derived from the first principle of only use as many terms in the Taylor expansion as are needed to make the theory not completely trivial.

Carl
 
Marcus said:
I suspect that the title of this paper is an example of what could be called "Slavic irony".

No. Read the start of his section 2, where he describes his principle source, and then look at the accompanying footnote. It would be a bold man who would publish a deliberate snarkism at the expense of his father-in-law, an artillery officer.

Let's not forget Ramanujan trained himself out of another special purpose cookbook.
 
Disgruntled father-in-law with access to artillery, wife spending the weekend at the casino with Mom . . .
 

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