Related papers: Regarding the "Hole Argument"
Any theory that states that the basic laws of physics are time-symmetric must be strictly deterministic. Only determinism enables time reversal of entropy increase. A contradiction therefore arises between two statements of Hawking. A…
Humans currently use arguments for explaining choices which are already made, or for evaluating potential choices. Each potential choice has usually pros and cons of various strengths. In spite of the usefulness of arguments in a decision…
We examine two far-reaching and somewhat heretic consequences of General Relativity. (i) It requires a cosmology which includes a preferred rest frame, absolute space and time. (ii) A rotating universe and time travel are strict solutions…
The black-hole information paradox has fueled a fascinating effort to reconcile the predictions of general relativity and those of quantum mechanics. Gravitational considerations teach us that black holes must trap everything that falls…
Black Holes are unique objects which allow for meaningful theoretical studies of strong gravity and even quantum gravity effects. An infalling and a distant observer would have very different views on the structure of the world. However, a…
Some Christian apologists, notably William Lane Craig, have championed something called the kalam cosmological argument for the existence of God. One version of the argument leans heavily on the claim that the existence of an actual…
Remarks on mathematical proof and the practice of mathematics.
Scaling arguments provide valuable analysis tools across physics and complex systems yet are often employed as one generic method, without explicit reference to the various mathematical concepts underlying them. A careful understanding of…
Attempts to quantize general relativity encounter an odd problem. The Hamiltonian that normally generates time evolution vanishes in the case of general relativity as a result of diffeomorphism invariance. The theory seems to be saying that…
A composite quantum system has properties that are incompatible with every property of its parts. The existence of such global properties incompatible with all local properties constitutes what I call "mereological holism"--the distinctive…
We consider a system of black holes -- a simplest substitute of a system of point particles in the mechanics of general relativity -- and try to describe their motion with the help of entropic action: a sum of the areas of black hole…
Three postulates asserting the validity of conventional quantum theory, semi-classical general relativity and the statistical basis for thermodynamics are introduced as a foundation for the study of black hole evolution. We explain how…
This is a collection of my responses to the criticisms of my argument against the impossibility proof of John Bell, which aims to undermine any conceivable local realistic completion of quantum mechanics. I plan to periodically update this…
The comment arXiv:1204.2729v1 is completely wrong. The author makes serious mistakes in calculations and judgement. The errors are made at the level of basic undergraduate statistical mechanics.
Hawking's area theorem is a fundamental result in black hole theory that is universally associated with the null energy condition. That this condition can be weakened is illustrated by the formulation of a strengthened version of the…
This paper introduces a space of variable lotteries and proves a constructive version of the expected utility theorem. The word ``constructive'' is used here in two senses. First, as in constructive mathematics, the logic underlying proofs…
In this note, we give an alternate proof of the multinomial theorem using a probabilistic approach. Although the multinomial theorem is basically a combinatorial result, our proof may be simpler for a student familiar with only basic…
Through a constructive method it is shown that the claim advanced in recent times about a clash that should occur between the Freud and the Bianchi identities in Einstein's general theory of relativity is based on a faulty argument.
General Relativity provides us with some solutions for rotating black holes. However, there are some problems associated with them: the appearance of singularities, the possibility of violations of the cosmic censorship conjecture, the…
In many expert and everyday reasoning contexts it is very useful to reason on the basis of defeasible assumptions. For instance, if the information at hand is incomplete we often use plausible assumptions, or if the information is…