What Technology Will be Lost When You Die?

THERE IS THAT WORD AGAIN! """ QUANTUM """

I took the trouble to look up the meaning of said word. For the most part, I believe the the terms, large, huge, great , increased, etc are the comprehensive norms. However; I also see an explanation regarding minimal changes that result in maximum results. Therefore: I theorize that Scientists and Engineers should be a little more careful with the use of the term "Quantum" as it may mean something small rather than large.

TMF

Hi TMF. Interesting point.

Sometimes words get "adopted" popularly that differ from their original use.

The usage of quanta (quantum) when I was in school was in terms of discrete "packages" of energy. In Chemistry, it was the specific amount of energy required for an electron to go from one electron shell to the next shell. it was always a particular value for the particular shell to shell jump. and that was the amount of energy given up on its way to the lower energy state shell.

You couldn't just go incrementally from one shell to another, unless you had the "whole package of energy." So even though the quanta itself is a minimum quantity, it is the "all or nothing nature" of it that gets confounded in most people's popular usage. They mean it as an abrupt all or nothing change, rather than a gradual continuous one.

When I hear it in casual conversation, I generally interpret it as "a whole nother (energy) level. rather than a mere gradual or incremental improvement.

When Newton and Goethe were fussing over color theory, the term used was "corpuscularists." That was their way of saying "discrete or particle like."

Fresnel was the leading proponent of the "wave theory" (projectilist)with Poisson and others sticking to 'corpuscularism.' Nowadays we say quantum.

Those of you who know better and in greater detail, thank you for not picking this simplification apart.

My all time favorite has to be the word "virtually" whichactually has a sense of "not in fact" But we are disposed to think of it as meaning "almost certainly."

virtually - in essence or effect but not in fact; When they say that Cascade leaves your glasses "virtually spotless", they know darn well that they mean "Your glasses will not in fact be spotless, but they will be nearly so."

US consumers hear " virtually spotless" and think "oh boy, my glasses will almost certainly be spotless!"

Pavlovs dogs...

Thats whats in a word.

milo

Well said, "Milo"! I find it amazing just how easily one individual can be totally convinced that I may have made a statement that he wanted to hear, and expected to hear, "when the statement I may have made was exactly the opposite. The fact is that there are many words that began as noises and over the years have conjured up the ability to actually have a meaning. FANTABULUS is one that comes to mind. An excited individual hasn't the time or where with all to state that some activity was a "fabulus" or fantastic experience so it became a "FANTABULUS" happening. Then there is this thing called a football, could this mean the ball of ones foot.

TMF

P.S. I think that Tom is capable of constructing a home built air craft. However, I really think that he should sleep on the idea for a little while. He may change his mind about his materials choices several times before he begins construction.

Toomuchfun,

I agree that we should be cautious in bandying words about, especially technical terms. However, in the context that I have used the word in here, it clearly means "big" without any technical subtleties. So reset the old "misused term" alarm and save it for when it is really needed.

LG_DAVE

No alarm intended Dave, However, there is hardly a blog posted here on CR 4 in which at least some of the so called GURU's don't use the term quantum as if it means a right of passage for certain professionals. Personally however I took latin when I was in Jr. High school, and I found it to be a dead language then, and I'm certain it hasn't been brought back to life.

TMF

Hmmm, sounds like guru envy to me....

Hardly Steve! I don't envy folks who can't seem to come up with original solutions to age old problems! After all, even the Govt. finds unique and new ways to create more taxes, while at the same time provides tax credits and spending incentives. GO Figure!

Actually, the only folks I envy are the ones with green thumbs. I don't seem to be able to grow edible tomatoes, squash and any fruit except mangoes, papayas, avacatos and wild stuff that doesn't seem to need my help.

TMF, You are bound and determined to make your point.

While Latin may be a dead language from where you sit, it is a living breathing tool in my toolkit. I find greek and latin prefixes suffixes and root words in nearly every technical term that comes up. And some not so technical Macro photography for instance comes from greek and latin words meaning (Large{image on the film} Light writing)

In fact you have just inspired me to create a blog entry on this topic. I will give this some focussed {focus from the latin word for Hearth} consideration {from Latin cōnsīderātus past participle of cōnsīderāre, to consider.}

I must admit I was A lousy Latin scholar at the time, but the vocab turbo charged my Technical competency as the words seemed to be self explanatory...

Thanks for the inspiration!

milo

Gee Milo! I am pleased to have assisted you. I always try to inspire those who are willing to be inspired to achieve even greater success.

Tho sometimes I get confused with being a ---- ---------! If Latin is your thing, by all means, let nothing stand in your way!

Maybe I'll be able to contribute worth while commentary.

Enjoy

TMF

"self explanatory" and flowing like honey from an over heated hive, and sap from a sugar maple tree. "Sic um tiger", maybe I will come up with something worth while to add. Nothing wrong with having a little fun with folks I respect! You are welcome for the inspiration. Least we loose the "Technology" and other "stuff" like "witchin up a well".

TMF

I have often wondered why latin became a dead language. It was the language of the Roman Empire, then for many centuries afterward it was the language of learning - universities used it exclusively. Slogans on University buildings are still in latin. Some diplomas are still in latin ( I saw one from MIT - in latin). This was a universal language, so that people from any country could go to any university and immediately understand what was said.

Now the EU Parliament is requiring simultaneous translation for all 200+ languages and dialects spoken in Europe. Imagine how many translators and their proficiency that will be required to go from and to 200 languages. Doesn't latin make more sense as a common language? It worked once.

LG_DAVE

My Jr. high tutorial was called latin and the romans. As I remember the words were difficult to pronounce and often had dual meanings, and even more confusing was the manner in which the words were arranged in a statement, not unlike Spanish is to day. I believe that only the Greek Orthodox church speaks in the Arabaic tong, the Muslims speak several varieties as well as the Latinos, Potugese, Dutch and other Krouts and even the Asians sometimes have difficult understanding the art of communication. Here in this nation the black community is often difficult to understand as well as the Southern dialect, the native americans speak in different tongs, what is the world coming to any way. I believe that the Latin language is a cause for most folks. Except for maybe MILO!

TMF

Or Esperanto

Certainly at age 63 I have more knowledge then that at age 20.

Does this total come to a 2 giga byte on a memory stick? Less you say. More? Who knows what a person has in ones brain?

What one learns in life, is from ones mistakes, which is a more important thing then what or how much you Know.

How to cure old age and aging probaly is the most important thing, then as the human race lives longer the learning process which keep on growing, which will bring a better tommorrow.

Stan

my strange kind of humor?