I have been interested in phenomena involving complexity, diversity and evolution since I was a young boy. Murray Gell-Mann boycomplexitydiversity Change image and share on social
You know, there was a time, just before I started to study physical science, when astronomers thought that systems such as we have here in the solar system required a rare triple collision of stars. Murray Gell-Mann astronomercollisionphysical Change image and share on social
Of course the word chaos is used in rather a vague sense by a lot of writers, but in physics it means a particular phenomenon, namely that in a nonlinear system the outcome is often indefinitely, arbitrarily sensitive to tiny changes in the initial condition. Murray Gell-Mann arbitrarilychaoscondition share on social
But when researchers at Bell Labs discovered that static tends to come from particular places in the sky, the whole field of radio astronomy opened up. Murray Gell-Mann astronomybelldiscover Change image and share on social
I think also of my colleagues in elementary particle theory in many lands, and feel that in some measure I am here as a representative of our small, informal, international fraternity. Murray Gell-Mann colleagueelementaryfeel Change image and share on social
Planets are too dim to be detected with existing equipment, far away, except in these very special circumstances where they're seen by their gravitational effect. Murray Gell-Mann circumstancedetectdim Change image and share on social
If we look at the way the universe behaves, quantum mechanics gives us fundamental, unavoidable indeterminacy, so that alternative histories of the universe can be assigned probability. Murray Gell-Mann alternativeassignbehave Change image and share on social
So the old Copenhagen interpretation needs to be generalized, needs to be replaced by something that can be used for the whole universe, and can be used also in cases where there is plenty of individuality and history. Murray Gell-Mann casecopenhagengeneralize share on social
If someone says that he can think or talk about quantum physics without becoming dizzy, that shows only that he has not understood anything whatever about it. Murray Gell-Mann dizzyphysicquantum Change image and share on social
Hugh Everett's work has been described by many people in terms of many worlds, the idea being that every one of the various alternative histories, branching histories, is assigned some sort of reality. Murray Gell-Mann alternativeassignbranch share on social