TLDW

A paper, by philosopher of physics John Norton, describes a scenario in which a ball is placed at the apex of a perfectly smooth and frictionless dome. The paper argues that, according to Newton’s laws, the ball will spontaneously start rolling down the dome at some random time, without any external force acting on it. Norton’s claim suggests that Newtonian mechanics may not a deterministic theory or that there are multiple possible interpretations.

https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/DomePSA2006.pdf

  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOP
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    2 days ago

    This wouldn’t be an open debate in the scientific community if there was a clear cut answer. You should let all the experts know you’ve figured it out though.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 days ago

      I’ve never heard of this being an open debate, and I don’t see anything in the paper that explains why this would be a “loophole” in Newton’s laws. What am I missing here?