Papers by William Kallfelz
The commonly overlooked environmental tipping points
Results in Engineering
arXiv (Cornell University), Nov 29, 2022
The aerosol masking effect, or "global dimming," is a well-documented instance of our ongoing cli... more The aerosol masking effect, or "global dimming," is a well-documented instance of our ongoing climate predicament: Efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas production by curbing industrial activity or transitioning to "clean" sources such as solar or nuclear inevitably and inadvertently accelerate planetary warming. This undesired outcome results from aerosols that result from industrial activity. This article describes some climate mitigation strategies destined to fail because they do not account for the aerosol masking effect. Moreover, many political and ethical initiatives emphasize the "business as usual" framework, thus worsening the conundrum. We suggest instead a set of ethical and policy initiatives to address the challenge of aerosol masking, and we describe how our contemporary predicament can be ameliorated in the face of these significant and often-overlooked challenges.
abhors singularities. “So should we, ” responds the physicist. However, the epistemic assessments... more abhors singularities. “So should we, ” responds the physicist. However, the epistemic assessments of Batterman concerning the matter prove to be less clear, for in the same vein he write that singularities play an essential role in certain classes of physical theories referring to certain types of critical phenomena. I devise a procedure (“methodological fundamentalism”) which exhibits how singularities, at least in principle, may be avoided within the same classes of formalisms discussed by Batterman. I show that we need not accept some divergence between explanation and reduction (Batterman 2002), or between epistemological and ontological fundamentalism (Batterman 2004, 2005). Though I remain sympathetic to the ‘principle of charity ’ (Frisch (2005)), which appears to favor a pluralist outlook, I nevertheless call into question some of the forms such pluralist implications take in Robert Batterman’s conclusions. It is difficult to reconcile some of the pluralist assessments that ...
recently advanced theories depicting space-time as a singular limit, or condensate, formed from f... more recently advanced theories depicting space-time as a singular limit, or condensate, formed from fundamentally quantum micro topological units of information, or process (denoted respectively by ‘qubits, ’ or ‘chronons.’) H. S. Green (2000) characterizes the manifold of space-time as a parafermionic statistical algebra generated fundamentally by qubits. David Finkelstein (2004a-c) models the space-time manifold as singular limit of a regular structure represented by a Clifford algebra, whose generators αγ represent ‘chronons, ’ i.e., elementary quantum processes. Both of these theories are in principle experimentally testable. Green writes that his parafermionic embeddings “hav[e] an important advantage over their classical counterparts [in] that they have a direct physical interpretation and their parameters are in principle observable. ” (166) David Finkelstein discusses in detail unique empirical ramifications of his theory in (2004b,c) which most notably include the removal of qu...
Contemporary theoretical physicists H. S. Green and David R. Finkelstein have recently advanced t... more Contemporary theoretical physicists H. S. Green and David R. Finkelstein have recently advanced theories which depict spacetime as a singular limit, or condensate, formed out of fundamentally quantum microtopological units of information, or process (denoted respectively by 'qubits,' or 'chronons.') H. S. Green (2000) characterizes the manifold of spacetime as a parafermionic statistical algebra generated fundamentally by qubits. "The quantum mechanics of systems with large numbers of interacting particles…can be formulat [ed] in terms of elements…represented by fermions or parafermions, and thus in terms of qubits." (108) David Finkelstein (2004a-c) models the spacetime manifold as singular limit of a regular structure represented by a Clifford algebra, whose generatorsrepresent 'chronons,' i.e., elementary quantum processes. Both of these theories are in principle experimentally testable. Green, for example, writes that his parafermionic embeddings "hav[e] an important advantage over their classical counterparts [in] that they have a direct physical interpretation and their parameters are in principle observable." (166) David Finkelstein discusses in systematic detail unique empirical ramifications of his theory in (2004b) which among other things most notably include the removal of usual quantum field-theoretic divergences. I will discuss the ramifications of the above theories, which share the ontological intuition of conceiving spacetime itself as fundamentally generated or derived from an underlying microtopology of fundamental quantum processes of information. The empirical tests discussed by Green and Finkelstein raise compelling questions for future information-based technologies. Since the work of Shannon and Hawking in the fifties and sixties, compelling associations among entropy, information, and gravity emerged in the study of Hawking radiation. Nowadays, however, the theories of Green and Finkelstein together suggest that the study of spacetime may not end at the edge of a black hole's event horizon, but begin in the development of technologies better able to probe its microtopology in controlled laboratory conditions.
J. Ladyman (1998-2009), Ladyman and Ross (2007) refine J. Worral's (1998) structural realism ... more J. Ladyman (1998-2009), Ladyman and Ross (2007) refine J. Worral's (1998) structural realism (SR), by developing an ontic structural realism (OSR) which they argue is a consistently naturalistic means of characterizing the ontology of fundamental physics. I argue that particular elements of M. Lange (2009) and M. Eklund (2006) strengthen and refine their project of characterizing fundamental physics via OSR and by extension, their presentation of information-theoretic structural realism (ITSR). I demonstrate this point by situating M. Lange’s (2009) discussion of nomological modality and natural necessity within Ladyman and Ross’s discussion of ITSR. The logical hierarchy evinced in Lange’s (2009) notion of ‘nomic stability’ further refines Ladyman and Ross’s claims through the addition of nuanced modal distinctions in a systematic framework. Moreover, I argue that what Lange considers are the ‘lawmakers’ (viz. subjunctive facts) serve as a de dicto rendition of some of Ladyman ...
Moving Observer, the Perihelion Shift of Mercury
It has been shown in a previous paper that under the radiation continuum model, RCM, of light, EM... more It has been shown in a previous paper that under the radiation continuum model, RCM, of light, EM radiation may be treated as emanating from a source at all velocities from 0 to some upper value C, which is greater than c, and may be infinite. In this model, a photon may be viewed as an expanding spherical volume, with the leading edge of that volume expanding at a velocity of C. This is in
Ontic Structural Realism, Information, and Natural Necessity: Where Naturalism and Analytic Metap... more Ontic Structural Realism, Information, and Natural Necessity: Where Naturalism and Analytic Metaphysics Can Find Common Ground William Michael Kallfelz April 12, 2013 J. Ladyman (1998-2009), Ladyman and Ross (2007) refine J. Worral's (1998) structural realism (SR), by developing an ontic structural realism (OSR) which they argue is a consistently naturalistic means of characterizing the ontology of fu ndamental physics. I argue that elements of analytic metaphysics strengthen and refine their proje ct f characterizing fundamental physics via OSR and by extension, their presentation of informat ion-theoretic structural realism (ITSR). I refine this point by situating M. Lange’s (2009) discussion of omological modality qua natural necessity within Ladyman and Ross’s discussion of ITSR. The logical hierarchy evinced in Lange’s (2009) ‘nomic stability’ further extends and refines Ladyman and Ross’s claims through the addition of nuanced modal distinctions in a systemat ic fr mework.
Organism and Physics
Process Studies, 1997
Process Studies, 2009
I examine G.B. Baga’s arguments for the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) interpretation of non-relativ... more I examine G.B. Baga’s arguments for the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) interpretation of non-relativistic quantum mechanics as ideally suited for Whitehead’s philosophy. Much of Bagci’s claims are in response to Michael Epperson, who argues in the same vein in favor of decoherence accounts (Omnès; Zureck). Pace Epperson, I do not think that decoherence is the final arbiter here, and instead I contrast GRW with several other accounts addressing foundational problems of quantum theory (Finkehtein; Green; Peres and Temo; etc.), which aho account for relativistic covariance, while GRW does not. I argue that such latter research programs align themselves in a more convincing manner with Whitehead’s scheme, in epistemic as well as metaphysical senses, than GRW.
Process Studies, 2012
Alfred North Whitehead introduces in Process and Reality the notion that the “philosophy of organ... more Alfred North Whitehead introduces in Process and Reality the notion that the “philosophy of organism is a cell-theory of actuality.” I argue here that the most promising venue for a concordance with process ontology vis-`a-vis extant physical theory includes the notions of dynamical and ontological emergence in the physical sciences, as described in Silberstein and McGeever (1999) as well as in Kronz and Tiehen (2002). Here I draw on my previous claims (1997, 2005, 2006) to show in more general terms how process ontology provides a more unified characterization of ontological and dynamical emergence.
The gravitational potential for a moving observer, the perihelion shift of Mercury, and photon deflection
IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, 1997
Page 1. INTRODUCTION The Gravitational Potential Moving Observer, the Perihelion Shift of Mercury... more Page 1. INTRODUCTION The Gravitational Potential Moving Observer, the Perihelion Shift of Mercury, and Photon Deflection for a Curtis E. Renshaw and William M. Kallfelz Tele-Consultants, Inc. It has been shown in a previous ...
I present a case for a rapprochement between aspects of rationalism and scientific realism, by wa... more I present a case for a rapprochement between aspects of rationalism and scientific realism, by way of a general framework employing modal epistemology and elements of 2-dimensional semantics (2DS). My overall argument strategy is meta-inductive: The bulk of ...
Philosophy of Science Archives: Physics, 2006
I argue that the distinctions Robert Batterman (2004) presents between 'epistemically fundam... more I argue that the distinctions Robert Batterman (2004) presents between 'epistemically fundamental'versus 'ontologically fundamental'theoretical approaches can be subsumed by methodologically fundamental procedures. I characterize precisely what is ...
Philosophy of Science Archives: Physics, 2005
The notion of emergence has received much renewed attention recently. Most of the authors I revie... more The notion of emergence has received much renewed attention recently. Most of the authors I review (§ II), including most notably Robert Batterman (2002, 2003, 2004) share the common aim of providing accounts for emergence which offer fresh insights ...
Though some influentially critical objections have been raised during the 'classical'pr... more Though some influentially critical objections have been raised during the 'classical'pre-computational simulation philosophy of science (PCSPS) tradition, suggesting a more nuanced methodological category for experiments, it safe to say such critical ...
The role of pronouns in the de re/de dicto modal distinction
Expanding Joseph Sneed's Analysis into Category Theory
manuscript. http://www. glue. umd. edu/~ wkallfel/ …, 2006
Joseph Sneed (1971) characterizes classical mechanics using set theory, which comprises part of h... more Joseph Sneed (1971) characterizes classical mechanics using set theory, which comprises part of his research programme of axiomatizing the logical structure of mathematical physics. “The set-theoretic predicate defined by the axiomatization characterizes the formal, mathematical structure associated with the theory. This predicate is used to make the empirical statements of the theory.”(vii) However, in certain branches of contemporary physics, ranging from solid state to fluid dynamics, traditional formal schemes of reduction have been called into serious question (Batterman (2002, 2003, 2004)). Here, I show how to extend Sneed’s structuralist characterization to category theory. A category is a semigroup (i.e., a set with an associative product) containing enough identities (i.e., for every element in the category, there exists a left and a right hand multiplication identity.) Category theory provides a universal framework for much contemporary fields in pure and in applied mathematics, and gives important insights into the common features of structures that all mathematical systems share, in ways that set theory cannot. Aside from extending Sneed’s metatheoretic characterization into physical systems that were off-limits in his study (namely irreducibly probabilitistic theories like statistical and quantum mechanics), a categorical-theoretic modification of Sneed provides a far more robust and rigorous means to characterize intertheoretic reduction. This result holds because categorical-theoretic metatheoretical characterizations apply to physical systems characterized by mutlilinear algebras, in a manner analogous to the way set theoretic metatheoretical characterizations apply to phase-space formalisms, as in the case of classical mechanics. I have shown, however, that the former class of (multilinear algebraic) structures exhibit a regularizibility (i.e., an ability to overcome singularities) in ways that latter (phase-space based) formalisms cannot. Regular structures exhibit a natural means of reduction, since they can be algebraically expanded and contracted. Reduction occurs in the latter case, when the contracted structure is interpreted as the superseded theory, while the former is interpreted as the superseding theory.
I summarize Silberstein, et. al's (2006) discussion of the derivation of the Heisenberg comm... more I summarize Silberstein, et. al's (2006) discussion of the derivation of the Heisenberg commutators, whose work is based on Kaiser (1981, 1990) and Bohr, et. al.(1995, 2004a, b). I argue that Bohr and Kaiser's treatment is not geometric enough, as it ...
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Papers by William Kallfelz