Inevitable experimental errors, determinism, and information theory

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Classical physics was based upon the assumption that experimental errors were just accidental and should be ignored by the theory. Modern physics realizes that errors are inevitable and that it is impossible to go to the limit of infinitely small errors. The uncertainty principle and the negentropy principle of information prove that the smaller the error, the greater the price that must be paid for the observation. There is no exact limit to the accuracy, but its high cost makes it unattainable. Classical physics assumed complete determinism. The new modern “matter of fact” point of view states the impossibility to prove this assumption. If experimental errors are very small, it takes a longer time to reach the final statistical distribution, but this final state of statistical equilibrium will always be reached. Many examples are discussed, and the “matter of fact” point of view is compared with similar ideas presented by the Vienna school, by M. Born and by the Copenhagen school.

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