Abstract
Joule’s Energy Conservation Law was the first “meta-law”: a general principle that all physical equations must satisfy. It has led to many important and useful physical discoveries. However, a recent analysis seems to indicate that this meta-law is inconsistent with other principles—such as the existence of free will. We show that this conclusion about inconsistency is based on a seemingly reasonable—but simplified—analysis of the situation. We also show that a more detailed mathematical and physical analysis of the situation reveals that not only Joule’s principle remains true—it is actually strengthened: it is no longer a principle that all physical theories should satisfy—it is a principle that all physical theories do satisfy.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to dedicate to Yakov Kreinovich, late Vladik’s father and Olga’s father-in-law, whose ideas were one of the main triggers for this research. We are thankful to the referees for their very useful suggestions and very interesting references and ideas.
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This work was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation Grants 1623190 (A Model of Change for Preparing a New Generation for Professional Practice in Computer Science) and HRD-1242122 (Cyber-ShARE Center of Excellence).
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Kreinovich, V., Kosheleva, O. Joule’s Nineteenth Century Energy Conservation Meta-law and the Twentieth Century Physics (Quantum Mechanics and Relativity): Twenty-First Century Analysis. Found Sci 26, 703–725 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-020-09659-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-020-09659-z