@ 有笑话说,工程师研究现实问题但“蒙”结果(fudge their results),数学家得到精确结果却只研究玩具问题;计算机科学家两样都不是,却既研究玩具问题(study only toy problems)也蒙结果。
@费曼在《统计力学讲义》(StatisticalMechanics: a set of lectures. Advanced Book, 1972)中讨论密度矩阵时说,解量子力学问题其实就是把我们感兴趣的从宇宙中分出来,但我们常将它当整个宇宙。(When we solve a quantum-mechanical problem, what we really do isdivide the universe into two parts -- the system in which we are interested and the rest of the universe. We then usually act as if the system in which we are interested comprised the entire universe.)这句话一方面区分了已知与未知,或可知与不可知,另一方面恰如中国画的黑白,都是图景的不可分割的部分,分不清黑白,也不必分黑白,而只是不同的意象和想象。