I have never taken sides in the tomato controversy, but I have heard that some people are pretty intense about it. Alluding to this dispute, the author and comedian Garrison Keillor once proclaimed that a tomato is a fruit while it's growing on the vine, but it is transformed into a vegetable the moment you pick it. He was making a joke but, from what you and your colleagues discovered, it sounds like he was closer to the truth than he realized.
In the old days, a species of plant or animal was defined as all the individuals that were capable of interbreeding with each other and producing offspring. The "producing offspring" part is important. It means that a human can fuck the dog all day long, but this activity will not produce any pups, so humans and dogs are not members of the same species. Nowadays, the experts are not all in agreement about this, especially with plants. It seems that plants are hybridizing all the time, both spontaneously and with human assistance. It's not so common with animals, but it's not unheard of either. The upshot is that you might find one book that says two creatures are the same species and another book that says they're not. The reason I know this is that I read it in a book myself but, I suppose, there are other books out there that say it's not true.
I was not aware that there were two kinds of space/time, real and theoretical, so now I am more confused than ever about your digital/analog thing. Coincidently, I am presently viewing a video course about meteorology. In tonight's lesson, Professor Robert G. Fovell stated, "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice but, in practice, there is." I'm not sure what that has to do with the weather, but it seems to be relevant to our discussion here.
Okay, you specified that you were talking about real space/time, so let's stick with that. Last I heard, motion was defined as change of position over time. Unless they've changed that too, I don't see how you can move from point A to point B without some interval of time passing. If no time passed, then point A would be congruent with point B and you wouldn't have moved at all.
It is my understanding that digital and analog are two methods for transmitting, storing, and retrieving information. Unless you are one of those people who believe that the Universe is composed of data, not substance, I don't see how you can have either a digital or analog universe. The way I see it, the Universe is made of real stuff, okay energy. You might use either digital or analog technology to obtain information about the nature of this energy and transmit that information to others, but that doesn't mean the energy itself is either digital or analog.
It just occurred to me that I did say that there were two kinds of time, regular time and Einstein's time, but that's not really two different kinds of time, it's just two different ways of looking at time. The clocks we use tell us what we need to know to get to work on time, they don't tell us what we need to know to get to Mars on time, because most of us aren't going to Mars any time soon and all that extra information would just confuse us. I remember Doc Small telling us that he was teaching us Newtonian physics, and that there was another kind of physics that we would learn about in college, but it wasn't within the scope of his class. I don't think there is a conflict between Newton's physics and Einstein's physics, it's just that the scope of Newton's physics is limited to the planet Earth, where most of us spend most of our time. Well, there is that one thing. Newton talked about objects being at rest but, in reality, there is no such thing as an object at rest, everything is in some state of motion. What he should have said was an object at rest relative to the Earth. Maybe Newton knew that but, since most of his students weren't planning on leaving the planet any time soon, he believed that it was unnecessary information that would just confuse them.
Speaking of time, I'll close with this little anecdote: In our region, it's not uncommon for school to be canceled or delayed due bad winter weather. When this happens, our local radio and TV stations broadcast the information so the kids won't be standing out in the cold waiting for a school bus that isn't coming any time soon. Often, when there is a two hour delay, the bus garage gets a phone call from a parent who says, "Is it true that there is a two hour delay today?" When the person answering the phone confirms that, yes there is a two hour delay, the parent then asks, "So what time will the bus pick up my kids?"
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