“My soul as a computer programmer cries out against the idea of representing N particles with N^2 distances between them; it seems wasteful”
Given 3 non-collinear points on a plane, any other point is fixed by its distances from these three points; and similar results hold in higher dimensions. You need O(N) numbers, not O(N^2) numbers to describe N particles.
Actually Mahatma Gandhi was very much against cowardice, not against violence. The highest courage was to resist non-violently; but if you could not do that, Mahatma Gandhi wanted you to stand your ground. Regarding WW2, he would not have India fight the Empire’s war without Independence. Not after the experience of WW1. https://arunsmusings.blogspot.com/2013/10/broken-promises-parallel.html
Quote:
Indians lent their support enthusiastically in World War I to Great Britain, thinking that it would help them become equal partners in the British Empire. A brief take on this can be found here. Even the pacifist Mahatma Gandhi said “I would make India offer all her able-bodied sons as a sacrifice to the Empire at this critical moment, and I know that India, by this very act, would become the most favored partner in the Empire, and racial distinctions would become a thing of the past.” [1] 800,000 Indians saw combat, 1.5 million volunteered. But, as the aforementioned link will tell you:
The British government’s post-war attitude quickly alienated Ghandi and was a great stimulus for his independence movement.