ATM: Fermat's Principle

["Richard Schwartz" <richas@earthlink.net>]

I found an interesting editorial article on Fermat's principle in the Fall
2001 issue of 21st Century Science and Technology.   Fermat's principle is a
unification of the laws of reflection (incident angle = reflected angle) and
Snell's law of refraction (sin(i)/ni = sin(r)/nr).  Note that both of these
laws are the same if a reflective material has an index of refraction of -1.
Both of these laws minimize the time light takes to reach a given point.
Fermat's principle was developed 200 years before Maxwell's Equations of
1865 explained reflection and refraction in terms of electromagnetic fields,
partial differential equations, and boundary conditions at the surface.

Fermat's principle is counter-intuitive, in that it seems to imply the light
had "intelligence" to choose the path of minumum time.   This is NOT like
Newton's unification of three orbital motion laws into the single simplified
law of gravity.   This article seemed a little bit weird, as I don't believe
that there is any divine intelligence guiding the photons to their
destination in minimum time; it is just a mathematical consequence of other
physical laws.  The article and other edititorials in this magazine seem to
ridicule Maxwell's equations as a physical explanation.

The answer lies in the masthead on page 2.  A certain well known cult leader
is listed as a member of the publication's Scientific Advisory Board.    All
other articles in this publication seem to refer to other publications of
that same cult leader.  And there is mention of unjust persecution of that
same cult leader.  Can you judge an optics paper by the company it keeps?