A passage from a Brian Cox article on Black Holes. I do not wish to be uncharitable, but this sounds an awful lot like a long-winded way of saying "Christ, it's all mad, I haven't a clue"
"This ‘dual’ picture – two radically different and yet equivalent views of reality – hints that space and time as we perceive them are not fundamental properties of the universe. It seems that they emerge from, to borrow another phrase from Einstein, something deeply hidden – a quantum theory in which there is no space and no time. And, in an intriguing twist, it appears our reality may be encoded in the underlying quantum theory using a method that computer scientists have discovered that allows for information to be encoded in the memory of quantum computers in an error-tolerant way. I do not think this is evidence we live in a simulation, but it does suggest our universe behaves like a quantum computer."
A passage from a Brian Cox article on Black Holes. I do not wish to be uncharitable, but this sounds an awful lot like a long-winded way of saying "Christ, it's all mad, I haven't a clue"
"This ‘dual’ picture – two radically different and yet equivalent views of reality – hints that space and time as we perceive them are not fundamental properties of the universe. It seems that they emerge from, to borrow another phrase from Einstein, something deeply hidden – a quantum theory in which there is no space and no time. And, in an intriguing twist, it appears our reality may be encoded in the underlying quantum theory using a method that computer scientists have discovered that allows for information to be encoded in the memory of quantum computers in an error-tolerant way. I do not think this is evidence we live in a simulation, but it does suggest our universe behaves like a quantum computer."
Was it Richard Dawkins who said “If you think you understand quantum physics, you don’t understand quantum physics”?
Like, what the fuck does this even mean?
"it appears our reality may be encoded in the underlying quantum theory using a method that computer scientists have discovered that allows for information to be encoded in the memory of quantum computers in an error-tolerant way"
The statement suggests that the principles of quantum mechanics, which govern the behavior of subatomic particles, may also underlie the fundamental nature of reality itself. This idea is based on the observation that quantum mechanics allows for information to be stored in a way that is inherently error-tolerant, much like the way that our universe appears to be stable and consistent despite the constant interactions of its constituent particles.
The development of error-tolerant quantum memory techniques has provided further support for this hypothesis. These techniques rely on the principles of quantum error correction, which enable the preservation of quantum information even in the presence of environmental disturbances. This suggests that the underlying structure of reality may be inherently robust and resistant to change, much like the error-tolerant nature of quantum memory.
While this idea is still speculative, it has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the universe. If our reality is indeed encoded in the principles of quantum mechanics, it could mean that we are living in a fundamentally quantum system, and that the laws of classical physics are just approximations that apply to macroscopic objects. This would have profound implications for our understanding of consciousness, the nature of time and space, and the possibility of alternative realities.
EDIT: That's what Bard says, and he knows you know.
Ohhhh kayyy..... I think I am with you.... you certainly do a better job than Cox
rcs1000 said: "By law, the US government (which is by a significant margin the biggest purchaser of prescription drugs in the world), is not allowed to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies."
Actually, since Part D of Medicare was passed, there has been considerable negotiation between drug companies and medical providers." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_Part_D The medical providers are acting, indirectly, as agents of the federal government.
(Don't tell ydoethur, but Part D is a George W. Bush program.)
(For the record: Last year, I enrolled in Part D with Aetna -- which keeps urging me to use more of their benefits. For example, they want to enroll me in a "silver sneaker" program, which would pay for my visits to an exercise club. And they have increased by social security benefit, by a little.)
Just to ask a quick question, I said that Bush involved the US in disastrous foreign wars. Are you disputing that? If so, your opinion is probably pretty much worthless.
As for his domestic record, I'm not saying he didn't do a couple of things that worked, but from his bungled response to Katrina, his dithering over the subprime crisis and his shilly-shallying over health and education reforms it's hard to conclude his tenure was anything other than mostly disastrous.
What I don't understand are your snide and frankly rather peculiar remarks towards me for criticising him. Are you the last person on the planet who thinks he wasn't a complete twat who only looks slightly better because one of his successors turned out to be an actual traitor?
Meanwhile, in "it might be a good thing, but do you really think you're going to make this happen" news,
EXC: Rishi Sunak's government considers crackdown on young teens' social media use 🧵
- Possible legal ban on use of social media by under-16s - Consultation to begin as soon as January - Currently industry standard is for 13+ on Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook via twseal and me
We're governed by an overbearing 'Tiger Dad'. No TikTok but extra maths. Fuck me, this will do wonders for the future Conservative vote.
To be fair, I'm sure Rishi flosses.
Not according to DuraAce - and his wife is a dentist.
How many under-16's vote Tory? And zero under-18s too, except in Scotland and Wales. It's Granny, who doesn't like little Johnny using his mobey at the dinner table, who has the vote.
They should be bloody grateful they don't have compulsory school uniforms with shorts with elastic belts with snake clasps.
Some of us lefties also ban their kids from using phones at the dinner table. A deeply anti-social habit (the phone use, not the banning). Disrupts the discussion of Hegelian dialectics.
Yep. And I wouldn't let my son watch Top Gear when he was an impressionable teenager. Hearts and minds. This is why we'll prevail in the end.
I think that's actually quite important.
A lot of young people are playing games of Russian Roulette in their cars or bikes, and losing. There seems to be a serious problem in Wales, but also elsewhere. Drink and Drugs are factors in a lot of it, as is dangerous driving by inexperienced drivers.
In the St Mellons crash (the one near Cardiff with 3 dead, 2 hospitalised, that lost the VW Estate in the bushes, followed by the 'why did the police not find them' media stuff), all 5 in the car including the driver were tanked up on drink and drugs. Ages 32, 24, 21, 21, 20.
Then the two teenagers on the Ely Estate killed themselves racing around on an illegal Surron motorbike given to them by parents. Ages 15, 16.
2 weeks ago we have the four Shrewsbury teenagers killed in "a car that left the road" and ended up in a river near Llanfrothen. Aged 16-18. Causes not yet determined.
Now we have 3 more killed and 2 more in hospital in a collision on a straight, wide road in Coedely. Ages 19, 19, 18, 18, 18. Causes not yet determined, but local reports are that the road is used like a racetrack.
I can cope with Russian Roulette playing Darwin Award winners copping themselves, and some problems due to inexperience which we need always to be working on. But I cannot accept the public being put at risk recklessly.
I am not sure I approve this message.
Anyone drink driving should feel the full force of the law, but to isolate St Mellons and Coedely is unfortunate. Back in the early eighties friends of mine would have three or four pints and wind their way home on the Herefordshire back lanes. Being s***faced behind the wheel of a Fiesta is not unique to Wales and it is not unique to 2023.
A passage from a Brian Cox article on Black Holes. I do not wish to be uncharitable, but this sounds an awful lot like a long-winded way of saying "Christ, it's all mad, I haven't a clue"
"This ‘dual’ picture – two radically different and yet equivalent views of reality – hints that space and time as we perceive them are not fundamental properties of the universe. It seems that they emerge from, to borrow another phrase from Einstein, something deeply hidden – a quantum theory in which there is no space and no time. And, in an intriguing twist, it appears our reality may be encoded in the underlying quantum theory using a method that computer scientists have discovered that allows for information to be encoded in the memory of quantum computers in an error-tolerant way. I do not think this is evidence we live in a simulation, but it does suggest our universe behaves like a quantum computer."
Was it Richard Dawkins who said “If you think you understand quantum physics, you don’t understand quantum physics”?
Like, what the fuck does this even mean?
"it appears our reality may be encoded in the underlying quantum theory using a method that computer scientists have discovered that allows for information to be encoded in the memory of quantum computers in an error-tolerant way"
The statement suggests that the principles of quantum mechanics, which govern the behavior of subatomic particles, may also underlie the fundamental nature of reality itself. This idea is based on the observation that quantum mechanics allows for information to be stored in a way that is inherently error-tolerant, much like the way that our universe appears to be stable and consistent despite the constant interactions of its constituent particles.
The development of error-tolerant quantum memory techniques has provided further support for this hypothesis. These techniques rely on the principles of quantum error correction, which enable the preservation of quantum information even in the presence of environmental disturbances. This suggests that the underlying structure of reality may be inherently robust and resistant to change, much like the error-tolerant nature of quantum memory.
While this idea is still speculative, it has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the universe. If our reality is indeed encoded in the principles of quantum mechanics, it could mean that we are living in a fundamentally quantum system, and that the laws of classical physics are just approximations that apply to macroscopic objects. This would have profound implications for our understanding of consciousness, the nature of time and space, and the possibility of alternative realities.
EDIT: That's what Bard says, and he knows you know.
Ohhhh kayyy..... I think I am with you.... you certainly do a better job than Cox
So what are these "profound implications"?
EDIT: I see you used Bard. lol
A few years ago, Brian Cox wrote a book on Quantum Mechanics called "Everything that can happen does happen". Long story short, almost nothing is impossible, but many things are insanely improbable. What QM does is tell us how improbable.
Most of the time, it doesn't matter. We're talking less probable than a Sunak recovery at the coming general election. And the sort of things where we can squeeze improbable into plausible are tiny things- though modern electronics wouldn't happen if QM didn't work.
So what is Coxy banging on about? Flip knows. Probably two things. One is that it is disturbing that the predictable life we experience emerges out of a soupy mess. I don't think anyone really understands how that works.
The other is the quantum computing thing. We can put stuff into the quantum soup, let it slosh around there for a bit, and still pull out something recognisable. Since a lot of difficult calculations need just enough stirring, mixing things up a but but not too much (like putting a cream swirl into hot chocolate), that's interesting.
It's using the fact that an LLM is good at fuzzing - creating statistically similar but randomly modified versions of existing algorithms. And then using traditional solvers to verify which of the randomly generated algorithms are in fact correct.
It's a very clever application of the nature of LLMs.
"harnessing the hallucinations"
Who is to say this isn't how human cognition works? We just do not know. Two black boxes confronting each other
See Arthur Koestler's The Act of Creation (1964) in which he postulates that inventions occur as the collision of disparate mental matrices (don't ask me to elaborate - I lent the book out 20 years ago and it hasn't been returned)
A passage from a Brian Cox article on Black Holes. I do not wish to be uncharitable, but this sounds an awful lot like a long-winded way of saying "Christ, it's all mad, I haven't a clue"
"This ‘dual’ picture – two radically different and yet equivalent views of reality – hints that space and time as we perceive them are not fundamental properties of the universe. It seems that they emerge from, to borrow another phrase from Einstein, something deeply hidden – a quantum theory in which there is no space and no time. And, in an intriguing twist, it appears our reality may be encoded in the underlying quantum theory using a method that computer scientists have discovered that allows for information to be encoded in the memory of quantum computers in an error-tolerant way. I do not think this is evidence we live in a simulation, but it does suggest our universe behaves like a quantum computer."
Was it Richard Dawkins who said “If you think you understand quantum physics, you don’t understand quantum physics”?
Like, what the fuck does this even mean?
"it appears our reality may be encoded in the underlying quantum theory using a method that computer scientists have discovered that allows for information to be encoded in the memory of quantum computers in an error-tolerant way"
It means we’re living in a simulation and some master species is fucking around with us. We’re characters in a computer game. Our physical theories are just how the supercomputer stores data. Which is nice.
A passage from a Brian Cox article on Black Holes. I do not wish to be uncharitable, but this sounds an awful lot like a long-winded way of saying "Christ, it's all mad, I haven't a clue"
"This ‘dual’ picture – two radically different and yet equivalent views of reality – hints that space and time as we perceive them are not fundamental properties of the universe. It seems that they emerge from, to borrow another phrase from Einstein, something deeply hidden – a quantum theory in which there is no space and no time. And, in an intriguing twist, it appears our reality may be encoded in the underlying quantum theory using a method that computer scientists have discovered that allows for information to be encoded in the memory of quantum computers in an error-tolerant way. I do not think this is evidence we live in a simulation, but it does suggest our universe behaves like a quantum computer."
Was it Richard Dawkins who said “If you think you understand quantum physics, you don’t understand quantum physics”?
Like, what the fuck does this even mean?
"it appears our reality may be encoded in the underlying quantum theory using a method that computer scientists have discovered that allows for information to be encoded in the memory of quantum computers in an error-tolerant way"
...we are living in a fundamentally quantum system, and that the laws of classical physics are just approximations that apply to macroscopic objects...
I said that a few days ago! It's not difficult!
An atom can vanish or do a little hop. We know the odds of it happening is low because given the number of atoms in the body, if it was higher we'd notice. But given enough time low-probability effects happen and eventually everything fuzzes out. All macroscopic laws are approximations that work over human timescales, not cosmic ones.
Well it's rather reassuring to hear for once from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She's been so quiet of late I was beginning to wonder whether she was still amongst us. And of course there has been every reason to hear from her. She is the Minister currently in charge of the Post Office, so you might imagine that she would have something to say about the parade of liars, rogues, charlatans and crooks appearing on behalf of the PO at the Inquiry into the biggest public scandal of my lifetime.
Instead, silence.
I do not believe this is judicious restraint whilst the Inquiry gets on with its work. It is tacit support for the PO's policy of obstructing and delaying that work. Her Government owns the PO. It could tell its Board to stop acting the goat and start cooperating. You can draw your own conclusions from its failure to do so.
Is Kemi complicit, or is she merely lazy, incompetent, and indifferent?
Any local ULEZ-style issues that could stymie this?
Yeah. Blackpool truly is a shithole.
I got done by a hobby booby at 11.45pm for being in the wrong lane to turn right.it was my first visit on business.This was
Early 90s.... Pissing with rain.on the seafront ...Not a car to be seen anywhere ...he must have been.playimg poker as my car was red. Never had a red car since. I was so angry I wrote to the Chief Constable about hobby Bobby's attitude. Never been to Blackpool since
Blackpool's the only place I've ever got two parking tickets in one day.
And the only time I've stayed in a hotel where the bed folded down out of the wardbrobe.
I worked in Pontins Holdiay camp at Squires Gate in Blackpool in the summer of 63. I had the time of my life. Never forget it. Or her.
I’ve never been. But the way they talk about it on Strictly it seems like some sort of cultural Mecca. The aim of all right thinking celebrity dancers being just to “get to Blackpool”.
Any local ULEZ-style issues that could stymie this?
Yeah. Blackpool truly is a shithole.
I got done by a hobby booby at 11.45pm for being in the wrong lane to turn right.it was my first visit on business.This was
Early 90s.... Pissing with rain.on the seafront ...Not a car to be seen anywhere ...he must have been.playimg poker as my car was red. Never had a red car since. I was so angry I wrote to the Chief Constable about hobby Bobby's attitude. Never been to Blackpool since
Blackpool's the only place I've ever got two parking tickets in one day.
And the only time I've stayed in a hotel where the bed folded down out of the wardbrobe.
I worked in Pontins Holdiay camp at Squires Gate in Blackpool in the summer of 63. I had the time of my life. Never forget it. Or her.
I’ve never been. But the way they talk about it on Strictly it seems like some sort of cultural Mecca. The aim of all right thinking celebrity dancers being just to “get to Blackpool”.
Someone made an interesting point about AI recently that for years everyone was obsessed with the Turing test, but now that it's arguably been passed, it doesn't seem that significant because we take it for granted already and are looking ahead to much bigger things.
I suppose the same for many previously unachievable benchmarks. Like unclimbable mountain routes that are now clambered up without ropes in a couple of hours, or hitting 100 Fahrenheit in Britain which has now happened about 5 times.
Someone made an interesting point about AI recently that for years everyone was obsessed with the Turing test, but now that it's arguably been passed, it doesn't seem that significant because we take it for granted already and are looking ahead to much bigger things.
I suppose the same for many previously unachievable benchmarks. Like unclimbable mountain routes that are now clambered up without ropes in a couple of hours, or hitting 100 Fahrenheit in Britain which has now happened about 5 times.
The condundrum is that AI has progressed to the point where it is able to search and trawl unimaginably large amounts of information in an amazingly short instant of time, and manipulate language such that it appears to be thinking (hence passing Turing) when in reality it isn’t, not even comprehending (in any meaningful sense) any of the words that it is using. Hence it remains very easy to get AI to throw up nonsensical or obviously false statements if you play with what you know it will be trawling off its database.
Comments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36GT2zI8lVA
So what are these "profound implications"?
EDIT: I see you used Bard. lol
As for his domestic record, I'm not saying he didn't do a couple of things that worked, but from his bungled response to Katrina, his dithering over the subprime crisis and his shilly-shallying over health and education reforms it's hard to conclude his tenure was anything other than mostly disastrous.
What I don't understand are your snide and frankly rather peculiar remarks towards me for criticising him. Are you the last person on the planet who thinks he wasn't a complete twat who only looks slightly better because one of his successors turned out to be an actual traitor?
NEW THREAD
Anyone drink driving should feel the full force of the law, but to isolate St Mellons and Coedely is unfortunate. Back in the early eighties friends of mine would have three or four pints and wind their way home on the Herefordshire back lanes. Being s***faced behind the wheel of a Fiesta is not unique to Wales and it is not unique to 2023.
Most of the time, it doesn't matter. We're talking less probable than a Sunak recovery at the coming general election. And the sort of things where we can squeeze improbable into plausible are tiny things- though modern electronics wouldn't happen if QM didn't work.
So what is Coxy banging on about? Flip knows. Probably two things. One is that it is disturbing that the predictable life we experience emerges out of a soupy mess. I don't think anyone really understands how that works.
The other is the quantum computing thing. We can put stuff into the quantum soup, let it slosh around there for a bit, and still pull out something recognisable. Since a lot of difficult calculations need just enough stirring, mixing things up a but but not too much (like putting a cream swirl into hot chocolate), that's interesting.
edit to add: Wikipedia has a useful account:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Act_of_Creation
An atom can vanish or do a little hop. We know the odds of it happening is low because given the number of atoms in the body, if it was higher we'd notice. But given enough time low-probability effects happen and eventually everything fuzzes out. All macroscopic laws are approximations that work over human timescales, not cosmic ones.