When scientists search for meaning in quantum physics, they may be straying into a no-manâs-land between philosophy and religion. But they canât help themselves. Theyâre only human. âIf you were to watch me by day, you would see me sitting at my desk solving Schrödingerâs equation…exactly like my colleagues,â says Sir Anthony Leggett, a Nobel Prize winner and pioneer in superfluidity. âBut occasionally at night, when the full moon is bright, I do what in the physics community is the intellectual equivalent of turning into a werewolf: I question whether quantum mechanics is the complete and ultimate truth about the physical universe.â
â Read on www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/books/review/adam-becker-what-is-real.html
Category: Science
One Step Closer to Quantum Computing
20 qubits have been entangled together and put into one network. Huge… computing is about to get “spooky” as Einstein would have said.
In high school physics, electrons bounce between two layers, like a car changing lanes. But in reality, electrons don’t exist in one place or one layer â they exist in many at the same time, a phenomenon known as quantum superposition. This odd quantum behavior offers a chance for devising a new computer language â one that uses infinite possibilities. Whereas classic computing uses bits, these calcium ions in superposition become quantum bits, or qubits. While past work had created such qubits before, the trick to making a computer is to get these qubits to talk to one another.
NASA receives response from Voyager 1
Build things that last…
âThe Voyager flight team dug up decades-old data and examined the software that was coded in an outdated assembler language, to make sure we could safely test the thrusters,â said Jones, chief engineer at JPL.
“Still discovering new things”
On board each Voyager is a golden record — and record player — that is built to last one billion years or more and contains key information about humanity and life on planet Earth, in case of an alien encounter.
The sounds include the calls of humpback whales, the Chuck Berry song “Johnny B. Goode,” Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, a Japanese shakuhachi (a type of flute), a Pygmy girls’ initiation song, and greetings in 55 languages.
Stephen Hawking is backing a project to send tiny spacecraft to another star system within a generation
The concept is to reduce the size of the spacecraft to about the size of a chip used in electronic devices. The idea is to launch a thousand of these mini-spacecraft into the Earth’s orbit. Each would have a solar sail. This is like a sail on a boat – but it is pushed along by light rather than the wind. A giant laser on Earth would give each one a powerful push, sending them on their way to reaching 20% of the speed of light.
Source: Hawking backs interstellar travel project – BBC News
Fascinating.
“Random” prime numbers and human projections
“So just what has got mathematicians spooked? Apart from 2 and 5, all prime numbers end in 1, 3, 7 or 9 â they have to, else they would be divisible by 2 or 5 â and each of the four endings is equally likely. But while searching through the primes, the pair noticed that primes ending in 1 were less likely to be followed by another prime ending in 1. That shouldnât happen if the primes were truly random â Â consecutive primes shouldnât care about their neighbourâs digits.”
Source: Mathematicians shocked to find pattern in “random” prime numbers | New Scientist
Math, philosophically, is spooky.
Does it “really” exist in the cosmos or is it (like most things we consider to be intrinsic to the universe) a human projection based on our finite nature?
Religionâs smart-people problem
Religionâs smart-people problem: The shaky intellectual foundations of absolute faith – Salon.com: “But we shouldnât be deceived. Although there are many educated religious believers, including some philosophers and scientists, religious belief declines with educational attainment, particularly with scientific education. Studies also show that religious belief declines among those with higher IQs. Hawking, Dennett and Dawkins are not outliers, and neither is Bill Gates or Warren Buffett.”
This is the perfect opening to a scifi novel…
“With the help of James Jubilee, a former American arms control officer and now a senior science and technology coordinator for health issues in Kazakhstan, Dr. LaPorte tracked down Mr. Dey through the State Department, and his images and documentation quickly convinced them of the earthworksâ authenticity and importance.”
Source: NASA Adds to Evidence of Mysterious Ancient Earthworks
Get to writing, someone. I want to read this book and how humanity is shaken to its roots by startling revelations about our species’ history…
On Invoking Galileo and Columbus in Your Arguments
“If you are arguing against climate change, vaccines, evolution, etc. you do not get to invoke Galileo because in any accurate analogy, you are the religious fanatics (or the astronomers who blindly clung to Aristotle).”
If only I had a dime for every time I’ve encountered the “Yeah? Well, everyone thought Columbus was nuts too!” or “Yeah? Well, Galileo was right despite what all the scientists of his day said!” in a conversation.
Polynomial Codes Over Certain Finite Fields, or Why Things You Don’t Think Matter Actually Matter
“Whatever new technologies are on the horizon, history has taught us that Reed-Solomon-based coding will probably still be there, behind the scenes, safeguarding our data against errors. Like the genes within an organism, the codes have been passed down to subsequent generations, slightly adjusted and optimized for their new environment. They have a proven track record that starts on Earth and extends ever further into the Milky Way. âThere cannot be a code that can correct more errors than Reed-Solomon codesâŠItâs mathematical proof,â Bossert says. âItâs beautiful.â
Source: The Math That Connects Pluto to DNA â NOVA Next | PBS
From storing information via DNA to communicating with spacecraft near Pluto to enabling your cell phone and beyond…
Don’t let people tell you that your work doesn’t matter. Small minds are the enemy of progress.