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From your link: >"Today, in the quantum information age," In what sense do we live in a "quantum information age"? Edit: Also, is there an example of a phys

by nonbel 8y ago

From your link: >"Today, in the quantum information age," In what sense do we live in a "quantum information age"? Edit: Also, is there an example of a physical theory "running on the quantum mechanics OS"? That phrase doesnt make much sense to me. Edit2: Actually there is tons of stuff in here that seems off: >"More often than not, the only reason we need experiments is that we're not smart enough." I don't trust this guy to be explaining things to me correctly at all.

T-A 8y ago
> In what sense do we live in a "quantum information age"? You'll have to ask Aaronson what he means by that. :D I would guess he's thinking of technical applications which are attracting plenty of interest and funding (quantum computers, quantum communications). > is there an example of a physical theory "running on the quantum mechanics OS"? Sure: the entire Standard Model of particle physics. Stretching the analogy to the limit, because why not, QM is the OS it runs on, QFT is the framework it's written in, and the specific choices of gauge groups, fields and interaction terms are part of the application.
- nonbel 8y ago
  > "I would guess he's thinking of technical applications which are attracting plenty of interest and funding (quantum computers, quantum communications)." As far as I know nothing usable has come of this. So what will he name the "age" when there are actual quantum computers being used by people? >"the entire Standard Model of particle physics." This is still so vague. I'm just trying to think about how some specific thing (eg, E = hv)[1] is linked to quantum mechanics as an OS. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%E2%80%93Einstein_relation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%E2%80%93Einstein_relati...
  - T-A 8y ago
    >> "I would guess he's thinking of technical applications which are attracting plenty of interest and funding (quantum computers, quantum communications)." > As far as I know nothing usable has come of this. Quantum communications are definitely a thing: https://www.insidescience.org/news/china-leader-quantum-communications https://www.insidescience.org/news/china-leader-quantum-comm... Quantum computing is still at the R&D stage, but if you are an academic, that pretty much defines what "age" you're in: https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2620 https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2620 > This is still so vague. I'm just trying to think about how some specific thing (eg, E = hv)[1] is linked to quantum mechanics as an OS. I think the analogy makes sense in terms of what builds on what. You can build an application on top of an OS, you can't build an OS on top of an application. With something like "E = hv" you are looking at an application; it's expressed in terms of kinematic concepts, none of which is intrinsic to QM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_formulation_of_quantum_mechanics#Postulates_of_quantum_mechanics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_formulation_of_qu...
- nonbel 8y ago
  Or take the stefan-boltzmann law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_law In what sense is it "an application running on the quantum mechanics operating system".
  - T-A 8y ago
    This is quantum mechanics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_formulation_of_quantum_mechanics#Postulates_of_quantum_mechanics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_formulation_of_qu... To go from that to something like Planck's law, you need to add states, observables and dynamics (things like photons, energy, temperature). Those are specific to your application.
    - nonbel 8y ago
      Yea, so quantum mechanics is a set of assumptions. From those assumptions + some other "auxiliary" ones you can derive stuff like the stefan-boltzmann law that makes predictions about the world. Those predictions can then be compared to observation. I just can't map that understanding to this OS analogy.

by nonbel 8y ago

T-A 8y ago

> In what sense do we live in a "quantum information age"? You'll have to ask Aaronson what he means by that. :D I would guess he's thinking of technical applications which are attracting plenty of interest and funding (quantum computers, quantum communications). > is there an example of a physical theory "running on the quantum mechanics OS"? Sure: the entire Standard Model of particle physics. Stretching the analogy to the limit, because why not, QM is the OS it runs on, QFT is the framework it's written in, and the specific choices of gauge groups, fields and interaction terms are part of the application.

nonbel 8y ago
> "I would guess he's thinking of technical applications which are attracting plenty of interest and funding (quantum computers, quantum communications)." As far as I know nothing usable has come of this. So what will he name the "age" when there are actual quantum computers being used by people? >"the entire Standard Model of particle physics." This is still so vague. I'm just trying to think about how some specific thing (eg, E = hv)[1] is linked to quantum mechanics as an OS. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%E2%80%93Einstein_relation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%E2%80%93Einstein_relati...
- T-A 8y ago
  >> "I would guess he's thinking of technical applications which are attracting plenty of interest and funding (quantum computers, quantum communications)." > As far as I know nothing usable has come of this. Quantum communications are definitely a thing: https://www.insidescience.org/news/china-leader-quantum-communications https://www.insidescience.org/news/china-leader-quantum-comm... Quantum computing is still at the R&D stage, but if you are an academic, that pretty much defines what "age" you're in: https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2620 https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2620 > This is still so vague. I'm just trying to think about how some specific thing (eg, E = hv)[1] is linked to quantum mechanics as an OS. I think the analogy makes sense in terms of what builds on what. You can build an application on top of an OS, you can't build an OS on top of an application. With something like "E = hv" you are looking at an application; it's expressed in terms of kinematic concepts, none of which is intrinsic to QM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_formulation_of_quantum_mechanics#Postulates_of_quantum_mechanics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_formulation_of_qu...
nonbel 8y ago
Or take the stefan-boltzmann law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_law In what sense is it "an application running on the quantum mechanics operating system".
- T-A 8y ago
  This is quantum mechanics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_formulation_of_quantum_mechanics#Postulates_of_quantum_mechanics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_formulation_of_qu... To go from that to something like Planck's law, you need to add states, observables and dynamics (things like photons, energy, temperature). Those are specific to your application.
  - nonbel 8y ago
    Yea, so quantum mechanics is a set of assumptions. From those assumptions + some other "auxiliary" ones you can derive stuff like the stefan-boltzmann law that makes predictions about the world. Those predictions can then be compared to observation. I just can't map that understanding to this OS analogy.