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I thought the same - though it actually gets its name from wave function collapse in quantum physics, as each pixel has multiple potential positions it can coll

I thought the same - though it actually gets its name from wave function collapse in quantum physics, as each pixel has multiple potential positions it can collapse to, leading to the procedurally generated map

judofyr 5y ago
As someone who has actually studied physics (including quantum mechanics) I find this analogy extremely poor. Keeping multiple potential candidates which you gradually reduce into a single solution is a very common approach for solving a variety of problems (e.g. sudoku solver). This is not at all what makes the wave function interesting or useful in quantum mechanics. And the whole concept that you iteratively collapse each "wave element" isn't a thing which is present in quantum mechanics at all. Oh well, I guess people like the fancy name.
- pixelpoet 5y ago
  > Oh well, I guess people like the fancy name. The way "quantum leap" is used by laypeople springs to mind too; literally the opposite of what they mean (not only tiny but random).
  - gmadsen 5y ago
    is it though? I've heard the argument, but to me it still makes sense as it is used colloquially. It is a discrete jump forward, thus if you are not talking about electrons and just the latin definition can be an arbitrary sized quanta if defined to an an appropriate set. a quantum leap between scientific epochs is quite large for example also just reread your comment. I don't agree with the definition "small and random", it is smallest unit of measurement an arbitrary system magnitude can change
    - skulk 5y ago
      Here's my interpretation: a classical leap is when you are somewhere, you expend a bit of energy you have, and you end up somewhere else as a result. Basically, you do something and something happens. A quantum leap, on the other hand, happens when you are somewhere just sitting, and boom, now you're somewhere else. It just happened randomly, without any energy input from you. So to bring this back to the idiom, an example of a quantum leap would be this: "I had a dream yesterday that gave me the insight I needed to finish my proof of XYZ theorem!"
      - drdeca 5y ago
        The main example of a quantum leap that comes to mind is between energy levels of an electron of an atom, and that does involve emitting or absorbing a photon, carrying the energy that needs to be accounted for. I don’t think what you’ve said is correct.
  - ImHereToVote 5y ago
    Quantum does not mean "small and discrete", it only means "discrete", as in "quantisation" - fitting values into a discrete defined set. For instance in mathematics the operation of "rounding" quantises fractions into the set of integers.
    - eru 5y ago
      Yes, but the quantum leaps in physics are small.
  - raattgift 5y ago
    I think it is (in this usage) meant as the gain in human understanding of the photoelectric effect (Einstein 1905), specific heat, diamagnetism, and so forth once quantum mechanics began development. The leap from classical mechanical theories being fundamental to quantum mechanical theories being fundamental (with classical physics emerging from that), in other words, was a big shift even though subatomic particles themselves, and their bound states, are generally very small. Random doesn't really enter into it. One can get that in a firmly non-quantized theory, as in one of Einstein's other 1905 papers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion#Einstein's_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion#Einstein's_the... https://history.aip.org/exhibits/einstein/essay-brownian.htm https://history.aip.org/exhibits/einstein/essay-brownian.htm https://physicsworld.com/a/einsteins-random-walk/ https://physicsworld.com/a/einsteins-random-walk/

judofyr 5y ago

As someone who has actually studied physics (including quantum mechanics) I find this analogy extremely poor. Keeping multiple potential candidates which you gradually reduce into a single solution is a very common approach for solving a variety of problems (e.g. sudoku solver). This is not at all what makes the wave function interesting or useful in quantum mechanics. And the whole concept that you iteratively collapse each "wave element" isn't a thing which is present in quantum mechanics at all. Oh well, I guess people like the fancy name.

pixelpoet 5y ago
> Oh well, I guess people like the fancy name. The way "quantum leap" is used by laypeople springs to mind too; literally the opposite of what they mean (not only tiny but random).
- gmadsen 5y ago
  is it though? I've heard the argument, but to me it still makes sense as it is used colloquially. It is a discrete jump forward, thus if you are not talking about electrons and just the latin definition can be an arbitrary sized quanta if defined to an an appropriate set. a quantum leap between scientific epochs is quite large for example also just reread your comment. I don't agree with the definition "small and random", it is smallest unit of measurement an arbitrary system magnitude can change
  - skulk 5y ago
    Here's my interpretation: a classical leap is when you are somewhere, you expend a bit of energy you have, and you end up somewhere else as a result. Basically, you do something and something happens. A quantum leap, on the other hand, happens when you are somewhere just sitting, and boom, now you're somewhere else. It just happened randomly, without any energy input from you. So to bring this back to the idiom, an example of a quantum leap would be this: "I had a dream yesterday that gave me the insight I needed to finish my proof of XYZ theorem!"
    - drdeca 5y ago
      The main example of a quantum leap that comes to mind is between energy levels of an electron of an atom, and that does involve emitting or absorbing a photon, carrying the energy that needs to be accounted for. I don’t think what you’ve said is correct.
- ImHereToVote 5y ago
  Quantum does not mean "small and discrete", it only means "discrete", as in "quantisation" - fitting values into a discrete defined set. For instance in mathematics the operation of "rounding" quantises fractions into the set of integers.
  - eru 5y ago
    Yes, but the quantum leaps in physics are small.
- raattgift 5y ago
  I think it is (in this usage) meant as the gain in human understanding of the photoelectric effect (Einstein 1905), specific heat, diamagnetism, and so forth once quantum mechanics began development. The leap from classical mechanical theories being fundamental to quantum mechanical theories being fundamental (with classical physics emerging from that), in other words, was a big shift even though subatomic particles themselves, and their bound states, are generally very small. Random doesn't really enter into it. One can get that in a firmly non-quantized theory, as in one of Einstein's other 1905 papers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion#Einstein's_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion#Einstein's_the... https://history.aip.org/exhibits/einstein/essay-brownian.htm https://history.aip.org/exhibits/einstein/essay-brownian.htm https://physicsworld.com/a/einsteins-random-walk/ https://physicsworld.com/a/einsteins-random-walk/