3 ms·

This was a great read, and it was heartening to be reminded that there are plenty of talented physicists out there who aren’t afraid to lift the rug and see wha

This was a great read, and it was heartening to be reminded that there are plenty of talented physicists out there who aren’t afraid to lift the rug and see what’s under there. I noticed, as I progressed through my studies of physics, a tendency for people to go from “what if” to “it is” before finally reaching “what if” again, as their knowledge grew and developed - I think many went into it for the same reason as me, seeking explanations for reality, and there’s a tendency to mistake theory for explanation, if it’s explanation you’re looking for. All of it, from QFT to Cartesian coordinates to mathematics itself is just a construct that we humans have come up with to create a rational framework of information that can describe reality - but as anyone who has ever written software knows, there are many ways to reach the same behaviour with different underlying code. It’s all essentially reverse engineering from a point where you begin without even language or the concept of logic, and everything, everything that you have to work with is the stuff you’ve created, outside of the black box of the universe - but made only with the stuff of the black box. I moved diagonally into computer science and philosophy, as I was only ending up with more questions the deeper I went into physics - and the whole information as reality concept has stuck with me, as it’s the only part of all of our frameworks which remains a consistent truth. I think our next big breakthrough in understanding will likely come not purely from physics, but the intersection of physics and computing, as I think we will come to realise that they are essentially one and the same.

Comevius 4y ago
Information thermodynamics is a fertile research field that gave us a lot of insight into physics, and also chemistry and biology. Beyond solving Maxwell's daemon (one of the early clues that information is physical and intricately linked to thermodynamics) experimentally, we can also build tiny machines fueled by information, so called information engines. I'm not sure how this relates to quantum gravity, I think that one is going to be harder to figure out.
- mhh__ 4y ago
  Unless it's one more systemd feature, it's Maxwell's "demon"
  - tuckerman 4y ago
    I didn’t look terribly long so I can’t find a reference, but I believe when Kelvin coined the term he used the daemon spelling
    - bardworx 4y ago
      Yes, the process was named after Maxwell's daemon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(computing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(computing)
  - peterburkimsher 4y ago
    What happens if we ask Laplace's demon (assumption of reversibility) to battle Maxwell's demon (entropy decrease) - will it end in an infinite loop? At some level, even systemd is built on a superloop, or "main" method, which depends on a power supply. So the computers are depending on physics again, to persuade us that: • electron + positron = photon • photon really is a fundamental particle in the Standard Model • Elementary charges are measured as +1, -1 electron... ok I'm confused now. • One Electron Universe?
    - treeman79 4y ago
      Also time causes gravity.
- madaxe_again 4y ago
  I think by considering gravity, space and time somewhat differently. We use terms like “speed of light” when what we actually mean is “speed of information”. We use terms like “speed” to describe ds/dt, but again, that may be a result of our perception rather than a relevant physical phenomenon. We look at mass, and describe things as having, well, mass - or energy - but what they actually have is information. So, for gravity, quantum gravity, I think it’s more about a shift in perception (what is this “force” thing anyway?) than necessarily new science or techniques at this point. I mean, you could look at it as “more information in a given region of spacetime induces a computational overhead due to network effects, which slows time locally respective to an external observer, resulting in an apparent “gravity” force across the time differential”.
mensetmanusman 4y ago
“information as reality” What are your thoughts on the regions outside of space time? An empty set? I.e. not reality?
- nurettin 4y ago
  Outside reality exists what we call an oxymoron.

Comevius 4y ago

Information thermodynamics is a fertile research field that gave us a lot of insight into physics, and also chemistry and biology. Beyond solving Maxwell's daemon (one of the early clues that information is physical and intricately linked to thermodynamics) experimentally, we can also build tiny machines fueled by information, so called information engines. I'm not sure how this relates to quantum gravity, I think that one is going to be harder to figure out.

mhh__ 4y ago
Unless it's one more systemd feature, it's Maxwell's "demon"
- tuckerman 4y ago
  I didn’t look terribly long so I can’t find a reference, but I believe when Kelvin coined the term he used the daemon spelling
  - bardworx 4y ago
    Yes, the process was named after Maxwell's daemon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(computing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(computing)
- peterburkimsher 4y ago
  What happens if we ask Laplace's demon (assumption of reversibility) to battle Maxwell's demon (entropy decrease) - will it end in an infinite loop? At some level, even systemd is built on a superloop, or "main" method, which depends on a power supply. So the computers are depending on physics again, to persuade us that: • electron + positron = photon • photon really is a fundamental particle in the Standard Model • Elementary charges are measured as +1, -1 electron... ok I'm confused now. • One Electron Universe?
  - treeman79 4y ago
    Also time causes gravity.
madaxe_again 4y ago
I think by considering gravity, space and time somewhat differently. We use terms like “speed of light” when what we actually mean is “speed of information”. We use terms like “speed” to describe ds/dt, but again, that may be a result of our perception rather than a relevant physical phenomenon. We look at mass, and describe things as having, well, mass - or energy - but what they actually have is information. So, for gravity, quantum gravity, I think it’s more about a shift in perception (what is this “force” thing anyway?) than necessarily new science or techniques at this point. I mean, you could look at it as “more information in a given region of spacetime induces a computational overhead due to network effects, which slows time locally respective to an external observer, resulting in an apparent “gravity” force across the time differential”.

mensetmanusman 4y ago

“information as reality” What are your thoughts on the regions outside of space time? An empty set? I.e. not reality?

nurettin 4y ago
Outside reality exists what we call an oxymoron.