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See also: "The Zen Anti-Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics" https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=5359 https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=5359

by jakear 4y ago

mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
Love me a good Scott Aaronson blogpost! I go back and forth myself on whether I buy the austere interpretation. Mainly I struggle with the open question of probabilities. Something about the combination of probability and philosophical argument - the two most hard to intuit things in the world - makes my head spin. Though there are also so many compelling advantages, like providing an arrow in time in that branches of the wave function never re-merge. I'm also fascinated by superdeterminism. I don't have the same philosophical issues with it that others have. I settled on the "useful fiction" view of free will a long time ago anyway. But I've yet to see any logic supporting the idea that the entire universe would, or even could conspire in this way. But I also used to think many worlds was inherently illogical, so I don't know. Then there's the voice in me that says "it's just a collapse, it just has to be when there's enough moving parts", but again, can't think of a justification for it other than intuition. And now there's a 4th shouting at me "why are you thinking about this, you're a programmer". I guess I'm just wired that way, I can't not ponder the things I don't understand, no matter how irrelevant they are to my life.
- jakear 4y ago
  Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand. ― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
- jemmyw 4y ago
  I find super determinism fascinating too. It's not really scientific because it's ultimately untestable. I just like the idea that the universe is whole, compete from end to end and time is just another axis through it. In my interpretation I'm not traveling through time but just exist in each moment of time thinking that I'm traveling through it because I remember the last moment. It's not a belief, just a thought.

See also: "The Zen Anti-Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics" https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=5359 https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=5359

by jakear 4y ago

See also: "The Zen Anti-Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics" https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=5359 https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=5359

mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago

Love me a good Scott Aaronson blogpost! I go back and forth myself on whether I buy the austere interpretation. Mainly I struggle with the open question of probabilities. Something about the combination of probability and philosophical argument - the two most hard to intuit things in the world - makes my head spin. Though there are also so many compelling advantages, like providing an arrow in time in that branches of the wave function never re-merge. I'm also fascinated by superdeterminism. I don't have the same philosophical issues with it that others have. I settled on the "useful fiction" view of free will a long time ago anyway. But I've yet to see any logic supporting the idea that the entire universe would, or even could conspire in this way. But I also used to think many worlds was inherently illogical, so I don't know. Then there's the voice in me that says "it's just a collapse, it just has to be when there's enough moving parts", but again, can't think of a justification for it other than intuition. And now there's a 4th shouting at me "why are you thinking about this, you're a programmer". I guess I'm just wired that way, I can't not ponder the things I don't understand, no matter how irrelevant they are to my life.

jakear 4y ago
Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand. ― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
jemmyw 4y ago
I find super determinism fascinating too. It's not really scientific because it's ultimately untestable. I just like the idea that the universe is whole, compete from end to end and time is just another axis through it. In my interpretation I'm not traveling through time but just exist in each moment of time thinking that I'm traveling through it because I remember the last moment. It's not a belief, just a thought.