9 ms·

That's analogy is not really correct. Nor is the one in the video. With electrons, or light for that matter you're dealing with wave particle duality and the ap

by sfifs 3y ago

That's analogy is not really correct. Nor is the one in the video. With electrons, or light for that matter you're dealing with wave particle duality and the appearance of "shortest path" is a result of the particle's wave nature. Prof Morales did a good explanatory series in Ars https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/the-curious-observers-guide-to-quantum-mechanics/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/science/2021/01... Water doesn't actually "solve" a maze either https://youtu.be/81ebWToAnvA https://youtu.be/81ebWToAnvA

beerandt 3y ago
Depends on how you set up the analogy, but sure it's not perfect. And I put "solve" in quotes precisely because it does no such thing. But a water molecule interacting with pressure gradients and waves is about the best eli5 or even eli18 that I've seen, with both particle and wave representations. But maybe that's just because I'm a hydraulics engineer and "get it."
- version_five 3y ago
  Your analogy is fine for a classical treatment of electricity. At some quantum level I assume it's also wrong for water, but that's irrelevant.
  - beerandt 3y ago
    Yea, but we're talking about a 22 min video vs a 2 sentence explainer to grasp the very basics of a concept here. I love to argue the technical stuff as much as anyone, but the underappreciated aspect and skill of any engineering is eyeballing cost/benefit of any expenditure. Be it sizing elements of finite analysis, or sizing an analogy.
CyberDildonics 3y ago
You're conflating electrons and electromagnetic radiation. Also light doesn't act like electricity or water, it just bounces at the reflection angle. There is no volume or pressure. Also there is no such thing as a light 'particle'. That is an abstract concept to make simulation easier.
- RyEgswuCsn 3y ago
  Are you being serious? > You're conflating electrons and electromagnetic radiation. Isn’t that one of the main points of quantum physics? Light does apply pressure. Also photon exists?
  - CyberDildonics 3y ago
    Isn’t that one of the main points of quantum physics? Do you think quantum mechanics says that light is made up of electrons? That would be like saying sound and water are the exact same thing because water going through a hose makes sound. Light does apply pressure. On the other hand, no it doesn't. If you shine light into a tube, it doesn't fill up with light until the tube blows apart. This is what is being talked about in this thread, so try to understand that context. Also photon exists? Are you asking if photons exist? Electromagnetic radiation is magnitude of frequencies over time. There are no individual packets of light just like there are no individual packets of sounds. Photons are a useful idea in simulations because you need to sample specific paths.
    - Dylan16807 3y ago
      > On the other hand, no it doesn't. If you shine light into a tube, it doesn't fill up with light until the tube blows apart. This is what is being talked about in this thread, so try to understand that context. I don't see what that proves. If you pour water or CO2 or whatever into a normal tube, it doesn't fill up until the tube blows apart, it overflows. And you can easily show those fluids exert pressure. To blow up a tube you need to have enough pressure at the fill valve. And if you do that, you can blow up a tube with light. It just happens to be hard to concentrate light that much.
      - CyberDildonics 3y ago
        Are you sure you are following the context of this thread, where pressure finds the path of least resistance? you can blow up a tube with light. Show me an experiment where light exerts itself physically on other light through being constrained to the extent that it finds the path of least resistance. Really, this is the epitome of a hacker news discussion where there is something reasonable being twisted into absolute nonsense with excessively convoluted arguments.

by sfifs 3y ago

beerandt 3y ago

Depends on how you set up the analogy, but sure it's not perfect. And I put "solve" in quotes precisely because it does no such thing. But a water molecule interacting with pressure gradients and waves is about the best eli5 or even eli18 that I've seen, with both particle and wave representations. But maybe that's just because I'm a hydraulics engineer and "get it."

version_five 3y ago
Your analogy is fine for a classical treatment of electricity. At some quantum level I assume it's also wrong for water, but that's irrelevant.
- beerandt 3y ago
  Yea, but we're talking about a 22 min video vs a 2 sentence explainer to grasp the very basics of a concept here. I love to argue the technical stuff as much as anyone, but the underappreciated aspect and skill of any engineering is eyeballing cost/benefit of any expenditure. Be it sizing elements of finite analysis, or sizing an analogy.

CyberDildonics 3y ago

You're conflating electrons and electromagnetic radiation. Also light doesn't act like electricity or water, it just bounces at the reflection angle. There is no volume or pressure. Also there is no such thing as a light 'particle'. That is an abstract concept to make simulation easier.

RyEgswuCsn 3y ago
Are you being serious? > You're conflating electrons and electromagnetic radiation. Isn’t that one of the main points of quantum physics? Light does apply pressure. Also photon exists?
- CyberDildonics 3y ago
  Isn’t that one of the main points of quantum physics? Do you think quantum mechanics says that light is made up of electrons? That would be like saying sound and water are the exact same thing because water going through a hose makes sound. Light does apply pressure. On the other hand, no it doesn't. If you shine light into a tube, it doesn't fill up with light until the tube blows apart. This is what is being talked about in this thread, so try to understand that context. Also photon exists? Are you asking if photons exist? Electromagnetic radiation is magnitude of frequencies over time. There are no individual packets of light just like there are no individual packets of sounds. Photons are a useful idea in simulations because you need to sample specific paths.
  - Dylan16807 3y ago
    > On the other hand, no it doesn't. If you shine light into a tube, it doesn't fill up with light until the tube blows apart. This is what is being talked about in this thread, so try to understand that context. I don't see what that proves. If you pour water or CO2 or whatever into a normal tube, it doesn't fill up until the tube blows apart, it overflows. And you can easily show those fluids exert pressure. To blow up a tube you need to have enough pressure at the fill valve. And if you do that, you can blow up a tube with light. It just happens to be hard to concentrate light that much.
    - CyberDildonics 3y ago
      Are you sure you are following the context of this thread, where pressure finds the path of least resistance? you can blow up a tube with light. Show me an experiment where light exerts itself physically on other light through being constrained to the extent that it finds the path of least resistance. Really, this is the epitome of a hacker news discussion where there is something reasonable being twisted into absolute nonsense with excessively convoluted arguments.