3 ms·

From my naive pov: Related to computation is the concept of state (I know, functional languages can get away without it, sort of). I always wondered how the uni

From my naive pov: Related to computation is the concept of state (I know, functional languages can get away without it, sort of). I always wondered how the universe “knows” the mass of the sun. If there are some underlying functions/computations “running” in the background to keep planets moving and so on, and if the mass of planets is a key element in such computations… then either: the mass is calculated “on the fly” every time (seems expensive) or it’s a variable (how is it updated? Where is it “stored”?)

AlotOfReading 3mo ago
The somewhat abbreviated answer is that the "state" is formalized into the concept of fields. All the physical properties we can observe are from coupling with the relevant fields. The speed at which changes can propagate in fields is C, hence the speed of light being the same value.
dleeftink 3mo ago
As far as I understand it, the storage is the space, or rather, spacetime emerges from a system's informational capacity and the degrees of freedom along which information can spread. On the balance all information is retained but undergoes various phase transitions (the 'computations').
khalic 3mo ago
Functional programming very much has states. But you’re describing the transitions instead of the states directly. What it does is removing the hidden states and effects and makes them typed, explicit and contained
amwet 3mo ago
I think it’s easier to conceive of it like this: Each point in spacetime IS storage. Storage can be queried by interacting with it (in a variety of ways), though the process of querying affects the value not only of the querier, but also the queried, which may have side-effects as well. The interaction itself is the computation. A simple example for the computation: It’s like placing boxes next to each other. Yes I could say 1 box + 3 boxes = 4 boxes, via explicit calculation. I could also simply place 1 box next to three boxes, and without having to explicitly calculate, by nature of the interaction, the result (4 boxes) has been produced There is no background computation or storage. The universe IS computation and storage. Each spacetime quanta IS storage, and each interaction IS computation.
- ianburrell 3mo ago
  Spacetime isn't quantized as far as we know. We don't know since we don't have quantum gravity or ability to probe Planck scale. Quantum fields are continuous, it is excitations in the field, particles, that are quantized.
  - amwet 3mo ago
    Ah, I thought we didn’t have strong evidence either way. Regardless, I shouldn’t have stated spacetime quanta so matter-of-factly. I just have an easier time conceptualizing if I treat everything like hypervoxels and that leaked in.
    - lmpdev 3mo ago
      The answer is we don’t know for certain There are even some philosophers/mathematicians who attest to finitism (they’re not mainstream, though), but if correct would undermine our idea of fields and continuous structures more broadly
peter_m1 3mo ago
The theory of general relativity answers this exact question. It has been tested experimentally and has been found to be correct in the classical regime. By correct I mean that the experimental data agrees with theoretical prediction.

AlotOfReading 3mo ago

The somewhat abbreviated answer is that the "state" is formalized into the concept of fields. All the physical properties we can observe are from coupling with the relevant fields. The speed at which changes can propagate in fields is C, hence the speed of light being the same value.

dleeftink 3mo ago

As far as I understand it, the storage is the space, or rather, spacetime emerges from a system's informational capacity and the degrees of freedom along which information can spread. On the balance all information is retained but undergoes various phase transitions (the 'computations').

khalic 3mo ago

Functional programming very much has states. But you’re describing the transitions instead of the states directly. What it does is removing the hidden states and effects and makes them typed, explicit and contained

amwet 3mo ago

I think it’s easier to conceive of it like this: Each point in spacetime IS storage. Storage can be queried by interacting with it (in a variety of ways), though the process of querying affects the value not only of the querier, but also the queried, which may have side-effects as well. The interaction itself is the computation. A simple example for the computation: It’s like placing boxes next to each other. Yes I could say 1 box + 3 boxes = 4 boxes, via explicit calculation. I could also simply place 1 box next to three boxes, and without having to explicitly calculate, by nature of the interaction, the result (4 boxes) has been produced There is no background computation or storage. The universe IS computation and storage. Each spacetime quanta IS storage, and each interaction IS computation.

ianburrell 3mo ago
Spacetime isn't quantized as far as we know. We don't know since we don't have quantum gravity or ability to probe Planck scale. Quantum fields are continuous, it is excitations in the field, particles, that are quantized.
- amwet 3mo ago
  Ah, I thought we didn’t have strong evidence either way. Regardless, I shouldn’t have stated spacetime quanta so matter-of-factly. I just have an easier time conceptualizing if I treat everything like hypervoxels and that leaked in.
  - lmpdev 3mo ago
    The answer is we don’t know for certain There are even some philosophers/mathematicians who attest to finitism (they’re not mainstream, though), but if correct would undermine our idea of fields and continuous structures more broadly

peter_m1 3mo ago

The theory of general relativity answers this exact question. It has been tested experimentally and has been found to be correct in the classical regime. By correct I mean that the experimental data agrees with theoretical prediction.