You know, I've never found quantum theory to be anything other than completely logical. I think the trick is to avoid separating humanity from the rest of nature. It's difficult to explain in plain words, but I'll try.
In the case of QT, 'observe' means 'measure.'
Humans, and most (all?) living things, have measuring-machines functions built into them. In a sense, an argument might be made that all life-forms are nothing but measuring-machines and information processors organizing the data that is measured. The sense-organs are biological machines that measure particular variables. The eyes measure the intensity and wavelength of light, the nose and tongue measure variations in the quantity of certain chemicals, the ears measure vibrations, and so on.
The point in QT is quite simple and logical: measurement disturbs that which is measured. Any and all kinds of measurement.
Now, at a macro level, this doesn't really bother us much. We don't (can't?) notice it. The 'disruption' is far too small.
At a very small level, though, when we start looking at stuff reeeeeeeeeealllly closely, we can start to notice that we are disrupting the things that we are trying to measure, by trying to measure them.
It's like we keep trying to move the magnifying glass just that *little bit* closer, and keep bumping the thing we are trying to look at.
At this level, we can never get a 'perfect observation' or attain 'perfect knowledge' about something, because we ourselves are getting in the way.
Now, I know that the 'measurement problem' is deeper than this. That there are certain things which indicate that electrons exist in multiple states at once, and that only being 'observed' do they 'resolve' into a definite state. However, I think these words are misleading. A better way to say it might be:
Due to ourselves getting in the way, we *cannot* know exactly what state an electron is in without measuring it, but we know that by measuring it we are exerting an influence on its state. So it's not that an electron doesn't have a position or momentum until it is observed, it's just that we *cannot*, and by that word I mean *it is impossible due to the fundamental laws of physics* for us to know its position or momentum until we observe it. It exists, until then, outside our possible world of information, and therefore, in the purified world of theory, it doesn't exist.
Schrodinger's cat is alive or dead. It doesn't exist in limbo. The cat is a macro object, following Newtonian laws. The cat is an observer. The box that cat is in is an observer. The air particles in the box are all observers. It's only the very small things that act weird. And by the time the echoes of their actions reach us, up here in the big people's world, the probabilities have already resolved themselves into action. It's just those tiny little things we can't measure as perfectly as we'd like that give us problems. We ourselves, great flesh-bag-bacteria-colonies that we are, are limited. The universe on the other hand, may not be, and may contain things we, by our very nature, by our very size, cannot comprehend.
Either that, or quantum effects are the traces of >4-dimensional reality extruding into our 4-dimensional frame of reference.
This problem is gaining far too much currency on the Interwebz. It is stated too vaguely to be considered mathematically rigorous. It is not a mathematics problem; rather, it is an exercise in sophistry.
What I'd love to see:
The world's best mathematicians take a long hard look at the algorithms used in HFT, improve on them if possible, and then publish them openly.
The financial world is far too black-boxed and clandestine. It's no accident that the 'shadow banking system' sounds like some kind of criminal underworld.
Any world's-best mathematician out there who isn't a profit-crazed greed-monkey want to take a shot at it?
Going over the notes the cable guy gave us, covering various options, the basic 160Mbps plan was 3300yen, the HDD240h+DVD an additional 2200yen, and the telephone/fax 700yen, coming out to 6200yen per month.
I do believe it's cheaper because I've been a customer for over two years...but not *that* much cheaper. Also, the entire building is wired up for J:com, which might have lowered the installation cost, so perhaps that 10,980yen includes the installation cost of the cable spaced out over the length of the contract? Perhaps give them a call and see what you can work out.
I live in Tokyo.
A few weeks ago the doorbell rang and a J:com salesman started trying to sell me some new package deal. I started to wave him away and close the door when my ears picked up the words "160 megabytes." Interested, I enquired further.
The next day the cable guy came around to upgrade our system. We went from a basic 30meg line for 5500yen per month (US$55.00 give or take at today's rates) to a 160meg line, 100 cable channels, pay-on-demand selection of thousands of new-release movie titles in high-definition format, fixed phone and a DVD HDD/DVD recorder HDTV-ready box for 6200yen per month.
I'm very happy. But Tsutaya, the leading movie rental chain in Japan, probably won't be.
The biggest problems with 'immortality' will be psychological in nature, I'm betting.
As we age in our undying hardware, the software will start to fragment, become obsolete, crumble. At some point it's easier just to reformat rather than try to clean out all the shit.
Body-based immortality is only the first, tentative step.
Our best bet seems to me to be the development of a complete simulation of a human and his/her environment down to the molecular, possibly atomic level. Uploaded as distributed data, with latent real-time backups, error-correction, and enough flexibility to instantly replace the loss of any discrete portion.
As someone else who speaks Japanese and English I can agree wholeheartedly.
Try as I might, I've found it next to impossible to explain to someone who only speaks one language or two or more similar languages (Spanish/Italian; even English/French) that the gulf between English and a language like Japanese is *vast.*
Accurate translation in real life *requires* intricate paraphrasing. It involves 'mode-switching' as mentioned, and a kind of 'thirdspace' in which the language input is broken down into concepts, adjusted according to multiple and interrelated contexts, and then rephrased in a new, and profoundly different, output mode. Much is lost, much is added, much is guessed at and jerry-rigged.
What this means is that a fully-trained bilingual interpreter will often be forced to alter the nuances of the original language and try to get the gist of the 'meaning', 'feeling', 'intention' and 'innuendo' across.
Try reading Kawabata Yasunari in Japanese and then English. Not the same author.
I suspect that 'human-like' language translation is much closer to 'human-like' AI than most people working in the field would like to admit.
I find it difficult to fathom the inhumanity of people who see this kind of this as 'useful.'
Clearly extreme pain causes psychological disturbance, and prolonged extreme pain can cause long-lasting or even permanent damage.
I can imagine someone trapped in a beam for longer than a minute tearing out their own throat and eyes in an effort to escape this thing.
Sit back for a moment and imagine yourself in this thing. For hours.
Hell could be no worse.
-- 6 years teaching in the Japanese university system.
-- 4 years in corporate training.
Couldn't agree more.
Hence: a single party 'democracy' since 1955. Young people feel they are not 'worthy' to vote. Old people vote for populist novelists, guys with flashy haircuts, and the grandsons of the guys their grandparents voted for.
Japan is not democratic, no more than China is communist.
What we need is some new terminology to put a handle on the complexities of the socio-economic-political systems that actually exist in the world today. It would suddenly make political discussions far more meaningful.
Actually WoW already has two playable 'worlds'; dimensions really, and the lore implies countless others. Hell, the Dranei crashed to Azeroth in their damage *spaceship*.
There's a lot to suggest that the Worlds of Warcraft and Starcraft are not discrete universes...
Slashdot Mirror
A move into High Frequency Trading perhaps?
You know, I've never found quantum theory to be anything other than completely logical. I think the trick is to avoid separating humanity from the rest of nature. It's difficult to explain in plain words, but I'll try.
In the case of QT, 'observe' means 'measure.'
Humans, and most (all?) living things, have measuring-machines functions built into them. In a sense, an argument might be made that all life-forms are nothing but measuring-machines and information processors organizing the data that is measured. The sense-organs are biological machines that measure particular variables. The eyes measure the intensity and wavelength of light, the nose and tongue measure variations in the quantity of certain chemicals, the ears measure vibrations, and so on.
The point in QT is quite simple and logical: measurement disturbs that which is measured. Any and all kinds of measurement.
Now, at a macro level, this doesn't really bother us much. We don't (can't?) notice it. The 'disruption' is far too small.
At a very small level, though, when we start looking at stuff reeeeeeeeeealllly closely, we can start to notice that we are disrupting the things that we are trying to measure, by trying to measure them.
It's like we keep trying to move the magnifying glass just that *little bit* closer, and keep bumping the thing we are trying to look at.
At this level, we can never get a 'perfect observation' or attain 'perfect knowledge' about something, because we ourselves are getting in the way.
Now, I know that the 'measurement problem' is deeper than this. That there are certain things which indicate that electrons exist in multiple states at once, and that only being 'observed' do they 'resolve' into a definite state. However, I think these words are misleading. A better way to say it might be:
Due to ourselves getting in the way, we *cannot* know exactly what state an electron is in without measuring it, but we know that by measuring it we are exerting an influence on its state. So it's not that an electron doesn't have a position or momentum until it is observed, it's just that we *cannot*, and by that word I mean *it is impossible due to the fundamental laws of physics* for us to know its position or momentum until we observe it. It exists, until then, outside our possible world of information, and therefore, in the purified world of theory, it doesn't exist.
Schrodinger's cat is alive or dead. It doesn't exist in limbo. The cat is a macro object, following Newtonian laws. The cat is an observer. The box that cat is in is an observer. The air particles in the box are all observers. It's only the very small things that act weird. And by the time the echoes of their actions reach us, up here in the big people's world, the probabilities have already resolved themselves into action. It's just those tiny little things we can't measure as perfectly as we'd like that give us problems. We ourselves, great flesh-bag-bacteria-colonies that we are, are limited. The universe on the other hand, may not be, and may contain things we, by our very nature, by our very size, cannot comprehend.
Either that, or quantum effects are the traces of >4-dimensional reality extruding into our 4-dimensional frame of reference.
See, I told you it was logical :D
This problem is gaining far too much currency on the Interwebz. It is stated too vaguely to be considered mathematically rigorous. It is not a mathematics problem; rather, it is an exercise in sophistry.
What I'd love to see: The world's best mathematicians take a long hard look at the algorithms used in HFT, improve on them if possible, and then publish them openly. The financial world is far too black-boxed and clandestine. It's no accident that the 'shadow banking system' sounds like some kind of criminal underworld. Any world's-best mathematician out there who isn't a profit-crazed greed-monkey want to take a shot at it?
oversimplifying is bad?
Because if you gpg/pgp, you must be a terrorist!
Going over the notes the cable guy gave us, covering various options, the basic 160Mbps plan was 3300yen, the HDD240h+DVD an additional 2200yen, and the telephone/fax 700yen, coming out to 6200yen per month. I do believe it's cheaper because I've been a customer for over two years...but not *that* much cheaper. Also, the entire building is wired up for J:com, which might have lowered the installation cost, so perhaps that 10,980yen includes the installation cost of the cable spaced out over the length of the contract? Perhaps give them a call and see what you can work out.
I live in Tokyo. A few weeks ago the doorbell rang and a J:com salesman started trying to sell me some new package deal. I started to wave him away and close the door when my ears picked up the words "160 megabytes." Interested, I enquired further. The next day the cable guy came around to upgrade our system. We went from a basic 30meg line for 5500yen per month (US$55.00 give or take at today's rates) to a 160meg line, 100 cable channels, pay-on-demand selection of thousands of new-release movie titles in high-definition format, fixed phone and a DVD HDD/DVD recorder HDTV-ready box for 6200yen per month. I'm very happy. But Tsutaya, the leading movie rental chain in Japan, probably won't be.
Earth-shattering stuff.
Gotta love Pop Science
As we age in our undying hardware, the software will start to fragment, become obsolete, crumble. At some point it's easier just to reformat rather than try to clean out all the shit.
Body-based immortality is only the first, tentative step.
Our best bet seems to me to be the development of a complete simulation of a human and his/her environment down to the molecular, possibly atomic level. Uploaded as distributed data, with latent real-time backups, error-correction, and enough flexibility to instantly replace the loss of any discrete portion.
Hmmm...maybe I'm reading too much Charles Stross and Greg Egan ...
It might happen someday. The hard part will be getting the human race to survive long enough.
I hope they have WiFi.
As someone else who speaks Japanese and English I can agree wholeheartedly. Try as I might, I've found it next to impossible to explain to someone who only speaks one language or two or more similar languages (Spanish/Italian; even English/French) that the gulf between English and a language like Japanese is *vast.* Accurate translation in real life *requires* intricate paraphrasing. It involves 'mode-switching' as mentioned, and a kind of 'thirdspace' in which the language input is broken down into concepts, adjusted according to multiple and interrelated contexts, and then rephrased in a new, and profoundly different, output mode. Much is lost, much is added, much is guessed at and jerry-rigged. What this means is that a fully-trained bilingual interpreter will often be forced to alter the nuances of the original language and try to get the gist of the 'meaning', 'feeling', 'intention' and 'innuendo' across. Try reading Kawabata Yasunari in Japanese and then English. Not the same author. I suspect that 'human-like' language translation is much closer to 'human-like' AI than most people working in the field would like to admit.
I find it difficult to fathom the inhumanity of people who see this kind of this as 'useful.' Clearly extreme pain causes psychological disturbance, and prolonged extreme pain can cause long-lasting or even permanent damage. I can imagine someone trapped in a beam for longer than a minute tearing out their own throat and eyes in an effort to escape this thing. Sit back for a moment and imagine yourself in this thing. For hours. Hell could be no worse.
-- 6 years teaching in the Japanese university system. -- 4 years in corporate training. Couldn't agree more. Hence: a single party 'democracy' since 1955. Young people feel they are not 'worthy' to vote. Old people vote for populist novelists, guys with flashy haircuts, and the grandsons of the guys their grandparents voted for. Japan is not democratic, no more than China is communist. What we need is some new terminology to put a handle on the complexities of the socio-economic-political systems that actually exist in the world today. It would suddenly make political discussions far more meaningful.
Actually WoW already has two playable 'worlds'; dimensions really, and the lore implies countless others. Hell, the Dranei crashed to Azeroth in their damage *spaceship*. There's a lot to suggest that the Worlds of Warcraft and Starcraft are not discrete universes...
My old Vodafone had this too, over two years ago by my count. Hardly news. O.o