[ExI] teachers

efc at swisscows.email efc at swisscows.email
Mon Aug 28 14:12:43 UTC 2023


On Sun, 27 Aug 2023, Jason Resch via extropy-chat wrote:

>       But as you can tell, I tend to be annoyingly agnostic sometimes. ;)
> 
> I don't mind it. Agnosticism is the best position to be in to learn.

It could also mean I don't dare to take a position, and just want to
"play it safe". However, I much prefer your interpretation! ;)

(some atheists, many decades ago, always liked that line of attack with
me)

>       Being annoyingly agnostic, I love the fact that there is so much we
>       still don't know, and I am looking forward to all the scientists who
>       will enlarge our sphere of knowledge and awareness of ourselves and our
>       position in the universe.
> 
> Yes. I think given Godel's incompleteness theorem, there will always be things we don't know, no matter how far we progress.

That's a wonderful and beautiful world! Imagine the boredom of knowing
all, without anything left to explore!

Best regards, 
Daniel


>       Oh, and just so you don't understand me, that was a jab against religion
>       and not theorizing and and doing philosophy. ;)
> 
>
>       Best regards,
>       Daniel
> 
> 
> Best,
> 
> Jason 
> 
> 
>
>       >
>       > Jason 
>       >
>       >  
>       >
>       >       Best regards,
>       >       Daniel
>       >
>       >
>       >       On Sun, 27 Aug 2023, Jason Resch via extropy-chat wrote:
>       >
>       >
>       >
>       >             On Sunday, August 27, 2023, <efc at swisscows.email> wrote:
>       >                   Thank you Jason,
>       >
>       >                   So would that imply then that there is no true randomness and that it is only because our limited
>       point
>       >             of view, that it
>       >                   looks random? 
>       >
>       >
>       >                   There is a "meta level" of machinery kind of?
>       >
>       >
>       >             Yes, super determinism says there are hidden variables, determined by machinery we can't access, but
>       >             moreover, everything we do to
>       >             try to measure these hidden variables, by whatever processes we choose, flipping coins, picking numbers in
>       >             our head, using digits of
>       >             Pi or e, using pseudorandom number generators, anything, whatever we pick and whatever method we choose,
>       the
>       >             universe will choose
>       >             hidden variables such that they will yield the Bell probabilities giving the false appearance of random
>       >             quantum collapse, where there
>       >             are not. But if this is true, and if we use constants in math like Pi or e, or SQRT(2), to choose how to
>       set
>       >             the rotation of a
>       >             polarizing filter when measuring two entangled photons, then somehow the universe must have known that you
>       >             would be using, say, the
>       >             digits of SQRT(2) when it created the entangled photons years earlier before you measured them. So that in
>       a
>       >             sense, the photon pair
>       >             creation event must have known how you would be measuring them, and then generated them in a way that would
>       >             yield the expected
>       >             quantum probabilities. It would also know you wouldn't in the last moment, change your mind to use the
>       digits
>       >             of Pi to choose the
>       >             angle of rotation for the polarizing filter. Super determinism is the idea that the whole universe is a
>       >             conspiracy to make us falsely
>       >             believe in quantum probabilities.
>       >
>       >
>       >              
>       >
>       >                   Sorry if I'm not making sense, it is because I did not understand the example. ;)
>       >
>       >
>       >
>       >
>       >             If it's hard to understand it's because it's so hard to believe anyone would propose this as a serious
>       >             theory, but that's the length
>       >             the center of the universe or solar system, at least I think it comes from the same place).
>       >
>       >             Jason
>       >
>       >              
>       >
>       >                   Best regards,
>       >                   Daniel
>       >
>       >
>       >                   On Sun, 27 Aug 2023, Jason Resch wrote:
>       >
>       >
>       >
>       >                         On Sunday, August 27, 2023, efc--- via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>       >                               Thank you very much Stuart, I was just about to ask for a book and you already thought of
>       >             that.
>       >
>       >                               But what about superdeterminism?
>       >
>       >
>       >                         In my view this is the worst of all possible interpretations. It is the theory that the laws of
>       >             physics are
>       >                         conspiring to always fool
>       >                         us. (Something like Descartes's evil demon). For example, if we choose to do a Bell experiment
>       >             and set our
>       >                         orientations according to
>       >                         some random sequence, super determinism says the correlations of the particles are also
>       >             determined by the
>       >                         same processes that drive
>       >                         the random number generator we use to set our orientations.
>       >
>       >                         Okay, this is weird, but not logically impossible.
>       >
>       >                         But now consider if we set our orientations according to the digits of Pi, did the processes
>       that
>       >             determine
>       >                         particle orientations
>       >                         also determine the digits of Pi? At this point I think super determinism is no longer
>       defensible.
>       >
>       >                         Jason 
>       >
>       >
>       >                          
>       >
>       >                               Wouldn't that also be one of the better "candidates" even though it goes
>       >                               against our intuition?
>       >
>       >                               Best regards,
>       >                               Daniel
>       >
>       >
>       >                               On Sun, 27 Aug 2023, Stuart LaForge via extropy-chat wrote:
>       >
>       >                                     On 2023-08-26 15:17, efc--- via extropy-chat wrote:
>       >                                           Hello Stuart,
>       >
>       >                                           Just a quick question from someone not very knowledgeable of cutting
>       >                                           edge physics.
>       >
>       >                                           You say that
>       >
>       >                                                 If you believe that a copy of you can truly be you, then you can relax
>       >             because you
>       >                                                 are already immortal. You don't need to copy yourself because there are
>       >             already
>       >                                                 plenty of, if not infinite numbers of, you strewn about the multiverse.
>       >
>       >
>       >                                           What I wonder is, are infinite numbers of you and multiverses supported by
>       >             proof or is it
>       >                         one of
>       >                                           many interpretations of current theories?
>       >
>       >                                           Best regards, Daniel
>       >
>       >
>       >                                     Hi Daniel,
>       >
>       >                                     It is not proven in a mathematical sense, but many worlds (MWI) is the only
>       >             interpretation of
>       >                         quantum
>       >                                     mechanics that is complete. All that you need for many worlds to be true is that
>       the
>       >             Schrodinger
>       >                         equation be
>       >                                     true. The alternatives require extra stuff.
>       >
>       >                                     For example, collapse interpretations need an additional mechanism by which
>       >             measurement can
>       >                         somehow cause a
>       >                                     quantum particle that is spread out everywhere at once to suddenly be somewhere
>       >             specific at
>       >                         faster than the
>       >                                     speed of light. It requires consciousness to be a fundamental property of the
>       >             universe in the
>       >                         sense that like
>       >                                     the next level of videogame, nothing is rendered into reality until you look at it.
>       >             Basically, if
>       >                         collapse
>       >                                     interpretations are real, then we are very likely in a simulation run by some
>       >             intelligent
>       >                         designer who is
>       >                                     trying to save computational resources by not rendering anything into reality until
>       a
>       >             simulated
>       >                         person
>       >                                     interacts with it.
>       >
>       >                                     Many worlds allows particles to always be everywhere at once because wherever the
>       >             particle is,
>       >                         there is a
>       >                                     separate you there to witness it there.
>       >
>       >                                     The other alternative is the DeBroglie-Bohm pilot wave interpretation which require
>       a
>       >             second
>       >                         equation that
>       >                                     describes how the wave function is a pilot wave that pushes a particle along its
>       path
>       >             to be true
>       >                         in addition
>       >                                     to the Schrodinger wave equation which describes the wave function.
>       >
>       >                                     So to summarize:
>       >                                     1. Copenhagen/collapse interpretations needs additional assumptions about the laws
>       of
>       >             physics
>       >                         requiring
>       >                                     conscious observers in order to function properly. Trees do not fall in the woods
>       or
>       >             make noise
>       >                         unless you
>       >                                     are there to appreciate it.
>       >                                     2. Debroglie-Bohm Pilot Wave: This interpretation requires additional "helper"
>       >             equations to allow
>       >                         quantum
>       >                                     mechanics to function by keeping track of hidden variables.
>       >                                     3. Superdeterminism: everything that happens including your own thoughts and
>       >             decisions are
>       >                         unerringly
>       >                                     following a script that has existed from moment of the big bang.
>       >
>       >                                     Or . . .
>       >
>       >                                     4. MWI: The Schrondinger wave equation is all you need and there is enough real
>       >             estate out there
>       >                         to cover
>       >                                     every possibility that the wavefunction entails.
>       >
>       >                                     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxvQ3Wyw2M4
>       >
>       >                                     Sean Carroll does an excellent job covering this in his various You Tube videos or
>       >             his book
>       >                         "Something Deeply
>       >                                     Hidden". I generally don't believe we live in a simulation and therefore prefer
>       many
>       >             worlds over
>       >                         conscious
>       >                                     collapse theories, but every once in a while nature throws me a curve ball that
>       makes
>       >             me adjust
>       >                         my posterior
>       >                                     probabilities like this:
>       >                         https://www.npr.org/2023/08/17/1194212940/question-mark-space-webb-telescope-photo
>       >
>       >                                     I hope that helped.
>       >
>       >                                     Best regards,
>       >                                     Stuart LaForge
>       >
>       >
>       >
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