View Full Version : Calling physics/science nerds
I find Dr Carroll has a real gift for condensing and explaining some of the most complex topics/Qs in all of physics. The entire topic of electrons not actually being particles, not sitting in their neat little orbits around the nucleus as still taught, is just mind bending stuff, at least to me. I glean a ton from his talks and anyone even remotely interested in the topic will enjoy this:
A Brief History of Quantum Mechanics - with Sean Carroll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hVmeOCJjOU
I can't do quantum anymore. Once the "observer effect" was demonstrated during a quantum experiment involving two stars hundreds of light years away from each other I realized we are in way over our heads still.
Add to that the math necessary to explain and understand quantum on a meaningful level is way above my pay grade. Theoretical astro physics is much more enjoyable for me to ponder.
Add to that the math necessary to explain and understand quantum on a meaningful level is way above my pay grade. Theoretical astro physics is much more enjoyable for me to ponder.
Yeah, until you realize that a lot of what we end up considering in astrophysics are simply emergent phenomena from subatomic interactions, so we have to deal with it.
I had long wanted to write off all of the 'is our universe a simulation' contemplation, but have since realized that that mindset of approaching every piece of human understanding as a placeholder model that inherently underconeptualize the actual phenomena present, it actually enables us to probe things more usefully and construct useful experiments
There an English/Iraqi scientist who had a whole show on this. Fascinating stuff
Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk
I can't do quantum anymore. Once the "observer effect" was demonstrated during a quantum experiment involving two stars hundreds of light years away from each other I realized we are in way over our heads still.
Add to that the math necessary to explain and understand quantum on a meaningful level is way above my pay grade. Theoretical astro physics is much more enjoyable for me to ponder.
He brings a lot of that into focus in approachable ways.
FromMyColdDeadHand
02-13-21, 12:33
They are all just models for what actually happens, so they will never be “right“.
The further and further down we go in scale, the more and more “stuff“ will find. If you eventually run out of “stuff“ to find, then the universe would turn into a clock with a predetermined path.
Reality it’s just a shadow of four-dimensional space-time.
It's all fun and games until the Cylons show up.
FromMyColdDeadHand
02-13-21, 19:28
It's all fun and games until the Cylons show up.
It’s all fun and games until people observing the stars as sentient beings, cause a collapse of all the wave functions in the universe, and we wink out of existence.
He brings a lot of that into focus in approachable ways.
So just sat through the whole thing. All he really manages to do is support a theory (one of many) that might be the correct understanding of quantum science. It reconciles with Newton and Einstein by removing conflicts between classical and quantum and the math checks out but really it doesn't get us any closer to anything than we were 50 years ago.
It's a lot like membrane theory, if true, it explains weak gravitational force and the math checks out (assuming we allow for multiple spatial dimensions) and it offers a new understanding or perspective of everything but at the end of the day it's really just another theory and we aren't any closer to a known model than we were 50 years ago.
And given what we have seen from science in the last 100 years, when we arrive at new known truths we will only get more new theories and won't necessarily have any new answers. This is why I can't advocate a new understanding of quantum.
When two stars hundreds of light years from each other, appeared to change their nature, simply because we observed them that has huge implications and one of the most troubling is that our entire understanding of everything isn't actually as things are but some form of cosmic participation with the observer. That means, it might really be true, that every time we look at the universe (despite the technology we employ) it behaves differently and that suggests either a fundamental fault with our ability to observe OR the entire universe is somehow self aware and it responds to our observations.
And all of that is really and truly above my pay grade.
I look forward to the day when people who are much smarter than me discover what is actually going on and explain it to me the way Einstein explained conversions of matter to energy and vice versa.
So just sat through the whole thing. All he really manages to do is support a theory (one of many) that might be the correct understanding of quantum science. It reconciles with Newton and Einstein by removing conflicts between classical and quantum and the math checks out but really it doesn't get us any closer to anything than we were 50 years ago.
It's a lot like membrane theory, if true, it explains weak gravitational force and the math checks out (assuming we allow for multiple spatial dimensions) and it offers a new understanding or perspective of everything but at the end of the day it's really just another theory and we aren't any closer to a known model than we were 50 years ago.
And given what we have seen from science in the last 100 years, when we arrive at new known truths we will only get more new theories and won't necessarily have any new answers. This is why I can't advocate a new understanding of quantum.
When two stars hundreds of light years from each other, appeared to change their nature, simply because we observed them that has huge implications and one of the most troubling is that our entire understanding of everything isn't actually as things are but some form of cosmic participation with the observer. That means, it might really be true, that every time we look at the universe (despite the technology we employ) it behaves differently and that suggests either a fundamental fault with our ability to observe OR the entire universe is somehow self aware and it responds to our observations.
And all of that is really and truly above my pay grade.
I look forward to the day when people who are much smarter than me discover what is actually going on and explain it to me the way Einstein explained conversions of matter to energy and vice versa.
Then we never move forward with any breakthroughs in our understanding of it all, as everything ultimately happens as the quantum level. We should just ignore it? Nor sure I follow there.
Regardless, my main point was that there's very few physicists working at his level who can convey it so well to us mere mortals to get a glimpse of that hugely complex area of science. He does a great job of it.
Maybe this is the dedicated thread for science nerds. Do you have a favorite YT channel? A great one is one is the Space Time channel.
Here a talk on What Happens At The Edge Of The Universe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwwIFcdUFrE
Maybe this is the dedicated thread for science nerds. Do you have a favorite YT channel? A great one is one is the Space Time channel.
Here a talk on What Happens At The Edge Of The Universe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwwIFcdUFrE
I love PBS Spacetime. My favorite science/physics channel on YT hands down. I kinda liked the original host more, the one that took over look like a full size Tyrian Lannister lol.
Their series on black holes explained by using Penrose diagrams was awesome.
FromMyColdDeadHand
02-14-21, 13:26
I find Dr Carroll has a real gift for condensing and explaining some of the most complex topics/Qs in all of physics. The entire topic of electrons not actually being particles, not sitting in their neat little orbits around the nucleus as still taught, is just mind bending stuff, at least to me. I glean a ton from his talks and anyone even remotely interested in the topic will enjoy this:
A Brief History of Quantum Mechanics - with Sean Carroll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hVmeOCJjOU
So what is the name of the theory that he starts to lay out at about 50 min in? The Field theory based system? I thought he was referring to the Everettian based systems, but isn’t that just the many worlds interpretation?
I love PBS Spacetime. My favorite science/physics channel on YT hands down. I kinda liked the original host more, the one that took over look like a full size Tyrian Lannister lol.
Their series on black holes explained by using Penrose diagrams was awesome.
That's so true it's a little scary, but he does do a solid job of it.
Then we never move forward with any breakthroughs in our understanding of it all, as everything ultimately happens as the quantum level. We should just ignore it? Nor sure I follow there.
Regardless, my main point was that there's very few physicists working at his level who can convey it so well to us mere mortals to get a glimpse of that hugely complex area of science. He does a great job of it.
I wasn't suggesting we not try, I was stating that we can't embrace "theory" as a working model and for the record I'm not suggesting that is what we do. And while Dr. Carroll has a strong grasp of "explaining the problem" it doesn't mean he has found the solution.
Right now our understanding of quantum is really no more advanced the the ancient Egyptians understanding of the sun. They could predict with startling accuracy the position and behavior of the sun past, present and future to the point they constructed large buildings and complexes based upon the exact location of the sun at different times of the year.
But their explanation of the mechanics of the sun, as a god named Raj who rides his chariot across the sky is no more correct than understanding of what drives quantum. I think we will eventually get some kind of unified model that we can eventually prove and the only prediction I'm gonna make is that the new discovery is going to show how little we actually understood.
The guy was dead on with our grasp of quantum currently being no more sophisticated than most people understanding of how their cell phone works with respect to the specific mechanics and transmission of signals.
polydeuces
02-17-21, 22:49
Shrödinger and Heisenberg are hauling ass down some back road in Solvay and get pulled over.
The cop shouts at Heisenberg "Hey! You were doing 120!" To which good ol Werner shouts in reply 'Thanks a lot, now we're lost!!'
The cop then inspects the trunk and calls out 'Hey, you know theres a dead cat in your trunk?'
Erwin facepalms and shouts back.... 'Thanks, we do now, asshole!"
Hmmmyeah.....i'd say the universe is one big Vegas crapshoot.
Shrödinger and Heisenberg are hauling ass down some back road in Solvay and get pulled over.
The cop shouts at Heisenberg "Hey! You were doing 120!" To which good ol Werner shouts in reply 'Thanks a lot, now we're lost!!'
The cop then inspects the trunk and calls out 'Hey, you know theres a dead cat in your trunk?'
Erwin facepalms and shouts back.... 'Thanks, we do now, asshole!"
Hmmmyeah.....i'd say the universe is one big Vegas crapshoot.
Nice.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.