demagogue on 5/12/2011 at 03:36
I guess it's my philosophy background, but from my perspective whatever "applications" they come up with is small potato from being able to connect with quantum phenomena for its own sake. It's the true nature of reality (or a deeper level to it; there's probably lower level stuff, but it's even weirder), and what we call "normal", with our stable objects like dishwashers and Republicans, is just a shadow reflection, at best a fluke series of accidents that can collapse at any second.
I get the same feeling when people start talking about some new advance with consciousness and say, "Yeah, that's a curious optical illusion" or "Well this will help some dyslexics" and I'll think FFS this is the root of human reality and that's the most you can get out of it? But I understand different people care about different things and That's O.K. :)
Scots Taffer on 5/12/2011 at 03:54
If they keep probing with this shit we're going to discover gravity doesn't actually exist and the process of observing this will cause it to change and we will all float off the planet.
This will be quite inconvenient for everyone, including the guy who discovered it, shaking his fist and crying "I REGREEETTT NOOOOTHIIIINNNNGGGGG".
Tocky on 5/12/2011 at 04:52
Hold on. They do this and then come up with it will make computations instant instead of nearly instant? Hell. It could make communication across the solar system possible in real time... um excepting in transit near light speed. I'm not sure how that would work because it warps then right? Just thinking about it warps my mind in real time.
Sg3 on 5/12/2011 at 05:53
Quote Posted by demagogue
This is very cool shit.
"Scary as hell" is closer to the phrase I'd use. The very notion of something being there-and-not-there-at-the-same-time is horrifying if one thinks about it long enough.
Kolya on 5/12/2011 at 08:43
Quote Posted by demagogue
I guess it's my philosophy background, but from my perspective whatever "applications" they come up with is small potato from being able to connect with quantum phenomena for its own sake. It's the true nature of reality (or a deeper level to it; there's probably lower level stuff, but it's even weirder), and what we call "normal", with our stable objects like dishwashers and Republicans, is just a shadow reflection, at best a fluke series of accidents that can collapse at any second.
I get the same feeling when people start talking about some new advance with consciousness and say, "Yeah, that's a curious optical illusion" or "Well this will help some dyslexics" and I'll think FFS this is the root of human reality and that's the most you can get out of it? But I understand different people care about different things and That's O.K. :)
I was kidding with the wedding rings, but that's an interesting take. I would say that the root (and true nature) of reality is that I'm having my morning coffee and feeling slightly tired. I understand that there are a lot of scientific ramifications to this discovery, but so far they're just ramifications and I don't see, feel, hear, taste or smell the quantum world in my human reality. I won't step into a teleporter in the hall but will still have to take the bike to work.
So from a PHILOSOPHICAL viewpoint - how can you call your dishwasher a fluke and an accident "that can collapse at any second" when it leaks into your kitchen and won't stop until you get it fixed?
At least this seems like a very impractical viewpoint that could easily get you killed on the next cross-walk.
Briareos H on 5/12/2011 at 09:06
@demagogue
The philosophical approach doesn't exist without understanding on a technical level the extent of the discovery and its implications with regards to the current physical models. You don't get to infer a thousand life-changing applications off an experiment which premise you didn't understand, that's not philosophy, that's writing science-fiction. Pretending the contrary is intellectual dishonesty or laziness at best.
You just took "entanglement between two macroscopic objects" and ran with that, didn't you.
Kolya on 5/12/2011 at 09:35
Whew. Bad coffee? Take it easy man. :)
Azaran on 5/12/2011 at 09:36
Quote Posted by Briareos H
@demagogue
You don't get to infer a thousand life-changing applications off an experiment which premise you didn't understand, that's not philosophy, that's writing science-fiction. Pretending the contrary is intellectual dishonesty or laziness at best.
Must you crush our dreams? :(
demagogue on 5/12/2011 at 15:52
But ... but the applications were exactly what I said I didn't care about. It's precisely the understanding.
edit: gotta run can't say more
nickie on 5/12/2011 at 18:23
Well I hope you come back and carry on this discussion. Apart from the new urinal game, this thread has been the most interesting thing I've read for quite a while and I have high hopes that by the time you guys have finished, I might understand more than one word in ten.
