pontiff | January 17, 2008Through my computer science "information is king" eyeglasses, there are really only two notions which thoroughly distinguish quantum theory from classical theories of how the world works: the nonlocal nature of quantum correlations as exemplified by Bell's theorem and the much less well known contextual nature of quantum measurements as exemplified by the Bell-Kochen-Specker theorem. While the former is well known (and hence, to paraphrase Gell-Mann, what you've heard about it is mostly wrong), the later is less well known. Is that because it is a complicated idea? I don't think so!…
pontiff | January 16, 2008Sam, after asking me for $100 dollars out of nowhere, points me to quantalk.org, a new slick website for, err, talking about quantum information. Seems to be a closed registration right now, so no talking by plebes is allowed, but it is slick! I hope it goes far, considering how little success I've had in my own endeavors into Science 2.0.
Interestingly, and spurring Sam's comment, right now it says they are offering one hundred euro for reviews right now (Update: Simon Benjamin, one of the operators, points that you need to make sure and email them before embarking on such an adventure…
pontiff | January 16, 2008What else am I to conclude from recent UFO reports out of Texas, except that no one in the entire town had a cell phone with a camera? Or a digital camera? Do the aliens use data from cell phone usage and digital camera usage when they decide where to do their joy riding?
Oh, and I will be happy to update this post when photos emerge! (I grew up reading UFO books, by the way. I credit them with developing an idea for what science is and is not.)
pontiff | January 16, 2008Graphene quantum dots as qubits, Quantum Zeno effect, and the APS March meeting.
A group in Zurich has made quantum dots in graphene and demonstrated Coulomb blockade opening up yet another material of promise for quantum dot qubits. Journal article here.
Lev Vaidman has an itneresting News and Views on some recent work related to the quantum Zeno effect and in particular on this recent Physical Review A article.
The March meeting of the APS now has its program online. The best way I can figure out of finding sessions sponsered by GQI is going to this page and searching the text of that…
pontiff | January 15, 2008Quantum Hoops, a movie about the Caltech basketball team, will be playing in Berkeley at the Landmark Shattuck Cinemas. Now if only we could get it up here in the Pacific Northwet.
pontiff | January 15, 2008Speaking of airports, why can't there be more airports like Albuquerque's Sunport: free wireless and even nice places to plug in and lay out your laptop:
Actually this brings up a point I've often pondered while sitting in an airport refusing to pay the $9.99 to connect to the Internet. Seattle is quite the software city (Microsoft, Amazon, etc.) I would expect that a large number of employees from these software companies and their customers pass through the Seattle airport. And yet, when I go to the airport, there is no free wireless connection. :( You would think that it would be to…
pontiff | January 13, 2008Are you a geek if you write a blog post from an airplane seat? And the airplane door is...
pontiff | January 11, 2008The New York Time's reaches new heights of self-delusion: It's not as if New York's resorts are considered inferior. Counting as your props recommendations from Ski magazine is just awesome. Ever notice how every single article in Ski magazine references a ski area from all major ski regions? I wonder why that i$?
pontiff | January 11, 2008Sean watches a panel discussion on whether the universe is a computer, looks up the definition of a computer, and decides that instead the universe is a calculation. If thinking about the universe as a computer is designed to make computer scientists feel important, thinking about the universe as a calculation seems designed to make theoretical physicists feel important :) But what I find interesting is that Sean points to a question asked by Tony Leggett: "What kind of process does not count as a computation?"
Now first of all, let me preface this by saying that the word "computation" has…
pontiff | January 10, 2008Mad about the funding cuts in science? Why not send an letter to those responsible?
Taken from an letter just sent out to members of the American Physical Society:
From: Arthur Bienenstock, President, the American Physical Society
To: Members of the American Physical Society
Re: Federal Funding Alert: http://www.aps.org/policy/tools/alerts
I am writing to request that you contact your elected representatives and let
them know that the 2008 federal budget deals a devastating blow to basic
research. You can make this contact quickly and easily at:http://www.aps.org/policy/tools/alerts…
pontiff | January 10, 2008
Birthday tributes: Da Optimizer, Da Theorizer, BILL GASARCH, Da Geomblog, and Good Math, Bad Math.
pontiff | January 10, 2008I knew the Perimeter Institute was big, but enough to bump Kitchener to the second highest concentration of scientists in municipalities of its size in Canada?
(And yes I'm kidding that the PI is all that there is in Waterloo :) )
pontiff | January 9, 2008Can markets predict elections? Alea summarizes last night's primary results: Ooops! From my perspective, I find the ideas of markets predicting future events fascinating, if for no other reason than my original motivation for studying physics was tied up deeply in questions about predicting the future.
I believe that, fundamentally, we cannot predict the future. Why? Not necessarily because of quantum theory (did I surprise you there?) and not because of arguments based on chaos theory (and I worked at the Santa Fe Institute ;) ), but because of the locality of physics. In a world with…
pontiff | January 8, 2008Video from the keynote at CES:
The real question is, now that Bill is working for the foundation, which is opening an office in lower Queen Anee, will Bill be buying us a new bridge to aid his commute?
pontiff | January 8, 2008Holy mother of quack science, Neuroquantology. But that withstanding, some of you real scientists should really satisfy their call for reviewers. I mean think how much fun you could have tearing holes in their papers :We need additional reviewers:
Since in our interdisciplinary Journal we seek for holistic approach to science and particularly in neurobiology and consciousness studies, we strongly encourage authors that submit reviews that aim popularization of the recent advances of Quantum Field Theory (QFT), Relativity, String and Brane Theories, Evolution, Chaotic Dynamics, Nonlinear…
pontiff | January 7, 2008For a New York Times article What is it About Mormonism?, the following lines which made me guffaw:The framers recognized, of course, that a candidate's religion (or lack thereof) would enter political debate, and they were prohibiting only a formal test for taking office. But they were also giving their imprimatur to Jefferson's appealing notion that a person's beliefs about religion were no more relevant to his politics than his beliefs about geometry.
Leaving aside jokes about the candidates debating whether the universe is open, flat, or closed, I'm guessing that the Renaissance man…
pontiff | January 4, 2008What with the U.S. presidential election dominating the news, could you ask for anything more this Friday than more politics blogging? Pain below the fold.
Gordon Watts asks a good question about the zeroing out of funding for the ITER. Treaties? We ain't got no treaties. We don't need no treaties! I don't have to show you any stinkin' treaties!!"
With Huckabee (What is Huck? Huck be a creationist and opponent of the separation of church and state) winning Iowa, I'm sure you'll be hearing for commentary about the "FairTax" (WAR IS PEACE!) If I'm taxed 30 cents on a dollar is that a 30…
pontiff | January 3, 2008Look, I'm on physicsworld.com! Sometimes I have a vision that references on the world wide web which form a cycle lead to a runaway internet. You know...looping self-referentially forever and ever and resulting, of course, in a break in the space time continuum. I'm guessing the above link won't do that. But if it did, I guess this would be the last sentence I've ev
pontiff | January 3, 2008From a letter sent to APS members by Michael S. Lubell the Director of Public Affairs for the American Physical Society some due outrage:The Omnibus Bill is a disaster for the very sciences that our political leaders have repeatedly proclaimed essential for our national security, economic vitality and environmental stewardship. Several reports have suggested a picture less bleak, but they do not take into account the effects of either earmarks or inflation. In fact, numerous programs will have to be trimmed or canceled.
Hundreds of layoffs, furloughs and project shutdowns at Fermilab, SLAC…