2011 fqxi essay contest

See author identifier help for more information about arXiv author identifiers, please report any problems. We gratefully acknowledge support from the Simons Foundation and member institutions. Authors: Ian T. Comments: Please cite this version; 10 pages, 3 figures; added a section on additional implications and added an appendix containing the Python code. Comments: Cleaned up sections in response to reviewer comments; added discussion of Lorentz invariance and determinism; removed section on fermion doubling; added acknowledgement of funding sources. Durham , Andrzej Dragan.

Steven Weinstein (philosopher)

DOI: This essay highlights the scientific vision of John Archibald Wheeler, a giant of 20th century physics. His ideas provided the important insight that humanity may be in the very center of disclosure and manifestation of the evolution of our universe. This on the basis of scientific reasoning derived from quantum physics rather than simple anthropocentrism or scale chauvinism.

Over a long, productive scientific life, he was known for his drive to address big, overarching questions in physics, subjects which he liked to be merged with philosophical questions about the origin of matter, information and the universe. His interests ranged far and wide and were characterized by true fearlessness. Wheeler's work was not only in gravity and nuclear physics. In the s Wheeler grew increasingly intrigued by the philosophical implications of quantum physics.

According to Wheeler, there was no universe until the rise of consciousness to perceive it. In fact, Wheeler was one of the first prominent physicists seriously to propose that reality might not be a wholly physical phenomenon. His cosmic variant of the delayed choice experiment led to the idea that human observers may not only determine the present, but also may influence the past. According to Wheeler, ultimate mutability is the central feature of physics, and the meaning of reality can only be established if there is a universal knowledge field, that transcends physical past, present and future.

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Demystifying the delayed choice experiments. Germine M. The Holographic Principle Theory of Mind. InTech, Can the Universe create itself? Greene B. The Elegant Universe. Vintage Books, , The Fabric of the Cosmos. About the Search for the Theory of Everything, Utrecht. The Spectrum, Holland P.

Quantum back-reaction and the particle law of motion. Hosten O, Kwiat P. Science ; Hoyle F. Intelligent Universe. A new view of creation and evolution. Publisher: Book Sales, How Consciousness Becomes the Physical Universe. J Cosmol ; King CC. Space, Time and Consciousness. Observing the average trajectories of single photons in a two-slit interferometer.

Kuhn RL. Why this universe? Toward a taxonomy of possible explanations. Levin T. Linde A. Cambridge University Press, Loyd S. Phys Rev Letters ; Quantum erasure with causally disconnected choice. Meijer DKF. The Information Universe.

On the missing link in concepts on the architecture of reality. Syntropy Journal ; 1: 1- Quantum modeling of the mental state: the concept of a cyclic mental workspace.

Syntropy Journal ; 1: NeuroQuantologgy a; Quantum Physics in Consciousness Studies. The Quantum Mind Extended. John Wheeler, relativity and quantum information. Physics Today ; April, pp. Mitchell E D and Staretz R. The quantum hologram and the nature of consciousness. Nesturuk AV. Bowker Ed. A Participatory Universe of JA Wheeler as an intentional correlate of embodied subjects and example of purposiveness in physics. J Siberian Fed Univ ; Primack J, Abrams N E.

The View from the Centre of the Universe. Discovering our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos. London: Fourth Estate, On the reality of the quantum state. Nature Physics ; 8: Ross H. Design and the Anthropic Principle. Seife C. Decoding the Universe. How the new science of information is explaining everything in the cosmos, from our brains to black holes. Penquin books, New York.

Is Reality Digital or Analog? November - February Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation and Scientific American read/discuss •​. IOP Science (), doi///1/ [7] Bolognesi, T.: Reality is ultimately digital, and its program is still undebugged. FQXi Essay Contest.

Is Reality Digital or Analog? Quantum Graphenity Tobias Fritz Essay Abstract One obstacle for further progress on quantum gravity and issues like the discrete vs. To a certain extent, this problem can be overcome by the simulation of models for fundamental physics by other physical systems.

DOI: This essay highlights the scientific vision of John Archibald Wheeler, a giant of 20th century physics.

This is the third contest that the institute has run. The first two had and entries, making this one the biggest yet. If they stay there they will make the cut into the final round to be judged by the panel of experts.

The Nobel prize awards are just a couple of weeks away, so this is as good a time as any to speculate about who will be this years Science laureates. Thomson-Reuters make an attempt to second guess the committee each year based on citations. One other possibility would be a prize for exoplanets. Campbell, Walker and Yang were the first to say they had found planets around other stars and be confirmed as correct, though it took 14 years before everyone was convinced. Wolszczan and Frail made a better discovery that was confirmed sooner even if the original announcement four years was later than Campbell, Walker and Yang. This would pose a dilemma for the Nobel committee.

The paradigm of kinematics and dynamics must yield to causal structure Robert Spekkens Essay Abstract The distinction between a theory's kinematics and its dynamics, that is, between the space of physical states it posits and its law of evolution, is central to the conceptual framework of many physicists. A change to the kinematics of a theory, however, can be compensated by a change to its dynamics without empirical consequence, which strongly suggests that these features of the theory, considered separately, cannot have physical significance. It must therefore be concluded with apologies to Minkowski that henceforth kinematics by itself, and dynamics by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union of the two will preserve an independent reality. The notion of causal structure seems to provide a good characterization of this union. His area of research is the foundations of quantum theory. Recognising Top-Down Causation George Ellis Essay Abstract One of the basic assumptions implicit in the way physics is usually done is that all causation flows in a bottom up fashion, from micro to macro scales. However this is wrong in many cases in biology, and in particular in the way the brain functions. Here I make the case that it is also wrong in the case of digital computers — the paradigm of mechanistic algorithmic causation - and in many cases in physics, ranging from the origin of the arrow of time to the process of quantum state preparation. I consider some examples from classical physics; from quantum physics; and the case of digital computers, and then explain why it this possible without contradicting the causal powers of the underlying micro physics. Understanding the emergence of genuine complexity out of the underlying physics depends on recognising this kind of causation.

Physics, math, quantum

Steven Weinstein is a philosopher at the University of Waterloo , [1] noted particularly for his work on quantum gravity , time, and the interpretation of quantum mechanics. Weinstein did his undergraduate work at Princeton University , graduating with honours in Philosophy.

Because of Hawking radiation, they would be extremely powerful energy sources. We investigate the technical problems of using them to make power plants and starships. The first suggestion is due to Hawking. Next, we consider what challenges the ABH proposal would pose for a future quantum theory of gravity. The form of a theory which would allow us to compute the necessary corrections to classical theory is considered. It is widely believed that every black hole produces a new baby universe on the other side of its singularity. If this is true, ABH technology will involve future humanity in the creation process of universes. Finally, we ponder the effects that the ABH proposal would have on the culture of a future society, particularly if the baby universe theory is correct. The changes in our economic life and understanding of our role in the cosmos would be so profound as to have a "spiritual" aspect. His research is on quantum gravity. The special theory of relativity took the existence of a speed limit as a principle, the light postulate, which has proven to be enormously predictive. Here we discuss some of its twists and turns when general relativity and quantum mechanics come into play. In particular, we discuss one of the most interesting proposals for faster than light travel: warp drives. Even if one succeeded in creating such spacetime structures, it would be still necessary to check whether they would survive to the switching on of quantum matter effects.