Lifeboat Foundation

This week, researchers proved empirically that life isn’t fair. Also, you’ll notice that, in a superhuman display of restraint, I managed to write a paragraph about the simulated universe hypothesis without once referencing “The Matrix.” (Except for this reference.)

Oh, so a European research team has proven that flipped coins aren’t actually fair? Buddy, life isn’t fair! Do you think the world owes you two equally probable outcomes as established by an axiomatic mathematical formalization? When I was a kid, we didn’t even have coins! We had to roll dice! It took 10 minutes to start a football game! Oh, so a coin is very slightly more likely to land on the same face as its initial position? Quit crying! It’s only a meaningful bias if you flip a coin multiple times!

Applying a recently discovered physical law, a physicist at the University of Portsmouth has contributed to the discussion about whether or not the universe is a simulation. The simulated universe hypothesis proposes that the universe is actually a simulation running on a vastly complex computing substrate and we’re therefore all just NPCs, walking through our animation loops and saying, “Hail, summoner! Conjure me up a warm bed!” and “Do you get to the Cloud District often?”

Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20, but sometimes it would be nice to have known the outcomes before making a choice. This is as true in day-to-day life as it is in quantum mechanics. But it seems that the quantum world has something we do not have: a way to alter yesterday’s choices today, before they become tomorrow’s mistakes.

None of this is real time-travel. Physicists remain skeptical about that possibility. However, it is possible to simulate a closed time-loop with quantum mechanics, thanks to the property of entanglement. When two particles are entangled, they are in a single state even if they are separated by huge distances. A change to one is a change to the other, and this happens instantaneously.

So a particle can be prepared for an experiment, entangled, and sent to the experiment. Then scientists can modify its entangled companion, changing the way the particle in the experiment behaves.

For most of us, the passage of time flies in just one inexorable direction.

But for theoretical quantum physicists, time’s direction isn’t quite so inflexible. It’s possible to theoretically model, simulate, and observe the backwards flow of time in ways that are impossible to achieve in the real world.

And now, scientists have shown that simulations of backwards time travel can help solve physics problems that cannot be resolved with normal physics.

Oh boy. What could go wrong?

Scientists trying to take advantage of the unusual properties of the quantum realm say they have successfully simulated a method of backward time travel that allowed them to change an event after the fact one out of four times. The Cambridge University team is quick to caution that they have built a time machine, per se, but also note how their process doesn’t violate physics while changing past events after they have happened.

“Imagine that you want to send a gift to someone: you need to send it on day one to make sure it arrives on day three,” explained lead author David Arvidsson-Shukur from the Cambridge Hitachi Laboratory. “However, you only receive that person’s wish list on day two.”

Continue reading “Scientists Successfully Simulate Backward Time Travel with a 25% Chance of Actually Changing the Past” »

Physicists have shown that simulating models of hypothetical time travel can solve experimental problems that appear impossible to solve using standard physics.

These theoretical particles ignore the basic structure of cause and effect, leading to some pretty absurd situations.

Grandfathers, take heart. You’ll survive the paradox that’s been gunning for you since the 1930s.

“Lightning” system connects photons to the electronic components of computers using a novel abstraction, creating the first photonic computing prototype to serve real-time machine-learning inference requests.

Computing is at an inflection point. Moore’s Law, which predicts that the number of transistors on an electronic chip will double each year, is slowing down due to the physical limits of fitting more transistors on affordable microchips. These increases in computer power are slowing down as the demand grows for high-performance computers that can support increasingly complex artificial intelligence models. This inconvenience has led engineers to explore new methods for expanding the computational capabilities of their machines, but a solution remains unclear.

Potential of Photonic Computing.

Is time travel possible, and if it is, what sort of civilizations would result? We’ll explore the science that might permit it as well as the classic science fiction examples to see if they make sense.

Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net.
Join Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/isaacarthur-earth-after-humanity.
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IsaacArthur.
Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-arthur.
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583992725237264/
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IsaacArthur/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isaac_A_Arthur on Twitter and RT our future content.
SFIA Discord Server: https://discord.gg/53GAShE

Continue reading “Time Travel” »