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Paul Reed: "Peter The discrete fields only 'work' because they are discrete fields. ..." in Some-When
Paul Reed: "Peter "PS. Paul. You may wish to think more before writing. If you are an..." in Some-When
Paul Reed: "Tom "I agree. That's very simple. Has nothing to do with the foundations..." in The Secret History of...
Paul Reed: "Wilhemus/Jason Unless it is a completely different point, can we please..." in Hanny's Voorwerp, and...
Paul Reed: "Jason “Actually, nature behaves very differently when there is mystery” ..." in Hanny's Voorwerp, and...
Paul Reed: "John Yes, but since reality is a function of the senses, then there is a..." in On the Origins of Quantum...
Pentcho Valev: "Water Violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics II ..." in Entropy and complexity:...
T H Ray: ""It involves very simple stuff. Such as realising that we/reality are..." in The Secret History of...
RECENT ARTICLES
click titles to read articles
Video Article: The Patchwork Multiverse
Classic article with new video content: Cutting spacetime into patches could help explain the size of the universe, time—and provide the first ”experimental” evidence that string theory is on the right track.
The Cosmic Family Tree
Mapping the ancestral history of spacetime in an effort to unite quantum mechanics and general relativity.
Behind the Shadows
Imagining Schrödinger’s cat peering out from behind a black hole could lead to a theory of quantum gravity.
Why Did Nature Choose Quantum Theory?
Schrödinger’s cat may help reveal while some physical theories are better at describing reality than others.
Video Article: Through a Glass Darkly
Eight-dimensional numbers could be needed to handle string-theory’s 10-dimensional physics. This classic article, with new video content, also tackles the mystery of why elementary particles come in families of three—and maybe even how spacetime emerges in 4-dimensions.
FQXi BLOGS
February 11, 2012
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| Building the Impossible Triangle by Brian McKay, Perth, Australia |
Following a heavy discussion about ways to improve the funding of foundational research, participants at the FQXi March meeting turned their attention to a somewhat “lighter” question: Just what is “impossible” according to physics?
Max Tegmark and Anthony Aguirre invited participants to suggest ideas that lie on the possible/impossible boundary, and then let the group fight over whether they could ever be realised.
For now, I will just list the ideas and let you decide :
1) Theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek picked up on an idea he had mentioned earlier in the day and said that it will one day be possible to engineer a mind. (Robert Kuhn, an investment banker with a doctorate in brain science, pointed out that there is a distinction between an artificial intelligence that can give the outward appearance of having a human-like mind, for instance by displaying the traits we associate with emotion, and one that actually internally experiences such feelings.)
2) Melanie Swan, a science and technology futurist (and blogger) placed superluminal travel on the impossible pile--alongside which many participants added backward time travel.
3) Swan also wondered if we may ever be able to manipulate and harness all the fundamental forces as easily as we do the electromagnetic force.
4) Quantum physicist Wojciech Zurek thinks that it will be impossible to falsify quantum mechanics.
5) FQXi director Max Tegmark threw in one of the most controversial statements by saying that he thinks that it will be impossible to detect the graviton. At first his statement was met with confusion until he clarified that this isn’t because he doesn’t believe one exists, but because of the limits of technology.
6) Tessera Technologies chairman Bruce McWilliams wondered whether it will ever be possible to come up with a theory that can predict everything on the basis of just one parameter (for example, the mass of the electron).
7) Robert Kuhn stated that it would be impossible for anything in the universe to understand the totality of the universe.
Feel free to add any (im)possible things that you think they missed off the list. I will come back later and let you know the outcome of those discussions…
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| How to Build the Impossible Triangle (www.sciam.com *) |
* See more "impossible" 3-D structures at this gallery on Scientific American's website.
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