Oddbean new post about login | logout today i learned about qubits, superposition, and entanglement
WTH is a qubit?
particles in our universe behave quantum mechanically. you can measure this explicitly. it tells us that certain "observables" of particles such as position and momentum can't be measured separately from each other, you can think of it as a vector, if you know more of the position you know less of the momentum and vice versa. if you study the math of this, it forms something called a "Lie algebra", the generators of this algebra for certain types of observables are the pauli matrices: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauli_matrices You can use these for the basis vectors in quantum computation. Basically you're using the nuts and bolts of reality to execute computations. These are called qubits. The way you do this is to perform a sequence of unitary gate operations in this basis, which you can think of as transformations of the particles amplitude (complex valued probability-like waves). Once you performed a bunch of operations, you can measure the result (born rule) to get a non-complex value out. This is equavalent to wavefunction collapse in physics. In the double slit experiment its like trying to observe one path of a particle vs the other. Anyways, if you construct your algorithm so that correct answers constructively interfere with each other, and incorrect answers destructively interfere, you can create a measurement to get answers that classical computers cannot do. This is because the amount of states in quantum amplitudes can be much higher than the number of states in classical computers, or even particles in the universe. So you can get speedups over classical computations in ways that people are still wrapping their noggin around.
Damn, you're way deep on this rabbit hole.
yeah... I really liked woit's QM book which goes into the group theory of quantum information. a lot of this started to make more sense once I learned the language of symmetry and its relation to particles. "Quantum information science" was also a nice hands-on engineering approach to learning and building quantum algorithms. https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/QM/qmbook.pdf
Here’s a quirky take - qubits are like life, not so binary. In superposition, they're like your younger wild self full of possibilities and contradictions and experiencing all at once. In entanglement, it has a romantic shade like couples growing old together - one knows what the other is thinking or feeling, one’s emotional state affects the other and there’s a deep bond of understanding. Like penguins who mate for life (well, not really, but close!), entangled connection forms a bond so deep that it feels unbreakable.
I'm still trying to formulate an opinion on quantum computation. If you've ever messed around with a quantum computer, it's more like running a set of experiments, over and over, and getting a statistical probability vector representing the result. To me, this is like using soap film to "calculate" the minimal energy surface. https://instructional-resources.physics.uiowa.edu/demos/2a1520-soap-film-minimal-surfaces Nature has a funny way of calculating it's governing equations instantly. If you are an experimental quantum physicist, maybe it's the equivalent of a programmable system on a chip to an electrical engineer. Some smart people figured out how to do math with the things so... more to learn I guess :-)
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this is fun for simulating quantum circuits https://algassert.com/quirk
You're gonna get it wrong for the next six months minimum 😂
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It’s magic that’s all
Entanglement will how we achieve 0 ping
Need this for my gaming rig.
SUCH a good segment of QP… entanglement is insane
Well done Jack, Something interesting to teach us?
On a scale of 1-10 how interesting does this seminar sound https://m.primal.net/KlNY.jpg
Because id love to send you the outline if you're interested
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Nah
Retrospectives are the new thing. Holographic now
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Wanna talk? Schedule lunch buttercup, or is that a treasonous act to to talk to me? Might get caught thieving
Next check out Wigners Friend experiments. This might have inadvertently solved the Mandela Effect. https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/03/12/136684/a-quantum-experiment-suggests-theres-no-such-thing-as-objective-reality/ https://youtu.be/5AodzEpvzZw
Next Step: qBitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Quantum Cash System Ikeda, K. (2019). qBitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Quantum Cash System. In: Arai, K., Kapoor, S., Bhatia, R. (eds) Intelligent Computing. SAI 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 858. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01174-1_58
And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time T.S. Eliot
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Thank you for making npub awareness a thing
It's a good model; some day we're going to figure out what's really going on there. Gauge symmetry looks interesting. https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.07935
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The only word familiar to me is entanglement 🤣😅
You’ll like quantum locking with super-cooled superconductors. Cc @jb55 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8GY4m022tgo
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So is SHA256 in jeopardy any time soon?
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Fr fr?
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But do you *understand* quantum mechanics?
Nobody understands quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics understands you.
You both understand and do not understand whilst quantum mechanics also both understands and does not understand all at the same time 😵💫
Dark Matter is a must read/watch! When I'm not thinking about Bitcoin, I think about these things all day long.
Tell me what you didnt know before
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good job
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What is a Qubit? Imagine you have a magic coin. This coin can be heads, tails, or even both at the same time! In the world of computers, a regular computer uses bits, which are like regular coins that can only be heads (1) or tails (0). A qubit is like our magic coin. It can be in a state of 0, 1, or both at the same time because of something called superposition. Superposition: The Magic of Being Both Superposition is a special trick that qubits can do. Think of it like this: when you flip a regular coin, while it's spinning in the air, you can't tell if it's heads or tails until it lands. In the same way, a qubit can be in a mix of both 0 and 1 until we check it. This means that qubits can hold much more information than regular bits, making them super powerful for certain types of calculations! Entanglement: The Best Friends of Qubits Now, let’s talk about entanglement. Imagine you have two magic coins that are best friends. If you flip one coin and it lands on heads, the other coin will instantly know to land on tails, no matter how far apart they are! In the world of qubits, when two qubits are entangled, they are connected in such a way that knowing the state of one qubit tells you something about the other qubit, even if they are far apart. This special connection is really useful for solving problems and doing calculations much faster than regular computers can. Putting It All Together So, to sum it up: Qubits are like magic coins that can be 0, 1, or both at the same time. Superposition is the ability of qubits to be in multiple states at once, just like a spinning coin. Entanglement is when qubits are best friends and can instantly share information, no matter how far apart they are. These amazing properties make quantum computers super exciting and powerful for solving complex problems!
Truth is stranger than fiction.
I believe the existence of something like superposition and entanglement is the very proof of "fate"
Mind expanding on that?
By definition, entanglement makes two particles share a connection so profound that their states are linked, regardless of distance. Similar to "fate", where one's outcomes (the first particle) are not random but predetermined, as if they are bound by a deeper underlying order. Who and what are you entangled with?
Thanks for breaking that down. My understanding is that we're attracted to or inclined to do certain things, yet we have a choice whether to channel those actions towards something positive or something else. It can in effect be the same exact action though in different contexts. So my understanding is that when we make a choice (TRUE) there's always an alternate trajectory which is rendered null (FALSE). Make sense? Also, do you not make a distinction between predetermined vs deeper underlying order?
predetermined vs deeper underlying order - this is really the ultimate question when it comes to free will I believe, and there’s also lots of room to introduce God in the discussion of free will. When we are making actions, there’s the reasons, motivations, and emotions behind. If we operate to make decisions based on reasoning then the information we use to make that decision is crucial. What if the info we have to make decisions are manipulated? what if the amount of info we have on certain issues is “predetermined” and controlled - that’s censorship. If the end result is that we make decisions based on information that’s manipulated or even not true cuz someone/something else wants us to make that specific decision, did we really have free will there? It’s a rabbit hole of its own!! I wonder how @jack think about??
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