today i learned about qubits, superposition, and entanglement
Discussion
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.
I meant "Quantum computer science" by mermin
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.
this is fun for simulating quantum circuits https://algassert.com/quirk
You're gonna get it wrong for the next six months minimum 😂
Superposition is wild.
It’s magic that’s all
Spooky action at a distance
It's energy harmonics all the way down. 🤟
So level with us. When will Quantum Computing break Bitcoin without massive upgrade/hard fork to the Timechain? 🫣
Well done Jack, Something interesting to teach us?
Retrospectives are the new thing.
Holographic now
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/
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
You’re going to have to relearn it all on Sept 14.
It's a good model; some day we're going to figure out what's really going on there. Gauge symmetry looks interesting.
The only word familiar to me is entanglement 🤣😅
You’ll like quantum locking with super-cooled superconductors. Cc nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8GY4m022tgo
So is SHA256 in jeopardy any time soon?
🎶❤️
Fr fr?
But do you *understand* quantum mechanics?
Nobody understands quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics understands you.
Only Chuck Norris understands quantum mechanics (he created it).
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
good job
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 nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m think about??
It can in effect be the same exact action though in different contexts？Does this mean that there is another dimension where, although I have been browsing this used yacht for sale in this dimension, my counterpart in another dimension has already purchased it?
https://www.yachttrading.com/used-yachts-for-sale/brand-chriscraft/
Was that a burning man tent?
☯️
Balance of good and evil.
Balance of positive and negative.
There are way too many rabbit holes, not enough time
Spooky action at a distance.