A Problem with "Don't mind the Entropy"
The basis for the dialog was an idea that occurred to me when I was reading a few things on quantum computing. It is intentionally vague in areas, mostly it was just a fun idea. However, in a somewhat serious discussion with my friend Craig Lent, he pointed out a problem with my coin-flipping version of Penrose's variation on Schrödinger's gedankenexperiment. That is, he pointed out that Chaos Theory and its sensitivity to initial starting conditions probably doesn't allow me, even in principle, to do the experiment. Basically there probably aren't even enough particles in the universe to specify the starting conditions precisely enough.
This "flaw" does give me other ideas, though...
This "flaw" does give me other ideas, though...
Labels: fiction
posted by Yaakov at 3:42:00 PM
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2 Comments:
Actually, wouldn't all the particles in the universe, and their states, BE the starting conditions.
Hello, Jim.
No, remember the experiment involves an isolation chamber as in Schrödinger. So our only task is to specify the state of the finite number inside. However, even if we could somehow encode with all the other particles in the universe we wouldn't have enough bits.
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