- Hegel. I haven't found any resource that can explain it clearly.
Ask HN: What scientific phenomenon do you wish someone would explain better?
421–430 of 839 posts
Re: Ask HN: What scientific phenomenon do you wish someone would explain better?
#422Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you don't mind me asking (and this is clearly a sensitive topic so feel free not to reply): What do you mean by PTSD and flashbacks? As in, was the trip so bad that remembering it creates anxiety, or are you reliving unrelated traumatic memories that weren't an issue to live with before using the drug?
It literally feels as if I'm being transported back to that same night, starting to relive it all over again. It's entirely illogical but if you knew what happened it might make more sense (happy to elaborate here and give a brief description of what happened/why it messed me up so bad, I'm perfectly okay to talk about it now).
I'd be interested to hear your story. I've never used psychedelic drugs, but I find their effects fascinating.
Re: Ask HN: What scientific phenomenon do you wish someone would explain better?
#423Why is it that the smartest people in various fields constantly need reference materials, but medical doctors never look anything up?
They look things up constantly, you just don't see it because it's typically very boring and not a good use of time for you or the MD. They get symptoms from you and then will go off to research. Also, a broken arm or strep isn't very difficult to figure out. ~80% of visitations are fairly simple.
The site most MDs use is here: https://www.uptodate.com/home
Re: Ask HN: What scientific phenomenon do you wish someone would explain better?
#424Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a comic (maybe SMBC) that covers the whole commonly false belief surrounding qubits.
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-talk-3 The basic gist I get is that quantum computing, for a very specific set of problems, like optimization, let's you search the space more efficiently. With quantum mechanics you can associate computations with positive or negative probability amplitudes. With the right design, you cause multiple paths to incorrect answers to have opposite amplitudes, so that interference cau…
Along those same lines, I once heard a description that went something like: "Imagine a Jenga tower so precisely balanced that, when it falls over, it spells out the answer."
Re: Ask HN: What scientific phenomenon do you wish someone would explain better?
#425Crypto and practical security. I get tired of the circular “don’t roll your own crypto unless you’re qualified”. How does one become qualified? I don’t feel like I know how to evaluate many of the arguments people make for or against technologies people argue about on HN, such as Signal or different password managers. I feel like “security through obscurity” is a bad thing, and “layers of security” are a good thing,…
> How does one become qualified?
By attacking crypto--a lot. And submitting your crypto to be attacked by others--a lot. It's the only way to develop the requisite level of humility to design good crypto.
Re: Ask HN: What scientific phenomenon do you wish someone would explain better?
#426Quantum Computers. Not like I'm five, but like I'm a software engineer who has a pretty decent understanding of how a classical turing machine works. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say "qubits are like bits except they don't have to be just 1 or 0" without providing any coherent explanation of how that's useful. I've also heard that they can try every possible solution to a problem. What I don't u…
I think because it has less applications for traditional "software" and more applications for efficiency of embedded systems. But it could have some bleeding edge new applications from the TCP/IP space for urgent point, new methods for cryptography, or speeding up algorithms for searching. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Im not an expert on quantum computers but I'm not aware of any applications in the embedded space.
Generally quantum computers are good for three things
* factoring numbers (and other highly related order-finding problems). RIP RSA, but not that applicable outside of crypto.
* unstructured search (brute forcing a problem in only O(sqrt(n)) gueses instead of an average of n/2 gueses). Certainly useful...but its not a big enough speedup to be earth shattering.
* simulating various quantum systems (so scientists can do experiments easier). Probably by far the most useful/practical application in the near/medium term.
There's not a whole lot else they are good for (that we know of, yet)
Re: Ask HN: What scientific phenomenon do you wish someone would explain better?
#427Evolution. How does large scale randomness result in such complicated and intelligent systems, while after decades of research and all the computing power we have today, we still struggle to model and reproduce the intelligence of an insect.
Four billion years is a lot of time for that randomness (via selective pressure of the environment or of life itself) to produce tons of crazy results.
Re: Ask HN: What scientific phenomenon do you wish someone would explain better?
#428Avogadro constant - I can accept the number, if someone can show me how, over a hundred years ago, without having every really seen a molecule, this number could be derived. Obviously no one ever sat there and counted them but I find it hard to believe, they could have decided this without being able to see it.
Here's how to estimate the size of an oil molecule just using water and an oil drop: https://spark.iop.org/estimating-size-molecule-using-oil-fil...
(They use some other stuff, but you get the idea)
You can back out Avogadro constant starting with this experiment.
Re: Ask HN: What scientific phenomenon do you wish someone would explain better?
#429Evolution. How does large scale randomness result in such complicated and intelligent systems, while after decades of research and all the computing power we have today, we still struggle to model and reproduce the intelligence of an insect.
Agreed. I find it difficult to even ask for a deeper understanding of evolution without first explaining yes, I know basically how DNA works; yes, I understand natural selection; no, I'm not a young-earth creationist. I have a solid grasp of basic biology and genetics and I'd just like to comprehend how randomness can lead to such incredible complexity of organisms within billion-year timescales (and not, say, million-trillion-trillion year timescales).
I feel as though it's simply Occam's Razor to assume that evolutionary complexity is the result of randomness because I know of no better explanation. Is there a self-reinforcing process at play? (Natural selection partially counts as reinforcing, I just feel like randomness is still the engine that powers it).
Re: Ask HN: What scientific phenomenon do you wish someone would explain better?
#430Has someone that thought they were taking LSD ever turned into a permanent schizophrenic zombie or in a mental institution, or is it all urban legend. If someone that didn't know they were predisposed to mental illness, is it applicable to dismiss their experience in order to maintain how safe LSD is? If any of this is true, are there any sources aside from "my friend's friend's brother took too much and now he is...…
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