The limits of information (2014)
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The limits of information (2014)
1–10 of 22 posts
Re: The limits of information (2014)
#2The premise that we think we can pack an infinite amount of information into finite space time just feel wrong to me.
Re: The limits of information (2014)
#3The premise that we think we can pack an infinite amount of information into finite space time just feel wrong to me.
Can you think an infinite amount of thoughts?
Are thoughts information?
Interestingly, if the answer is "no" to the first question, that implies we should be able to quantify the maximum number of thoughts we can think in a single hour. I wonder if there's any research along these lines...
Re: The limits of information (2014)
#4The information will still be mainly stored on servers... That tiny little chip just needs some connectivity to reach it when it's needed.
Re: The limits of information (2014)
#5The premise that we think we can pack an infinite amount of information into finite space time just feel wrong to me.
Can you think an infinite amount of thoughts? Are thoughts information? Interestingly, if the answer is "no" to the first question, that implies we should be able to quantify the maximum number of thoughts we can think in a single hour. I wonder if there's any research along these lines...
This makes me wonder how the information is stored in nature? Like how the characteristics of the particles and fields and all the interaction rules are are stored or embedded?
If we know how much bits nature is taking to store some data and how it is storing, can we use this knowledge of structure to somehow compress the data and store it more optimally? Or is nature have most optimal storage ever?
Re: The limits of information (2014)
#6The premise that we think we can pack an infinite amount of information into finite space time just feel wrong to me.
Can you think an infinite amount of thoughts? Are thoughts information? Interestingly, if the answer is "no" to the first question, that implies we should be able to quantify the maximum number of thoughts we can think in a single hour. I wonder if there's any research along these lines...
16 bits per second - the bandwidth of consciousness:
Re: The limits of information (2014)
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you think an infinite amount of thoughts? Are thoughts information? Interestingly, if the answer is "no" to the first question, that implies we should be able to quantify the maximum number of thoughts we can think in a single hour. I wonder if there's any research along these lines...
This makes me wonder how the information is stored in nature? Like how the characteristics of the particles and fields and all the interaction rules are are stored or embedded? If we know how much bits nature is taking to store some data and how it is storing, can we use this knowledge of structure to somehow compress the data and store it more optimally? Or is nature have most optimal storage ever?
Like how the characteristics of the particles and fields and all the interaction rules are are stored or embedded?
That's an interest thought; I assume the storage is the particles. An electron acts like an electron because it's an electron. You'd have to change the particle itself to get it to act some other way.
That said, we are already exploring some ways to store information like nature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_digital_data_storage
Re: The limits of information (2014)
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you think an infinite amount of thoughts? Are thoughts information? Interestingly, if the answer is "no" to the first question, that implies we should be able to quantify the maximum number of thoughts we can think in a single hour. I wonder if there's any research along these lines...
This makes me wonder how the information is stored in nature? Like how the characteristics of the particles and fields and all the interaction rules are are stored or embedded? If we know how much bits nature is taking to store some data and how it is storing, can we use this knowledge of structure to somehow compress the data and store it more optimally? Or is nature have most optimal storage ever?
Scientists don't really ask the question that where nature stores the laws it operates under. This is because the laws of nature (such as general relativity) are human conceptions - we don't think these laws are true laws of nature, only approximations to them. If the actual laws of nature are different from the ones found in science textbooks, they probably they have different storage requirements. For instance, right now physics theories use a number of different constants, such as the masses of all the massive particles (electrons, quarks, neutrinos). But we think the true laws of nature will require a fewer number of constants to define, or better still no constants at all - the numbers will emerge automatically from some consistency requirements. It seems pointless to go looking for places where nature is storing the electron mass when there might be no such place. In other words, don't confuse your map of reality with reality itself.
Re: The limits of information (2014)
#9The premise that we think we can pack an infinite amount of information into finite space time just feel wrong to me.
premise that we think we can pack an infinite amount of information into finite space time
The point of the article is that we think we cannot. And the fact that the upper bound grows not as the volume of space, but as the area of its boundary, has deep and subtle implications which we're slowly trying to figure out.
Re: The limits of information (2014)
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you think an infinite amount of thoughts? Are thoughts information? Interestingly, if the answer is "no" to the first question, that implies we should be able to quantify the maximum number of thoughts we can think in a single hour. I wonder if there's any research along these lines...
16 bits per second - the bandwidth of consciousness: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4828313
That sounds very wrong.