Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: quantum physics – Page 415

Neil Gershenfeld: Self-Replicating Robots and the Future of Fabrication | Lex Fridman Podcast #380

Neil Gershenfeld is the director of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
- LMNT: https://drinkLMNT.com/lex to get free sample pack.
- NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour.
- BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off.

EPISODE LINKS:
Neil’s Website: http://ng.cba.mit.edu/
MIT Center for Bits and Atoms: https://cba.mit.edu/
Fab Foundation: https://fabfoundation.org/
Fab Lab community: https://fablabs.io/
Fab Academy: https://fabacademy.org/
Fab City: https://fab.city/

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast.
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr.
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4
Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41

OUTLINE:
0:00 — Introduction.
1:29 — What Turing got wrong.
6:53 — MIT Center for Bits and Atoms.
20:00 — Digital logic.
26:36 — Self-assembling robots.
37:04 — Digital fabrication.
47:59 — Self-reproducing machine.
55:45 — Trash and fabrication.
1:00:41 — Lab-made bioweapons.
1:04:56 — Genome.
1:16:48 — Quantum computing.
1:21:19 — Microfluidic bubble computation.
1:26:41 — Maxwell’s demon.
1:35:27 — Consciousness.
1:42:27 — Cellular automata.
1:46:59 — Universe is a computer.
1:51:45 — Advice for young people.
2:01:02 — Meaning of life.

SOCIAL:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman.
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman.
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman.
- Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman.
- Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/lexfridman.
- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman

Before the Big Bang 11: Is the Universe a Time Machine?

What happened before the Big Bang? In two of our previous films we examined cyclic cosmologies and time travel universe models. Specially, the Gott and Li Model https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79LciHWV4Qs) and Penrose’s Conformal Cyclic Cosmology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVDJJVoTx7s). Recently Beth Gould and Niayesh Afshordi of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics have fused these two models together to create a startling new vision of the universe. In this film they explain their new proposal, known as Periodic Time Cosmology.

0:00 Introduction.
0:45 NIayesh’s story.
1:15 Beth’s story.
2:25 relativity.
3:26 Gott & Li model.
6:23 origins of the PTC model.
8:17 PTC periodic time cosmology.
10:55 Penrose cyclic model.
13:01 Sir Roger Penrose.
14:19 CCC and PTC
15:45 conformal rescaling and the CMB
17:28 assumptions.
18:41 why a time loop?
20:11 empirical test.
23:96 predcitions.
26:19 inflation vs PTC
30:22 gravitational waves.
31:40 cycles and the 2nd law.
32:54 paradoxes.
34:08 causality.
35:17 immortality in a cyclic universe.
38:02 eternal return.
39:21 quantum gravity.
39:57 conclusion.

Elizabeth Gould has asked to make this clarification in the written text ” “Despite the availability of infinite time in the periodic time model, this doesn’t lead to thermalization in a typical time-evolution scenario, and therefore doesn’t, strictly speaking, solve the problem related to thermalization in the power spectrum. The reason for this is that, unlike bounce models with a net expansion each cycle, our model has an effective contraction during the conformal phases. Periodic time, therefore, has a unique character in which it reuses the power spectrum from the previous cycles, which is confined to a given form due to the constraints of the system, rather than removing the old power spectrum and needing to produce a new one.”

Quantum Quasiparticle Sandwiches: Serving Up a New Era of Efficient Computing

A perovskite-based device that combines aspects of electronics and photonics may open doors to new kinds of computer chips or quantum qubits.

MIT

MIT is an acronym for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a prestigious private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts that was founded in 1861. It is organized into five Schools: architecture and planning; engineering; humanities, arts, and social sciences; management; and science. MIT’s impact includes many scientific breakthroughs and technological advances. Their stated goal is to make a better world through education, research, and innovation.

Light Control Breakthrough — Innovative Twist in Physics “A Blessing in Disguise!”

Scientists from Korea’s POSTECH and the US’ Northeastern University have successfully manipulated light using non-Hermitian meta-gratings, turning optical loss into a beneficial tool. They’ve developed a new method for controlling light direction using specially designed meta-grating couplers. This breakthrough could advance quantum sensor research and lead to a range of new applications, such as disease diagnosis and pollution detection.

Light is a very delicate and vulnerable physical phenomenon. Light can be absorbed or reflected at the surface of a material depending on the matter’s properties or change its form and be converted into thermal energy. Upon reaching a metallic material’s surface, light also tends to lose energy to the electrons inside the metal, a broad range of phenomena we call “optical loss.”

Production of ultra-small optical elements that utilize light in various ways is very difficult since the smaller the size of an optical component results in a greater optical loss. However, in recent years, the non-Hermitian theory, which uses optical loss in an entirely different way, has been applied to optics research. New findings in physics are being made adopting non-Hermitian theory that embraces optical loss, exploring ways to make use of the phenomenon, unlike general physics where optical loss is perceived as an imperfect component of an optical system. A ‘blessing in disguise’ is that which initially seems to be a disaster but which ultimately results in good luck. This research story is a blessing in disguise in physics.

IBM planning 100,000-qubit quantum computer for 2033

IBM has announced a 10-year, $100 million initiative with the University of Tokyo and the University of Chicago to develop a quantum-centric supercomputer powered by 100,000 qubits.

Quantum-centric supercomputing is an entirely new – and as of now, unrealised – era of high-performance computing. A 100,000-qubit system would serve as a foundation to address some of the world’s most pressing problems that even the most advanced supercomputers of today may never be able to solve.