Category: emergent phenomena
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Dialogue with Liam Graham about Emergence
Emergence, a word whose Latin roots are ex = “out” + mergere = “merge, sink”, has 19 different meaning according to Oxford’s English Dictionary. While emergence is also widely used in quantum statistical mechanics, Liam Graham argues in his new book “Physics Fixes All the Facts” that we should abandon it and are better of…
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Why God plays dice: A pedagogical and accurate explanation of the second law
The second law of thermodynamics has taken a supreme place in the hall of fame of universal laws, owing to its time-asymmetric character and its countless applications in engineering, biology, chemistry, physics and astronomy. Yet, it also holds a supreme place as one of the most mystic natural laws that “nobody really understands”. But luckily…
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Everything everywhere all at once? Many worlds in context
The many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics has not only become an equal rival to the once all-dominating Copenhagen collapse interpretation, but it even breached through the fences of science and became a popular theme of Hollywood blockbusters. By contrasting the two rivaling interpretations, this post highlights some of the surprising stuff I have learned…
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What is a Boltzmann brain?
If you thought the name of this blog comes from me thinking to be a reincarnation of Boltzmann, then you were almost but not quite right. Boltzmann’s brain is a serious scientific paradox at the intersection of statistical physics and cosmology with the (still serious) consequence that the Universe could be filled with zombies, including…