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by benjohnson 3949 days ago
I hope someone can provide a deeper indication to what is going on - on first reading it looks like the iron bar is simply recording past events. The observer would be the one who decides to use this information to extrapolate into future events - the iron bar just sitting there.
2 comments
JorgeGT 3949 days ago
Exactly this, the bar doesn't move towards the machines by itself, its just a tool a sentient being is using to record data. Isn't the proposition analogous to proposing that a typewriter is able to compose a novel or that a violin is capable of playing a song? Neither the violin, the typewriter nor the iron bar work without a sentient human using them.
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j42 3949 days ago
It comes across as a brilliantly absurd joke at first, though I suspect that to be a case of poor translation and an even poorer choice of analogy.

I see this pertaining to quantum physics/computing. I think it's trying to posit: "fluctuations in physically-coupled systems (tug-of-war dynamics) can be used to reliably and efficiently infer state/logic when the initial, discrete distribution is known."

To break that down a bit...

- They describe tug-of-war dynamics as a sort of "rigid physical coupling," and briefly allude to practical applications, stating that they've implemented this dynamic in "... quantum dots, single photons and atomic switches."

- They are using a poor example as the conceptual nature of the 'slot machines' and iron bar seems irrelevant -- it's just an analogy for a "measurable state" represented in a physically-coupled construct.

As for why it's relevant, it seems to be the cornerstone of an alternate paradigm to computing that when scaled down (to nanotechnology and quantum particles) can allow physical systems to represent logic and state without electrical transistors. That would appear to have application in every field from medicine to defense (smart materials, targeted drug delivery, et. al).

The breakthrough has 0 to do with the lovely "iron bar," and instead seems to be in their method of physical coupling, allowing them to represent binary switches reliably in the physical realm at quantum scale.

Then again...

"Other than this fluctuation, we added another fluctuation to our model. The important point is ... fluctuations."

http://i.imgur.com/bHFwiof.jpg

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