Re: Next generation COBOL?

2005-11-27 13:18:00 MET

Pete Dashwood wrote:
Herwig,

I have usually enjoyed your posts here as I share an interest in things Quantum, and have devoted several years to gathering an understanding of the way things work, at a very superficial level.

The works of Stephen Hawking, Brian Greene, et al, have helped to make some of these very difficult concepts at least reachable for the majority of us. However, in your post below I think you have expressed some of these ideas with outstanding clarity and elegance. 

Thank you so much, Pete.

Clarity and elegance, however, do not come from me. I myself
was guided back to physics about 5 years ago (although I
continue to work in the COBOL environment). The main leading
texts which caused the resurection of my interest in QM were
(I mentioned those already):

   David Deutsch: "The Fabric of Reality"

and

   Julian Barbour: "The End of Time".

Both aimed at lay people - but far from easy.

BTW: I just found that DD collected a new award for his work:

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/prize05/prize05_index.html

If Quantum Computing leaves the laboratory table within
the next few years, DD certainly will be awarded the NP.
I hold any bet.

I am taking a copy of portions of your post and will put them on the wall of my office at home. (I have marked them in the text below.) 

Yo are welcome. It's Open Source.

Have you considered writing some articles on this stuff? I know many people would be pleased to have a digestible overview of some of the concepts for Quantum Computing. 

If I find the time. As I mentioned, my main research
is about the mapping of mind-states onto reality as
described by the Wheeler-DeWitt equation (a sort of
generalized Schroedinger Equation) - this plays a
fundamental role in finding out about the mechanisms
of propagation of the mind in case of death. This
is the base of understanding Quantum-Suicide which is
the elementary process for the Quantum Old Age Fund.

And the Quantum Old Age Fund is certainly *not* Open
Source. Any Attempt to institutionalize this concept
will meet fierce opposition by me.

That will be more than just "writing some articles
on this stuff". Much more.

(BTW: As you might recall, or new German chancellor,
Angela Merkel, is a physicist. As for the question of
our desolate Old Age Pensions, I hope she will not
take up any weird ideas ...)

... 

Thanks for the links and the comments.


His (and my) answer is the Many Worlds Interpretation of
Quantum Mechanics

I just find that too hard to swallow, but I haven't closed my mind on it yet :-) And I certainly don't have a better idea... :-) 

You are not the only one. These concepts hide
themselves in everyday life, so most people do not
have a direct encounter with the basic building
blocks of reality anytime in their lives. That's
one of the reasons that evolution does not make
us born theoretical physicists.

And even some theoretical physicists do not
like the concept of many worlds - recent
census says maybe about half of them.

But as for me, encountering this subject late
in life makes it so vastly interesting.

I think I am a lucky guy: I enjoy the privilege
of intellectual independence in working on
Quantum Computing because I am not paid for
that. If I were - that is, if my employer had
some interest in Quantum Computing - my
activities would be guided away from the
really interesting things. Developing
Quantum Algorithms, for instance. Or integrating
Quantum concepts into a programming language -
that also would be interesting in it's own kind.
But it's not the real thing - namely, the
question how our minds are planted into reality.

My current activity for which I am paid is
teaching an ESQL-precompiler some OO-COBOL.
This is far from Quantum Computing. So, in
either activity I take a break from the other
activity, and in either activity, I look
forward for the other one.

What could be better?

Herwig

--
**********************************************************
*  http://www.quantenrente.de    Josella Simone Playton  *
*  http://www.Josella-Simone-Playton.de  Herwig Huener   *
**********************************************************

.

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