On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 2:00 PM, meekerdb <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 12/30/2013 3:09 AM, Bruno Marchal wrote: > > But that's essentially everything, since everything is (presumably) > quantum. But notice the limitation of quantum computers, if it has N > qubits it takes 2^N complex numbers to specify its state, BUT you can only > retrieve N bits of information from it (c.f. Holevo's theorem). So it > doesn't really act like 2^N parallel computers. > > > > OK, but nobody pretended the contrary. You can still extract N bits > depending on the 2^N results, by doing some Fourier transfrom on all > results obtained in "parallel universes". This means that the 2^N > computations have to occur in *some* sense. > > > But they pretend that the number 2^N is so large that it cannot exist in > whole universe, much less in that little quantum computer and therefore > there must be other worlds which contain these enormous number of bits. > What Holevo's theorem shows is the one can regard all those interference > terms as mere calculation fictions in going from N bit inputs to N bit > outputs. > Can such "calculation fictions" support conciousness? That's the real question. If they can, then you can't avoid many-worlds (or at least many minds). Jason > It is conceptually no different than doing a calculation in ordinary > probability theory: I start with some initial conditions and I introduce a > probability distribution and compute a probability for some event. In that > intermediate step I introduced a continuous probability distribution which > implies an *infinite* number of bits. Nobody thinks this requires an > infinite number of worlds. > > Brent > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
