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Articles by Ian Durham
Reply to Rourk, C. Comment on “Albantakis et al. Computing the Integrated Information of a Quantum Mechanism. Entropy 2023, 25, 449”
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Computing the Integrated Information of a Quantum Mechanism
Abstract : Originally conceived as a theory of consciousness, integrated information theory (IIT) provides a theoretical framework intended to characterize the compositional causal information that a system, in its current state, specifies about itself. However, it remains to be determined whether IIT as a theory of consciousness is compatible with quantum mechanics as a theory of microphysics.
Commentary: Teaching quantum concepts
Quantum mechanics is one of the pillars of modern physics. Although quantum computing seems to grab the headlines, quantum mechanics lies at the heart of a vast array of fields, including modern electronics and modern medicine—not to mention all of chemistry. But it is also a notoriously obtuse subject in many ways. In fact, there’s no clear consensus on what represents the bare-minimum competency in quantum mechanics, and there is even less consensus on the best formalism to use.
Physicists Need to Be More Careful with How They Name Things
In 2012, the quantum physicist John Preskill wrote, “We hope to hasten the day when well controlled quantum systems can perform tasks surpassing what can be done in the classical world.” Less than a decade later, two quantum computing systems have met that mark: Google’s Sycamore, and the University of Science and Technology of China’s Jiǔzhāng. Both solved narrowly designed problems that are, so far as we know, impossible for classical computers to solve quickly. How quickly? How “impossible”?
Book review: Spooky Action at a Distance by George Musser (Scientific American/Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2016 [paperback]).
There’s an old adage that gets bandied about, often in activist and political circles: think globally but act locally. In this context, the word ‘local’ is usually referring to a certain, small geographical region (sometimes as small as a town). But what do physicists mean when they use the word? This turns out to be a trickier point than many people realize. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that the universe consists of a bunch of stuff interacting with other stuff.
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