Are Electrons Real?

How physics at the roots of reality point to a grand unified theory | Aeon Essays

Physics displays an uncanny alignment at its very deepest levels. Is a grand theory of everything finally within reach?

Free Electron

There's a Screwed Scenario that I missed. Back in my Borland days, we were working hard on Paradox for Windows. I was a QA engineer testing the database crea

Claude is an Electron App because we’ve lost native

Article argues that Claude is not an Electron app not because LLMs can’t do it, but because there are no advantages left for native

Making Software: How is data stored?

Invariably, it involves trying to trap electrons in increasingly complicated ways.

Dissolving the Fermi Paradox

Many hypotheses have been suggested in efforts to resolve the Fermi paradox, for example, that all other civilizations are deliberately concealing themselves, or that they all annihilate themselves before successfully traveling or communicating at interstellar distances. A major difficulty for such hypotheses is that the putative mechanism must be extremely reliable: If only 99 %99\text{\,}\mathrm{\%} of other civilizations annihilated themselves, this would do little to resolve the paradox. These hypotheses are thus highly speculative, relying on strong implicit claims about universal alien motivations or social dynamics, when we cannot claim similar knowledge of our own world. These hypotheses are entertained not out of independent scientific plausibility, but because they are seen as potential explanations of he Fermi observation.

70-year-old quantum prediction comes true, as something is created from nothing

In our common experience, you can't get something for nothing. In the quantum realm, something really can emerge from nothing.

Re-Engineering Wimsatt for Limited Beings

Science is the best way to produce facts about reality. The best, at least, that limited human beings have devised so far. Yet, not even scientists quite seem to understand how scientific knowledge is generated. This is not only a philosophical but also a practical problem, as our misunderstandings affect the quality of our research and limit the directions it can take. In light of this, it may be good if we reflected a bit more on how we do science — to become better researchers through philosophy. Here, I provide an accessible introduction to a philosophical approach that achieves precisely this: William Wimsatt’s multi-perspectival realism. It disabuses us of widespread but misleading myths and idealizations about science, such as the idea that everything in the world can be reduced to a fundamental level, or that we can approach a “view from nowhere” — complete and objectively detached knowledge of the world. Wismatt proposes an alternative view based on his thorough studies of actual research practice. It cuts deeply into the layered yet messy structure of reality, and the improvised but potent tools we have available, as limited and evolved beings, to explore it. Wimsatt reframes science as an irregular yet adaptive process rather than a cumulative repository of unalterable facts. His philosophy provides a workable and grounded middle way between radical skepticism and naïve belief in the objective truth of science. It explains how knowledge is conceptually constructed by humans, but still connects us to reality in a trustworthy way. We need such a new view of science, not only to improve our research practices and outcomes but, more generally, to gain a more realistic understanding of ourselves, the world, and our place and role within it.

‘My son genuinely believed it was real’: Parents are letting little kids play with AI. Are they wrong?

Some believe AI can spark their child’s imagination through personalized stories and generative images. Scientists are wary of its effect on creativity

‘Shut up and calculate’ does a disservice to quantum mechanics | Aeon Essays

The cliché has it that the Copenhagen interpretation demands adherence without deep enquiry. That does physics a disservice

Weird Studies

Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality."

Cryptographers place $5,000 bet whether quantum will matter

: The time is maybe

Electron Spins: a special case of Chromium mods | Little Bear Labs

John's a dev who likes to build to last; most known for his work in native-compiling languages like Rust & C++. Dive deep or collaborate: why not both?

What Theory is Not, Theorizing Is

Manifesto Quest ⚔️

the universe is made of stories, not atoms

Theory Beyond Theorems and Proofs: A Guest Post

Scott’s foreword: I’m extremely grateful to my brilliant colleagues, Pravesh Kothari, Raghu Meka, and Prasad Raghavendra, for sharing the guest post below about how theoretical computer…