The observed reality is only an approximation

If the human brain really does not actually ever have a complete and accurate view on the environment (or reality) as the whole sensory process is based on calculating probability and minimizing error between observation and predicted input.

The brain functions follow causal processes

The brain can be simulated more easily than was thought

But what is most fascinating for me is that once again macroscopic structures stem from microscopic ones. Bayesian probability can be applied in quantum mechanics – as QM is mostly about probabilities since we do not have the resolution to really accurately measure full quantum states. And due to Heisenberg uncertainty principle, we can not even if it technically was possible. And as atomic particles and natural forces are causal, and as it seems so is the brain in this theory.

Also one more interesting thing in this theory is that it gives you some advice on how to become an intuitive decision maker. Intuition in this case is to have a lot of alternative statistics available in order to make a quick and most correct estimation of given situation. So you should get rid of tunnel vision and observe a broad set of information even if it is not of direct interest to you or your business. The thing with statistical probabilities is that the correct solution could come from a “wrong” place and it would come spontaneously. That is what intuition is all about.

PS. I did not even go to the free energy principle proposed by Friston. It also underlines that actually our interpretation of quantum physics has it’s counterpart on higher level structures like classical physics that has its higher level counterpart in chemistry which has a counterpart in molecular biology and so forth. Kind of makes me think that in the end, everything is hierarchical following the same rules from Planck scale to infinity.

Michael Lockwood: The Labyrinth of Time. This book deals with the different explanations of time itself. For anyone who has gone deeper in the theoretical physics, time (or arrow of time) is one of the unsolved mysteries and it also has deep relation to my favorite subjects, namely entropy and causality.

Derek Parfit: Reasons and Persons. Parfit has good arguments against our traditional view on ourselves and our view on rationality and morality. I’m interested in human decision making process in general, so this makes a good read.

Kevin D. Hoover: Causality in Macroeconomics. This relates to my last post about causal business decision making. I need to understand the subject better.

C.G. Jung: Synchronicity. The other side of the causal coin. Jung’s argument for acausal connections of events.

J.G. Ballard: Kingdom Come. Fiction about the ultimate manifestation of consumerism. Or is it actually fiction anymore?

For Finns, I could also recommend Pekka Teerikorpi’s “Miljoonan vuoden yksinäisyys“, as it really is a good one about history of science. Not a traditional history book, but loaded with a scent of melancholy and exceptional way to connect events via cultural history.

More recommendations coming when I manage to get into some of my unread books, the pile is now about 150 centimeters high, and this is not a joke :-)

According to pretty much every possible news outlet, Toyota will be adding solar panels to their Prius line of hybric cars. One thing that bugs me in all of these so called “green” goods is that there is no mention of the emissions from the manufacture of such goods.

A solar-electric-gas hybrid might cause lower emissions when in use – however manufacturing all those batteries and solar cells definately produce much more emissions than not manufacturing them. In addition to that, both batteries and solar cells need rare earth materials where the extraction of those from the earth causes considerable emissions, not to mention the amount of chemicals and energy used in purifying the materials. So, how green a green car really is? I think you would be better off with mass transportation if you really want to minimize your carbon footprint.

PS. I’d really want to know the additional emissions from product manufacture for all the goods marketed as “green”, just to be able to make fair comparison with non-green products.

Image via Wikipedia

Discover Magazine has an interesting article about new theory of the Universe by Swedish born cosmologist Max Tegmark. Tegmark argues that the Universe is actually made of mathematics! This might feel just a bit far fetched idea for anyone accustomed to the conventional physics. However, Tegmark presents an interesting philosophical case as much of theoretical physics already heavily revolves around math – string theory or membrane theory for example.

Everything we as humans are capable of observing can be broken down to algorithms. Classical physics present world as solid mathematical approximation when it comes to large bodies like planets or even everyday visible objects. Quantum mechanics have been successful on predicting physical phenomena even though even the idea of quantum started as an abstract mathematical model. The same pattern can be repeated over the course of science and nowadays theory usually far precedes actual physical proof, to a large extent due to complicated and resource heavy machinery needed to get to the fine enough resolution of measurement. Take the soon-to-be-started Large Hadron Collider for an example.

So, who knows? Maybe we are just pieces of information in a huge supercomputer that is the Universe. It’s as good theory as any and the mathematical model seems to be solid, built onto the principles of our best current accepted understanding.

The main point of the series is making out a more comprehensible view on the subject, as quantum physics is usually regarded as extremely difficult. The point is, it is not difficult but is against common intuition as we as humans are prisoners of our limited senses.

The introduction also makes a good point on teaching physics: we should start from quantum physics instead of classical physics and thus progress from the real underlying theories to the generalizations. I think there is some truth to that as quantum theory is not hard, it just involves a different approach to physical systems.

In the second piece, a team of physicists at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena have been able to freeze a pair of light (photons) in entangled state utilizing ultracold atomic cloud and then rerouting the pair into two different directions. In effect, they achieved what is known as quantum teleportation – transferring quantum state from one location to another. The work is far from finished, but the work so far looks promising.

These two experiments might seem quite far fetched to have any practical applications. This might be true for now, but as the research progresses, this might be the key to quantum telecommunications. As you should know, all the fast switched networks nowadays are based on optical fibers that carry pulses of light in different wavelengths.

Traditionally, switching, for routing the data to correct place, has required either to return the light pulses (multiple quanta of photons) to electronic pulses and switching with traditional semiconductors (slow) or using nanomirrors to redirect the live beam (not that slow, but slow still). Utilizing quantum methods, it should be possible to actually carry and route paired photons without any classical switching involved, thus exceeding the speed of light in communication networks.

Sounds science fiction? Just wait and see, getting innovations like these out of the lab and into the hands of the consumers usually just takes time.

As a more educated reader might have guessed, I’ve been studying physics quite a bit lately. What actually started just as a way to pass time and clear up my head, has had enormous effect on my thinking both in general and especially in my work.

So, what the heck has all this to do with my daily work. On the surface, nothing of course. As my general interest is more on the business side and how to use technology to better support business growth, it makes little sense to know all the theoretical physics stuff I’ve been studying lately. However on a deeper level, theoretical physics has all to do with business as many of the principles in the quantum world – or astrophysical phenomena for that matter – present similar patterns that you can perceive in the chaotic business world we’re living in this very day.

A lot is happening in media and entertainment industry at the moment, as whole business value chains are changing due to recent technological developments. The Google factor is one classic example of the disruptive effects of technology, but that is not all that is happening. The classified business as we’ve known it is already on its way to full digitalization, the music industry is going digital, the movie and TV industry have first signs of starting value chain disruption and even the book publishing business is showing first symptoms of going digital.

This all means that the traditional business is going to have hard time to stay on the wave of digitalization and, what is more interesting, digitalization opens up new opportunities for startups that do not have the 100+ years of carriage with them and more importantly, no traditional assets to protect. The business opportunities might be small at first, at least when compared with the traditional business, but as we’ve seen in the real physical world: microscopic changes might, and usually will, cause tremendous changes on macroscopic level given the right environment to nurture in.

This pretty much compares with natural evolution cycles both in biological and physical sense. In biological world, those who adapt will survive but disruptions like natural disasters can change the rules rapidly. On the other hand, the physical world is driven by the battle of entropy versus gravity, quantum level fluctuations that slowly but surely tend to disrupt the equilibrium of otherwise static systems.

So, understanding business has everything to do with understanding physical phenomena. It gives you the tools and structure to understand what happens and why and, more importantly, how to implicitly cause the fluctuations that end up changing the rules of business.