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The discrete-time physics hiding inside our continuous-time world
phys.org ^ | 04/15/2019 | Santa Fe Institute

Posted on 04/15/2019 6:26:23 AM PDT by BenLurkin

Scientists believe that time is continuous, not discrete—roughly speaking, they believe that it does not progress in "chunks," but rather "flows," smoothly and continuously. So they often model the dynamics of physical systems as continuous-time "Markov processes," named after mathematician Andrey Markov. Indeed, scientists have used these processes to investigate a range of real-world processes from folding proteins, to evolving ecosystems, to shifting financial markets, with astonishing success.

In a pair of papers, one appearing in this week's Nature Communications and one appearing recently in the New Journal of Physics, physicists at the Santa Fe Institute and MIT have shown that in order for such two-time dynamics over a set of "visible states" to arise from a continuous-time Markov process, that Markov process must actually unfold over a larger space, one that includes hidden states in addition to the visible ones. They further prove that the evolution between such a pair of times must proceed in a finite number of "hidden timesteps", subdividing the interval between those two times...

The authors stumbled on the necessity of hidden states and hidden timesteps while searching for the most energy-efficient way to flip a bit of information in a computer. In that investigation, part of a larger effort to understand the thermodynamics of computation, they discovered that there is no direct way to implement a map that both sends 1 to 0 and also sends 0 to 1. Rather, in order to flip a bit of information, the bit must proceed through at least one hidden state, and involve at least three hidden time steps.

It turns out any biological or physical system that "computes" outputs from inputs, like a cell processing energy, or an ecosystem evolving, would conceal the same hidden variables as in the bit flip example.

(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: discretetime; stringtheory
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To: sparklite2

propofol


41 posted on 04/15/2019 8:29:34 AM PDT by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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To: MHGinTN

That sounds right. Thanks.
Propofol is also the drug his
doctor cranked into Michael Jackson.


42 posted on 04/15/2019 8:34:22 AM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: Leaning Right

Leaning, thanks for posting your formula...I just used it to complete my 2018 tax return.


43 posted on 04/15/2019 8:35:00 AM PDT by Towed_Jumper (Every time a Muslim dies an angel gets his wings.)
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To: sparklite2

What this means for me, surgery-wise, is lying on the preparation table as the nurse dials in some sedation. Then me looking over at her and asking when the operation will begin. And she says, “It’s done already.”


That was my experience too when I had rotor cuff surgery ... Over? What?


44 posted on 04/15/2019 8:47:06 AM PDT by PIF (They camTo think the choice came down to Gorka/Bannon oe for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: PIF

If that’s the same stuff as MJ used, it must
have put a big crimp in his kiddy-diddling.


45 posted on 04/15/2019 8:54:44 AM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: sparklite2; Dr. Ursus

And let’s not forget what Jim Croce said about “Time in a Bottle”.


46 posted on 04/15/2019 9:56:58 AM PDT by aquila48
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To: MHGinTN

In other words, as I have always thought, time is an expression of motion. If nothing moved, not even a electron or the smallest particle, there would be no time. This includes our perceptions and thoughts, which involve motion in the form of electrical and chemical activity.


47 posted on 04/15/2019 10:07:04 AM PDT by PUGACHEV
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To: Dr. Ursus

Sister Mary Joseph didn’t do any better for me....of course, they may be getting better at that sort of explanation since the ‘50s....


48 posted on 04/15/2019 10:13:14 AM PDT by trebb (Don't howl about illegal leeches while not donating to FR - it's hypocritical.)
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To: aquila48
Martin Amis wrote Time's Arrow, a book which began with a guy jolting awake from death, then progressing through life to birth.  He was a Nazi of some import during the war and you learned what he did in reverse.  For instance he'd be sitting at the dinner table, regurgitate some food, masticate it, stick a fork in his mouth, and bring it out with a piece of perfectly formed cake on the fork.

Reading this book takes some adjusting, but you get used to it, and it's really very good.

But it may not be for the squeamish, if you know what I mean, and you do if you think about it.

49 posted on 04/15/2019 10:14:42 AM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: PIF

The same thing happened to me. I was fully conscious laying on a gurney in the pre-op room with the nurse and my wife chattering behind me and a T.V. going on to my side. Then, without any break in continuity, a nurse came up and told me the operation was a success. What? Yes, it was Propofol.


50 posted on 04/15/2019 10:30:06 AM PDT by PUGACHEV
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To: trebb

God Himself is outside time, so He has no time limitations. He exists and always has existed in the “forever now”. But He placed mankind inside a time system, marked by sun, moon and stars. As stated in Scripture, “...in the fullness of time, Christ came into the world, born of a woman...” He humbled Himself and became confined to our system of time. In Heaven, we’ll be outside of time. God Himself is the LIGHT of Heaven.


51 posted on 04/15/2019 10:33:12 AM PDT by Tucker39 ("It ishttps://y impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." George Washington)
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To: Tucker39

I understand that concept even if my mind cannot actually grasp it since my existence is in time...I agree with your statements.


52 posted on 04/15/2019 10:51:36 AM PDT by trebb (Don't howl about illegal leeches while not donating to FR - it's hypocritical.)
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To: sparklite2

There you go again, reminding me of how the percentage has shifted and not in my favor.

But it does make sense.


53 posted on 04/15/2019 2:17:02 PM PDT by KC_for_Freedom (retired aerospace engineer who also taught)
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To: be-baw

“It has been proven impossible for a human to do several things simultaneously.”

It depends how you define “do things”. Clearly it is difficult to do separate but simultaneous things with your right arm, for example. But fMRIs of the brain clearly show mental processes proceeding in parallel, just as we experience. Frequently I find myself thinking about two things at once, but the act of realizing that is too much and disrupts the parallelism. So it appears my mind has two concurrent processors but not three.


54 posted on 04/15/2019 2:44:14 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: BenLurkin
time is God's way of keeping everything from happening at once...
55 posted on 04/15/2019 3:04:34 PM PDT by Chode ( WeÂ’re America, Bitch!)
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To: Chode

...or tomorrow would be yesterday, right now...

56 posted on 04/15/2019 3:11:48 PM PDT by Songcraft
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To: BenLurkin

Shannon thought differently.


57 posted on 04/15/2019 3:24:12 PM PDT by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: Songcraft

100%


58 posted on 04/15/2019 4:36:21 PM PDT by Chode ( WeÂ’re America, Bitch!)
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To: trebb

Thanks. I failed to include my intended closing sentences: Whatever the case may be regarding stars, moons, etc. in the heavenly realm they are not needed for light or to mark times or seasons. God Himself IS the light of Heaven. And there is no night in Heaven, according to the Scriptures.


59 posted on 04/15/2019 8:08:35 PM PDT by Tucker39 ("It ishttps://y impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." George Washington)
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To: Tucker39

Got the old human malady - telling myself I can’t wait to get to Heaven and then telling myself I want to put it off as long as possible.....can’t imagine an eternity where nothing ever gets old or boring.....will have that same eternity to bask in His Love.


60 posted on 04/16/2019 2:52:43 AM PDT by trebb (Don't howl about illegal leeches while not donating to FR - it's hypocritical.)
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