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About this blog

My views about philosophical and scientific matters.

Entries in this blog

Culture

Translating Polish songs #2

I already did one of these, so why not do it again? This time we have a pretty funny one: If you want to be strong, join us Become a real aquarist There are already three hundred or four hundred of us Including two majors and one bishop Eight dentists with the rank of ministers Aquarium Club We have a two-color stamp And a post office box at the main post office We have already received several letters With the note "Aquarium Club" We have an aquarium wit
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Culture

10
Physics

Non-locality or retrocausality? (and general thoughts about the universe)

I've written about these things in this blog before, but now I'd like to summarize my thoughts about how I understand the quantum mechanics and how I see the nature of the universe in general. It seems nobody understood my previous post, and probably nobody will understand this one either, but that's OK, I'm writing these primarily for myself, to gather and organize my thoughts. In the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics, there is a thing called "wave function collapse", which does
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Physics

4
Physics

Entangled in Time

Let's talk about quantum entanglement. At first glance it looks like a very strange phenomenon, where the properties (like spin) of two particles coming from the same source can be measured in different points of space and time, and the results of these measurements are correlated, while still being fundamentally random. If you make a spacetime diagram of it, you get something like this: Now, I want you to think about it in a different way, similar to what I've already posted in this
Mathematics

Why Tau is better than Pi

I'm writing this on Pi Day, but I think pi makes no sense as a fundamental mathematical constant, and it's used only because of force of habit. The circle is defined as the set of points on the plane with a given distance to the center. That distance is the radius. So the "circle constant" should be defined using the radius, not diameter. It has been proposed that this constant would be denoted by the Greek letter tau. Tau is equal to 2*pi. The full angle (360 degrees) in radians is on
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Mathematics

7
Information Theory

So you think one bit is the smallest possible portion of information?

I've read about this in an old book about Bridge (the card game). The example below is a modified version of the one used in that book. There are 3 people (including you) sitting by the table, and every one of them gets a card. There are 2 black cards and one red card, and for some reason you want to know who has the red card. The cards are lying on the table, face down. So, how much information do you need to know who has the red card? By definition, the amount of information (in bits
Mathematics

-1/12

Some time ago there was some controversy across the Internet whether 1+2+3+4+... = -1/12 or not. Here's what I think about this: Clearly, this sum diverges to infinity, so you can't assign any finite value to it, using the standard math rules. But there is a way to associate this value with this sum, which uses some advanced concepts that I don't fully understand, like analytic continuation, Riemann zeta function, and Ramanujan summation. So I did something different. First, I took the
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Mathematics

9
Culture

Hearts and Hooves day special - my favorite love song

Here is my (probably pretty bad) attempt at translating the lyrics to English: When I weaved my braids into winter days Blue ribbons smiled at you like two sisters And the gloves, which I kept losing so you would look for them Always had for you ten nuts hidden in their fingers And into the footprints on the road Which I made gliding through the snow I threw summer's fruits For you to follow me Today I don't have braids anymore The wind took the ribbons I don't wea
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Culture

0
Philosophy

On the existence of chairs

What inspired me to write this entry is this video. Before watching it I haven't realized there is so much controversy over a seemingly simple statement that objects like chairs exist. So let me explain what I think about all this. First, we need to define what "exist" means. What I mean here is physical existence, as opposed to mathematical existence, which is a different thing. My definition is as follows: If something exists physically, it means it's a part of a valid description of
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Philosophy

10
Physics

More on Superdeterminism

The goal of this entry is to explain my thoughts about superdeterminism in a more detailed way. We should start with the double slit experiment: there is a source of particles, two slits, and a screen. The particles can go through either of the slits, and even if we emit a single particle at a time, after many particles there is an interference pattern at the screen, showing that the particle seems to go through both slits at the same time. But if we make a measurement to determine which sl
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Physics

12
Physics

Superdeterminism

I just watched a video from Sabine Hossenfelder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytyjgIyegDI She talks about an idea that can fix some problems with our understanding of quantum mechanics. And I have some things to say about it. First, I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't believe in all that free will nonsense. Second, I think the idea of superdeterminism has some very interesting implications. It states that the path of the particle depends on what you measure. But what she doesn
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Physics

13
MLP Fan Works

Adventure Awaits!

Today I'd like to recommend a choose-your-own-adventure series that I really like: d20 Pony. It's a long running series, in an expanded universe based on MLP G4, but with new areas to explore and species to meet. It's a really fun and exciting story with epic adventures and very likable characters (especially the main two: Trailblazer and Moonflower). It's mostly based on OCs, but there are also some canon character appearances. It works like this: anyone can post a command saying what the
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in MLP Fan Works

2
Mathematics

The Dividing Point

It all started with a seemingly simple question I saw somewhere: Is it possible to divide a square into two triangles? You might think you just need to cut it through the diagonal and you're done. But, if you divide something, its every point must belong to one part or the other. So what about the points on the diagonal? To which triangle do they belong? This problem seems to me like something artificial and counterintuitive, and makes me think the rules of geometry should be modified. Normally
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Mathematics

18
Roleplaying

Champions of Celestia: A Reference Guide

(This entry contains information about the "Champions of Celestia" roleplay. If you're not interested in this RP, just ignore it.)   1. Attributes You have 4 attributes: Strength - your physical strength and constitution. Used for moving and carrying heavy objects, bucking, resisting some physical conditions etc. In combat used to damage the enemy. Agility - your reflexes, and the speed and coordination of your moves. Used in situations where a fast reaction or skillful
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Roleplaying

0
Mathematics

Complex Numbers: The End of the Road

I'm going back to math as promised. Let's think about how and why the different kinds of numbers were created. First there are "natural numbers". It's a concept that is easy to understand, because it can be used to count physical objects we see around us. We can also make some simple operations on them. We can add them - no problems here, because if we add two natural numbers, the result is also a natural number. But we can also subtract them, and that's where a problem arises: if we subtra
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Mathematics

5
MLP G4

Holiday Special: My Top 20 Favorite G4 Characters, part 2

Before we continue our little list, some honorable mentions: Cotton Sky - I really like her mane. Daring Do - I don't know why, but I love her voice. Flurry Heart - most unused potential. I imagine her as a future ruler, with a conflicted personality. Lily Longsocks - stronk. Twilight Velvet - best mom. And now, the top 10: #10 Cutie Mark Crusaders. Good depiction of children, who are enthusiastic and eager to do things, sometimes they mess up, but their hearts (as strong
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in MLP G4

2
MLP G4

Holiday Special: My Top 20 Favorite G4 Characters, part 1

As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to do something special for this time of the year. After a long consideration I decided to post the list of my favorite characters in all of FiM and EqG (I think it's too early to rate the G5 characters). Note that some entries are groups of characters instead of single ones, because I particularly like them as collective entities. So here we go: #20 Philomena. I really wanted to see more of her. #19 Plants and inanimate objects. Boulder, Phyllis, Smart
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in MLP G4

0
MLP G5

Not All Magic Was Gone

Before we go back to math, I decided to address something about the G5 MLP movie, and I think it's a good time to do so, because we were just talking about magic in my previous entries. So it would seem that all magic had disappeared from the world, before Sunny and her friends brought it back. But I think it's not true, and here are some examples of magical things that were still in effect: Cutie Marks - ponies still had them, and according to FiM lore, they are magical. The "spa
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in MLP G5

5
Fictional Concepts

Explaining Magic, part 3

Time for my physical theory of magic. As a reminder, it's totally fictional, applies to fictional universes like MLP, and I don't think that's how physics works in real life. For simplicity, let's imagine the universe as a two-dimensional object, it will be easier to think of its shape that way. So what shape can it be? It can be like a Möbius strip, which has only one side, but it can also be like a normal sheet of paper, which has two sides. (But it doesn't have edges, so you can imagine
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Fictional Concepts

5
Fictional Concepts

Explaining Magic, part 2

As previously established, I need something that makes magic special, that allows it to bypass a physical limitation that normally applies. And I think the best choice for that limitation is the second law of thermodynamics. It states that in a closed system (and the entire universe is a closed system) the amount of entropy (which can be understood as disorder) must remain the same or (more likely) increase. It also means that some processes are very easy in one direction of time, and very hard
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Fictional Concepts

4
Fictional Concepts

Explaining Magic, part 1

To make things clear: I don't believe magic exists in our world, I'm just considering it in context of a fictional universe, like MLP. I don't like the "It's magic, you don't have to explain it" approach. If magic is an integral part of a fictional world, then it should be explained like any other part of it. And that's what we will try to do here. We'll start with the sources of magic. What causes it? I think what Starlight says in "All Bottled Up" is a good explanation: Of course there
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Fictional Concepts

7
Mathematics

Real Numbers Continued

The title of this entry means we're still talking about the real numbers, but it also means we're talking about something called "continuum". But what is it? The answer is it's a kind of infinity, and it's different from the "countable infinity". (There are more kinds of infinity, but let's focus on these two.) "Countable infinity" is, for example, the number of elements in the set of all integers. "Countable" means we can arrange the elements in a sequence, so for any integer there is a we
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Mathematics

4
Mathematics

Are Real Numbers Real?

Let's talk about the different sets of numbers. First, we have integers, which are a simple and intuitive concept. It's a series of numbers going in both directions (positive and negative) to infinity. Rational numbers are not hard to understand either, as the name suggests they are ratios of integers. But what about the real numbers? Are they a valid mathematical concept? There is one fact that made me question it: most of them are "unreachable", which means we cannot create any formulas that "
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Mathematics

12
Physics

"No two ponies are exactly the same, no two snowflakes ever match their design..."

This quote (I think you all know where it comes from) shows us that complex physical objects are all different from each other. Ranging from very big ones like galaxies, to very small like the aforementioned snowflakes, there are no two identical instances of them. But what happens if we consider really small objects, like atoms? Well, the atoms of one chemical element aren't actually all the same, but they are not all unique either. Every element has several versions called isotopes, which diff
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Physics

1
Culture

The Guiding Light

Warning: contains spoilers for the G5 movie. This entry is different from what I usually post here, but I just had to share some of my thoughts about the new movie. Specifically, what I want to discuss here is the symbolism of the lighthouse. I love that they made it the house of Argyle and Sunny, and here's why: The thing that immediately came into my mind when I saw the movie is a piece of literature from my country: a short story called "Latarnik" ("The Lighthouse Keeper") by Henryk
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Culture

3
Physics

From tip to TOE

By TOE I mean "Theory of Everything". The basic rules that govern our universe (so if you think there are multiple universes, it's not really about everything). There are several attempts to unify all physics, but there is no widely accepted version of it. I have an intuition what it should be, which I'm going to share with you here. I believe the fundamental theory is not geometric. Geometry should be an emergent phenomenon, a statistical property of a large number of basic objects, someth
Silly Druid

Silly Druid in Physics

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