Psience Quest

Full Version: New Lecture @ SLAC by Nima Arkani-Hamed
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Nima Arkani-Hamed

Chris

(2018-06-30, 04:46 PM)Max_B Wrote: [ -> ]Nima Arkani-Hamed is a top theoretical physicist, in this lecture he discusses new areas of mathematics that he and others are working with, which seem to hint at some deeper structures that may be more fundamental than Quantum Mechanics and Spacetime, and may result in a new, more generalised perspective on these two pillars of physics. It's a challenging talk, but I think it's worthwhile trying to digest it.



Thanks. I found that interesting. In case anyone is teetering on the brink of watching it, it is definitely aimed at a lay audience and the delivery is very un-dry.

I thought his response to a question about consciousness and the role it plays in quantum measurement was interesting (at about 1:24:25). He cut the questioner off quite abruptly and asserted that "there is nothing interesting going on in the foundations of quantum mechanics ... everything there is fully, completely understood within the ordinary logic of quantum mechanics."

As he is actually arguing that the foundations of quantum mechanics - like those of space-time - lie in the field of "amplituhedron theory" that he is working on, I assume his vehemence is directed against any role of consciousness in the process.