Another recent survey said that less than half of Americans believe in anything "unseen," which would be things like God or the Devil or spirits or alternate dimensions or parallel universes or Heaven or Hell and things like that. The standard five senses are the only valid ones. I know lots of people who fit that description, and they're very sure of their views. If they can't see it, hear it, touch it, eat it or fuck it, it doesn't exist, period. I get that, but it seems a little boring when it comes to pondering.
I love to let my mind wander and think about crazy stuff sometimes, especially if it's funny or interesting or has a kernel of truth. If you start with a known idea and try to connect it to an abstract one, your brain is making new connections, and that's a good thing. I've said before, but you could think of the craziest shit you could imagine all day long, but it doesn't mean you have to believe it for one second. Your brain will enjoy the recreation and would light up an MRI scan a little extra. You might get a laugh out of it, but every now and then you'll actually learn something, and that I can promise.
The D-Wave unit is the main machine in the latest in computing...the bizarre world of quantum computing. Basically the D-Wave takes advantage of a strange property of certain particles that function as bits. In an ordinary computer a bit can be a one or a zero. In quantum computing, a bit, or Qubit in this case, can be a one or a zero or BOTH. That's correct. They can't explain how it works to save their lives, but it speeds computing by unimaginable amounts. What's even crazier is how it works, or maybe where the problems are actually solved. It works by punching holes into other dimensions. That's some shit. It sounds like complete science fiction, but according to the creator of the D-Wave himself, that's the story. I'll put a link below if you want to hear him talk about it. It's very interesting. Again they have no idea exactly how the process actually happens, but they seem to be already almost to the point of taking it for granted, and to say that that's how it works is also saying a hell of a lot of other things too. They're saying that no matter what anyone thinks or doesn't, parallel realities DO exist.
Most people say that these parallel realities are basically the same, except with minor differences such as outcome of coin flips or decisions and things like that. I really don't see how that could be helpful to solving complex problems, especially to account for the incredible difference in computational time, if there are only slight differences between universes. If you punched into another dimension that had some math wizard or Alien entity or magic box that could solve problems millions of times faster that in our dimension, then that would be a vastly different universe from ours. Some people say that the universes are indeed vastly different, and that would make more sense in this case. They say for instance that there are universes where the dinosaurs weren't wiped out, and if only you could change your frequency a bit you could see a Stegosaurus stomping through your living room. Maybe they'll come up with some special glasses or something that will let you have a look at stuff like that. Who'd need TV?
That's a lot to reflect on. The String-Theory and Quantum-Entanglement folks say that there are multiple universes occupying the same space. They're stacked together in 2D fashion just like pages in a book. I suppose that would be a pop-up book, because each one obviously is 3D to us. We can't observe them because each operates on a different frequency. It's like a radio. All the stations come into the room at once but you can only tune to one at a time. I believe it's a fairly widely-accepted theory. Not only do the D-Wave guys agree but apparently they've found a way to fuck around with it. I wonder how it works. I wonder what can punch a hole into another dimension, and what can keep that hole open while the problem is being solved.
How fast is the D-Wave? There's a new model out now that's much more powerful that I haven't seen any specs on, but the model from a year or two ago was said to be equal to seven billion human brains in computing power. How fast is that? Some of the most complex problems take up to half an hour to solve. It would take the most powerful conventional supercomputer up to a century or more to solve the same problem. That kind of difference is hard to imagine. That's light years beyond exponential growth. Essentially what was until recently unsolvable is now solvable.
A different guy was talking about the D-Wave and he said that basically they key in the problem and hit SEND or whatever, and it simply disappears. They don't know where it goes. A little while later it reappears as if by magic, and the mega-problem is solved. What the hell? Who or what does the problem-solving? Is someone or something hanging out in other dimensions just waiting for us to send equations? Apparently no one signs off on it. How does going into another dimension solve incredibly complex math problems? What does one have to do with the other? Yes, the idea that we can now apparently poke around into other dimensions at will and even have them solve math problems for us is about batshit crazy, but I don't get how that solves problems. I'm sure they'll eventually think up a few new terms and come up with some bullshit story to explain an unprecedented new situation, and everybody will believe it just 'cause they say it. Problem is, something like this can't be explained at all.
The thing is that eventually it's going to make half the country have to question their very core beliefs. I realize that few people know or care what quantum computing is; much less how it supposedly works, but eventually enough people will hear about it and it will become common knowledge, because, well...it's quantum-ass crazy. When faced with the choice of having to acknowledge that parallel universes exist or just say it's bullshit, lots of people will do the latter, but apparently that's exactly what the story is. I've been open to the possibility that other dimensions exist for quite some time so I have no problem accepting that this may be true and it still blows my mind. People who think stuff like this is all bullshit are going to have to take a hard look at their beliefs, and some people aren't going to like that. But there it is. Other universes. Mysterious forces that like to work math problems. It's nuts. What will the naysayers say? What can they say? It'll shake up the foundations of their belief systems. Maybe it's not a bad thing. Have a quantum day.
The D-Wave computer, explained by its creator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqN_2jDVbOU
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