Curating the Internet: Science and technology micro-summaries for September 18, 2019

The justification behind the holographic principle; A changing paradigm for cosmology; AI learned to use tools by playing "hide and seek"; An argument that the health risks for 5G technology merit further study, but should not prevent deployment; and a Steem essay describing the systemic consensus (SK) process for group decision making

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pixabay license: source.

Why do some scientists believe that our universe is a hologram? - I think this post by Sabine Hossenfelder is the best non-technical description I've seen for the justification behind the "holographic principle", which is the claim that our universe is a projection of a 2-dimensional surface, not the 3-dimensional construct that we think we perceive. In short, she says that the idea is untestable with current technologies, but it appeals to some scientists because it is consistent with the information in a black hole - which maps to the event horizon, and also with a theoretical construct called an an Anti-de Sitter space. She closes the post saying that she finds the idea unpersuasive, but thinks it is interesting. The link contains an embedded youtube video and a written transcript.

Here is the video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmDKlcaAWO0

The Universe Is Not in a Box - In this conversation with edge.org , Julian Barbour discusses his research. He compares his "big idea" to the emergence of thermodynamics out of a simple six page engineering paper on optimizing steam engines. He said that the big difference between the problem of optimizing steam engine efficiency and the field of thermodynamics is that the steam engine considered energy transfer inside of a box, whereas thermodynamics took away the container. He suggests that there's a similar paradigm shift that needs to be made in cosmology, and discusses his own efforts to lead the shift. These efforts include work with his collaborators to distill Einstein's general relativity down to just its essential components, which he believes have to do with the shape of the Universe, and also the addition of something he calls "Janus points" - boundary points in spacetime where the direction of time reverses - to explain why time seems to be unidirectional to every observer. Barbour contends that after further development his ideas may either refine the predominant theory of inflation or may lead to a competing theory. As with most edge.org conversations, the link contains a video and a transcript.

AI learned to use tools after nearly 500 million games of hide and seek - OpenAI researchers are working to see what happens if you expose AI to environment that mimics the evolutionary environment for early life forms. To do this, they are incorporating two ideas: multi-agent parallel learning, and a spectrum encompassing competition and coordination. In a new paper, they describe their results from accomplishing this in a virtual game of hide and seek. In these trials, two opposing teams played 500 million games, during which they learned to deploy complex strategies and counter-strategies that included tool use and cooperation. Strategies that the "hiders" developed included moving and locking blocks in the virtual environment, and handing blocks to team-mates. Meanwhile, "seekers" learned to use ramps and climb over walls that had been built by the "hiders". One of the authors, Bowen Baker, suggested that this demonstration of unguided intelligence shows that AI can be cultivated as an ermergent behavior, represents a promising research area for AI improvement, and even has the potential to provide solutions to problems that are currently unsolved.

5G Is Coming: How Worried Should We Be about the Health Risks? - The article acknowledges widespread public concern about increased and involuntary exposure to radio-frequency (RF) energy, but says that most scientists who have studied the question have found little risk, especially with the marginal change that's associated with transforming from 4G to 5G. A number of studies have uncovered biological effects from RF energy, but few have linked those effects to health risks. However, the article does note that some scientists have been very vocal raising red-flags, and adds that as the technology evolves, the question will always remain open for additional study. On a personal level, after my mom died from brain cancer, RF exposure is something that has worried me a bit. However, I don't worry about the cell towers or boosting stations. Because the strength of radio waves decays at an inverse-squared rate compared to distance, I only worry about devices that are in very close proximity. As a precaution I only use a wired head-set or put the phone on "speaker" mode, and I generally don't keep my phone on my person.

STEEM GROUPTHINK - a systemic view on group decisions and consensus - In this Steem post, @erh.germany describes the systemic consensus (SK) method for group decision making. The post points out that this method is preferable to seeking unanimity because large groups that strive for unanimity are ultimately paralyzed by indecision or dominated by corrupt alliances. In the SK method, instead of using a simple vote, group members rate each choice on a scale from one to ten, then scores are calculated, and the option with the least resistance is chosen. The article expresses three questions for an individual to determine whether to participate in the SK process: (i) Do I feel that the outcome will affect me?; (ii) Do I feel that I will be accountable for the outcome of the decision?; and (iii) Do I feel that I will be part of doing the outcome of the decision? The more questions that a person answers "yes" to, the stronger the incentive to participate.

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About this series

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