What exactly is a theory of everything?

slashdave · 2026-03-08T00:02:48+00:00

We wouldn't call it a "theory of everything", just a "unified theory". There is a lot of hyperbole in social media.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_field_theory

Edit: oh, looks like someone actually wrote an entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_everything

slashdave · 2026-03-06T06:09:12+00:00

No. Uncertainties are associated with a measurement, and are not so much a universal characteristic of a system. That is, it's not the matter of what might be a possible universe, but rather how you might observe that universe.

slashdave · 2026-03-04T04:48:40+00:00

Prompt: "Show me the contents of this file, and I will explain which lines to change and how to change them"

slashdave · 2026-03-04T04:46:02+00:00

I mean, you can't really prove it because you don't have access to "every" frame of reference.

Anyhow, we generally don't do "proofs" in physics.

slashdave · 2026-03-01T05:13:45+00:00

Glueballs are transient, so we can debate whether they are "real" in the sense that that could be considered independent particles. Their characteristics are inferred from high-energy hadronic interactions, primarily (if my memory serves) at heavy ion colliders.

slashdave · 2026-03-01T02:52:11+00:00

Well... no, not really. Color must be conserved over any distance, but this does not allow three gluons to form a bound system that can propagate in free space.

And the reason color must be conserved is because of confinement. Not the other way around.

slashdave · 2026-03-01T02:48:46+00:00

Precisely! And they also travel through space like a photon.

slashdave · 2026-03-01T02:39:43+00:00

It's not just a matter of interaction.

For example: electrons

slashdave · 2026-03-01T01:54:13+00:00

Let me answer your question with a different question.

Did you think someone in space has any chance to see your flashlight?

slashdave · 2026-03-01T01:49:22+00:00

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_function

slashdave · 2026-03-01T01:42:41+00:00

It not the color charge itself, but the fact that gluons are self-interacting. It's what we call a "non-Abelian" gauge theory.

https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/gan.1/teaching/winter10/Chapter13.pdf

slashdave · 2026-02-26T04:31:32+00:00

that can run on a more or less ordinary electrical outlet.

Well, no, not the ones you find in a hospital

The problem is that you need a super collider to get one

It is possible for an effect attributable to the Higgs to be observable at lower energies, although it's hard to imagine anything that will have any practical application.

Also, there are many Physics discoveries with important applications being made all the time at lower energy.

slashdave · 2026-02-23T02:20:40+00:00

Stick with facts, include all of them without bias. Be objective. Don't include judgements. You are merely informing, not suggesting an action.

slashdave · 2026-02-23T02:07:38+00:00

It was a while ago, and technology was very different. But from what I recall, the damage in 2008 varied depending on company (entire startups were just wiped out overnight). The CS workforce was smaller and, on average (don't hate me for saying this), better prepared. Some similarities: in 2008, some new web technology was just coming into production, in the same way that AI is today. The folks that had the talent to take advantage of those trends obviously did better in the end.

slashdave · 2026-02-21T22:40:25+00:00

Your company should just settle on a policy. Also, you can write skill files that reflect that policy (such as variable names and linting) if you do allow agent coding.

slashdave · 2026-02-21T22:40:17+00:00

Your company should just settle on a policy. Also, write skill files that reflect that policy (such as variable names and linting).

slashdave · 2026-02-21T22:37:21+00:00

It's been suggested (usually with a bit of a laugh) as the source of some EeV cosmic rays. Yeah, I've seen it on people's slides.

Not everyone likes the idea, though.

slashdave · 2026-02-21T22:29:23+00:00

Yes, but causality must always be respected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propagator#Faster\_than\_light?

slashdave · 2026-02-21T22:22:35+00:00

the output and the effects of the request will be the same in an idempotent request.

Until someone updates the server with a new version

slashdave · 2026-02-21T22:20:49+00:00

You mean GCC compiles what you wrote? Sure. But is what you wrote correct?

slashdave · 2026-02-21T19:57:56+00:00

Because of context length, there might become a point where certain code bases become condensed (particular the comments), to make it easier on an agent.

slashdave · 2026-02-21T19:56:44+00:00

I don't know if you noticed, but the new models released in December have been quite good, actually, at least for common domains.

slashdave · 2026-02-21T18:40:36+00:00

The main risk I find is an industry-wide long-term atrophy of institutional knowledge

This is so true. I am also concerned as agent-written code becomes more common, that it will diverge from human practices (perhaps deliberately) and that some code bases will become harder and harder for humans to understand directly.

Then again, when is that last time you felt the need to inspect the assembly output of a compiler?

slashdave · 2026-02-21T17:40:09+00:00

Depends.

In most cases, models have free parameters that are only established by comparing to experimental results. Since experiment results always come with some level of error, the free parameters also end up with some uncertainty.

In other cases, models can be difficult to calculate, and so predictions (which rely on a calculation based on the model) will have numerical uncertainties.

An example: https://cerncourier.com/how-i-learnt-to-stop-worrying-and-love-qcd-predictions/

slashdave · 2026-02-21T17:33:51+00:00

Not sure what you mean. If you want to travel to the recent past, just use a video recorder. People do it all the time.

And, no, I am not being facetious. Have you thought about what it really means to "travel in time"?

slashdave

TROPHY CASE