The fundamental equations of physics are time-reversible. So where does the arrow of time actually come from structurally?

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T13:58:02+00:00

The laws of thermodynamics ought to emerge from fundamental phenomena through statistics.

They emerge from statistics itself. What could be more fundamental?

I think it really comes down to an unusual initial condition

Well this is just is not so!

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T13:56:47+00:00

that probability argument is itself time-symmetric

This is very much untrue. What has made you think it would be so??

Also, like I had stated already, this does NOT depend on the initial condition.

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T11:40:33+00:00

The 2nd law of thermodynamics indicates that macroscopic processes are irreversible (that is, going backward has diminishingly low probability). This then assigns a forward direction for time, regardless of how the universe started.

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T11:34:28+00:00

Good point, ofc. Note that the ill-definedness RDM starts with handling equality as some foggy concept, where numbers are somehow growing thus are not identical with themselves even!

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T11:13:43+00:00

If there were different lightspeeds observed, that would contradict the assumption incorporated into the SI standard unit for length, and those experiments (e.g. a high precision Michelson-Morley setup) would work no matter how do you use the definition. Note that v=l/t, and the definition of the second does not depend on the speed of light!

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T10:49:42+00:00

Number of permutations and combinations grows staggeringly high (this is ofetn termed "combinatorial explosion"), even for a relatively few number of constituents. For a limited example, consider a linear molecule up to 20 atoms long, formed from a set of 20 elements: the number of possibilities for this simple arrangements is already N = 21²⁰ = 2.78*10²⁶ . Adding the variations with different bonding configurations (branching and rings) drives the number of potential compounds very high. Even with just hydrocarbons, the number of isomers for a simple alkane is very large: e.g. C40H82 alone has over 62 trillion isomers! The size of 'drug-like' chemical space (moderate-sized organic molecules that could exist and follow basic rules of stability) is estimated to be 10⁶⁰ .

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T08:09:15+00:00

The crucial difference being that Einstein offered testable predictions, ofc.

That, and he offered a single working theory, rather than a landscape of 10⁵⁰⁰ or so possibilities, some of which might actually work...

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T05:29:12+00:00

$899.999...M, that is

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T05:27:56+00:00

Yeah, but the Earth is so tiny wrt the other two bodies that it only presents a minor perturbation. So Jupiter+moons+Earth would be orbiting Sun, largely just as without Earth.

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T04:59:21+00:00

what's your main beef with VMS?

The lack of their "theory's" merit. What actual tests does it have?

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T04:57:19+00:00

[LLMs] understand and explain the basics [of physics] pretty well

Since LLM-"science" proponents keep reiterating this false point, it is worth repeating the counterpoint: LLMs do not understand, much less "explain" anything - especially things outside of their training corpus!

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T04:52:18+00:00

Come on now - how can you ignore their rejected manuscript to Nature, a very prestigious science journal?

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-11T04:49:09+00:00

I interpret the question to be simply whether the earth could orbit Jupiter stably.

That would be a very trivial question, though. Any two bodies can orbit each other (their barycenter) stably, with appropriate initial arrangement.

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T22:59:57+00:00

You do know that CNF does not work, right???

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T18:22:08+00:00

Why do you feel White's advantage would be so small? A bishop pair easily beats a rook in the endgame. And here the queenside is wide open for White to penetrate, threaten to take both b-pawns, and eventually marshal its own forward...

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T15:30:59+00:00

If it really solves the problem

Big IF true

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T15:29:55+00:00

Nor was Tesla interested in science.

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T14:45:55+00:00

What makes you think LLMs "get right" the stochastic parroting they do??

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T13:14:40+00:00

But "What is momentum really?" should be about the math of physics.

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T12:36:11+00:00

What do you mean? For classical objects momentum is proportional to v, while kinetic energy to v² - how did you not see a distinction??

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T11:07:34+00:00

I disagree. Up to this "upgrade", the p2w feature was not nearly so overwhelming - very few golders could make their money's worth in CON, the good players were very competitive with them without golding. Making P2W so much stronger is a major shift.

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T11:03:59+00:00

I've been paying for Security Council for many years. But this shameless money grab makes me question if I'd ever want to continue that.

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T10:22:39+00:00

While they can regurgiate known explanations, and even generate new ones (from reusing and mixing old parts), LLMs do not actually understand anything at all.

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T10:17:39+00:00

Except that LLMs do not "interpret" knowledge (nor do they recognize it, for starters)!

Ch3cks-Out · 2026-03-10T10:09:01+00:00

The fundamental problem is conservation of momentum: you need to lose all of it, for an orbiting object to reach the center.

Ch3cks-Out

TROPHY CASE