Knowing Less Than Nothing
The lack of knowledge is something we can understand, but we have a hard time grasping the concept of negative knowledge. How can anyone know less than nothing? But negative knowledge does exist in the world of quantum physics.
Three researchers, Dr. Michal Horodecki (University of Gdansk), Dr. Jonathan Oppenheim (Cambridge University), and Dr. Andreas Winter (Bristol University) discovered this amazing fact, publishing their work in the August edition of the journal Nature.
What could negative knowledge possibly mean? "If I tell it to you, you will know less," explained Dr. Winter.
In the quantum world, knowledge behaves quite differently than it does in our world, or so it seems. As stated in the Heisenberg Uncertainty principal (named after its creator Werner Heisenberg), there are things in the quantum world that we cannot know, such as both the position and the momentum of a quantum particle. So, in the quantum world it is also possible to know more than everything, since in Quantum Entanglement, each particle knows BOTH the position and momentum of its paired particle. To counter this ‘knowing more than everything’, negative knowledge is used to ‘balance’ the equation. Dr. Horodecki also points out, "We can quantify information in terms of how much stuff I need to send you before you get to know something. In the case of negative quantum information, you can get to know something without me sending you any quantum particles. In fact, you will gain the potential to learn more quantum information in the future." No wonder Einstein called this ‘spooky science’.
This is all part of the quantum information theory that is lending itself to the fields of quantum teleportation and quantum computing. In quantum computing, the ‘bits’ in traditional computers are replaced by quantum ‘qubits’ which are quantum particles like electrons or atoms. While classical bits can only be in the state 0 or 1, qubits can be both in the 0 or 1 state at the same time. Let’s see Microsoft handle that!
Negative knowledge brings a new meaning to the phrase, “You don’t know nothin’!”
In short, it IS possible to know something without being told. Just as it is to NOT know something after it's been learned.
Three researchers, Dr. Michal Horodecki (University of Gdansk), Dr. Jonathan Oppenheim (Cambridge University), and Dr. Andreas Winter (Bristol University) discovered this amazing fact, publishing their work in the August edition of the journal Nature.
What could negative knowledge possibly mean? "If I tell it to you, you will know less," explained Dr. Winter.
In the quantum world, knowledge behaves quite differently than it does in our world, or so it seems. As stated in the Heisenberg Uncertainty principal (named after its creator Werner Heisenberg), there are things in the quantum world that we cannot know, such as both the position and the momentum of a quantum particle. So, in the quantum world it is also possible to know more than everything, since in Quantum Entanglement, each particle knows BOTH the position and momentum of its paired particle. To counter this ‘knowing more than everything’, negative knowledge is used to ‘balance’ the equation. Dr. Horodecki also points out, "We can quantify information in terms of how much stuff I need to send you before you get to know something. In the case of negative quantum information, you can get to know something without me sending you any quantum particles. In fact, you will gain the potential to learn more quantum information in the future." No wonder Einstein called this ‘spooky science’.
This is all part of the quantum information theory that is lending itself to the fields of quantum teleportation and quantum computing. In quantum computing, the ‘bits’ in traditional computers are replaced by quantum ‘qubits’ which are quantum particles like electrons or atoms. While classical bits can only be in the state 0 or 1, qubits can be both in the 0 or 1 state at the same time. Let’s see Microsoft handle that!
Negative knowledge brings a new meaning to the phrase, “You don’t know nothin’!”
In short, it IS possible to know something without being told. Just as it is to NOT know something after it's been learned.
posted by The Universe Of Power at 2:29 PM
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Quantum Entanglement
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