Re: [OT] Re: [gentoo-user] Question of quantum computer

[<wabenbau@gmail.com>]

Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org> wrote:

> On Fri, Apr 3, 2015 at 7:02 PM, Peter Humphrey
> <peter@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> > On Friday 03 April 2015 17:11:11 Fernando Rodriguez wrote:
> >
> >> That's the problem with science in general. The one thing it may
> >> never be able to answer is "why?".
> >
> > I think that's the crux of the problem with some current approaches
> > to physics. Science does not answer the question "why?". That isn't
> > its job. Its job is to explain show "this is how the world works."
> 
> I think the ultimate goal though is to get down to root cause.
> 
> I can have a model that does a great job explaining the behavior of a
> magnet without ever mentioning what a photon or electron is.  However,
> compared to our current understanding of electromagnetism such a model
> is rather poor.
> 
> This is how science has worked for hundreds of years.  It has really
> only become a fashion in the last few decades to lower the bar and say
> "well, we'll probably never understand how this works - that isn't
> science's job - my theory predicts the results of most of the
> experiments we can do within some realm of precision and that is good
> enough."
> 
> As I said, I think this is hubris.  We think that the fact that we
> haven't figured out the answer means that nobody can figure out the
> answer.

Maybe I'm wrong but I'm tending to assume that we can't figure out 
what's really behind the scene as a matter of principle. I think that
all we can do is making theories which are able to predict the 
processes that we are detect. 

Mathematics is our basic tool to build these theories. A fundamental 
question is, whether the mathematical axioms are existing "for real" 
and we just discovered them or are they grounded by the functionality
of our mind/brain. In the latter case it would probably be impossible 
for us to find "the answer". (42!;)

Nevertheless we always should try to get a deeper understanding of the 
underlaying mechanisms. But I really have my doubts that we ever will
reaching the "ground", if there is one at all. And even if there is 
something like a "absolute reality" or a "reason for everything", we 
maybe are not able to really understand it. 

--
Regards
wabe