Re: Quantum Computers

Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@www.aeiveos.com)
Sat, 21 Aug 1999 12:44:14 -0700 (PDT)

On Fri, 20 Aug 1999, Gabriele Betti wrote:

> I'm reading a book where I found pictures of preferred shapes( as higher
> probabilities to be in that shape ) from electrons....

You are probably talking about the shapes which can be adopted by the electron "clouds", which I believe are solutions to the Schrodinger equations.

> I'm not aware of atomic laws and related but I'd like to know more of what
> could be related to time travel, counsciousness upload, theory of
> probabilities and other info.

I'll provide my current understanding without any details (so you will have to "trust me")... [right! :-)]

  1. I believe the most recent theoretical work has demonstrated that time travel is impossible. The recent discussions regarding antiparticles "going back in time" are the result of a misinterpretation of an explanation. It would have been better if the description had been expressed as something like a "mirror image" of the time vector, or something that would not have left the impression that "time travel" was a reality. It is not.
  2. Uploading your consciousness appears feasible if nanotechnology is feasible. If nanotechnology is not feasbile, then making an approximate "copy" of your "mind", still seems possible. It is likely that the the original might have to be destroyed in the process.
  3. For a "theory of probabilities" Altavista only comes up with ~100 web pages, most not very interesting. For "probability theory" it comes up with 17,000+. One place to start would appear to be: http://bayes.wustl.edu/. That includes some links to books and some tutorials.

Robert