A while back I wrote about language modeling without neural networks, where I generated Shakespeare with an unbounded n-gram model: no weights, no training, …
What I’m gathering is that “wave” can refer to a behavioral pattern that is substrate independent — it refers to a logical function more than it does an ontological presence. That said, quantum waves are a substrate that exists beneath the material manifestations you and I experience (called a “wave” more-or-less for its mathematical properties)?
If that’s fair, would it be correct to call the quantum wave a “substrate” as I did?
and you know another thing about quantum field theory I don’t quite understand… I think it still depends on a four dimensional backdrop universe, for these fields to pervade. That fourth dimension is time, which is function of entropy. If time exists, that means the backdrop isn’t static — it evolves. That means it needs a fundamental explanation as well, something more than being just a background. No?
What I’m gathering is that “wave” can refer to a behavioral pattern that is substrate independent — it refers to a logical function more than it does an ontological presence
I think that’s a good way of putting it.
As for what counts as a “substrate”, I have no idea! In the old days, the idea of a substance that permeated seemingly-empty space was common. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_theories
Nowadays, the idea of aether has been discarded for the most part. But that said, there’s still plenty we don’t understand, like dark matter. There’s no consensus on what dark matter is exactly; there are many competing theories. What we know is that there are observable phenomena that can’t be explained without something that acts (roughly, at least) like matter in terms of its effect on gravity, but doesn’t interact with electromagnetism like normal matter. That “something” is called dark matter, but its fundamental nature is an open question.
Thanks for the thorough reply!
What I’m gathering is that “wave” can refer to a behavioral pattern that is substrate independent — it refers to a logical function more than it does an ontological presence. That said, quantum waves are a substrate that exists beneath the material manifestations you and I experience (called a “wave” more-or-less for its mathematical properties)?
If that’s fair, would it be correct to call the quantum wave a “substrate” as I did?
and you know another thing about quantum field theory I don’t quite understand… I think it still depends on a four dimensional backdrop universe, for these fields to pervade. That fourth dimension is time, which is function of entropy. If time exists, that means the backdrop isn’t static — it evolves. That means it needs a fundamental explanation as well, something more than being just a background. No?
I think that’s a good way of putting it.
As for what counts as a “substrate”, I have no idea! In the old days, the idea of a substance that permeated seemingly-empty space was common. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_theories
Nowadays, the idea of aether has been discarded for the most part. But that said, there’s still plenty we don’t understand, like dark matter. There’s no consensus on what dark matter is exactly; there are many competing theories. What we know is that there are observable phenomena that can’t be explained without something that acts (roughly, at least) like matter in terms of its effect on gravity, but doesn’t interact with electromagnetism like normal matter. That “something” is called dark matter, but its fundamental nature is an open question.