Contribution to the “#Quantum #Year #2025”

Foreword

To mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of “#quantum #mechanics” in #1925, #UNESCO has proclaimed 2025 as the “International Year of Quantum #Science and #Technology”. But as is often the case with such “UNESCO jubilee years”, they get lost in the “media mainstream”, especially when it comes to such “hard-to-digest fare” as quantum mechanics.

More at: https://cbuphilblog.wordpress.com/

or: https://philosophies.de/index.php/2025/07/04/beitrag-zum-quantenjahr-2025/

#Zoomposium with Prof. Dr. #Arieh #Ben-#Naim: “Demystifying #Entropy”

Information about the person and his scientific work

In another installment of our “Zoomposium series” on the topic of #physics and its #limits, my colleague Axel Stöcker from the “Blog der großen Fragen” and I had the opportunity to interview the renowned Israeli physical chemist Prof. Dr. Arieh Ben-Naim on the exciting topic of “Demystifying Entropy”.

Arieh, who was born on July 11, 1934, held a chair in #Physical #Chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for over 40 years, with his main field of research being the theory of the #structure of #water, aqueous solutions and hydrophobic-hydrophilic interactions. He was mainly concerned with theoretical and experimental aspects of the general theory of #liquids and #solutions. In recent years, he has advocated the use of #information theory to better understand and advance #statistical #mechanics and #thermodynamics.

In this context, he has also worked intensively on the question of the nature and underlying principle of the phenomenon of #entropy, which he has published in numerous often cited but also controversially discussed popular science books.

The basic tenor of all his publications and lectures is that we need a new basic understanding of the phenomenon of entropy. In Arieh's view, entropy, which originally stems from the laws of #thermodynamics and in particular the 2nd law, has been misused and incorrectly transferred as a #concept to other areas of #physics, #biology and everyday #life.

In this respect, it was finally time (bon mot) to ask the author himself about his ground-breaking theses, which cast a different light on the #phenomenon of entropy or perhaps better said, bring entropy back to its place of origin.

The interview we conducted with him is in English.

Find out more at: https://philosophies.de/index.php/2024/02/22/entzauberung-der-entropie/

or: https://youtu.be/Km88EreH4A8

#Zoomposium with Professor Dr. #Gerd #Ganteför: "The enigmatic fabric of our #reality and the limits of #physics"

The "Zoomposium" interview published here on my science blog and on the Youtube channel jointly operated with Axel Stöcker ("Die Großen Fragen") pursues the goal of exploring the "metaphysics of physics", i.e. the "limits of physics" once more in more detail with our questions to Professor Dr. Gerd Ganteför, and in doing so also to address our "possible reality".

The interview was a lot of fun for all of us, as you can probably see. Therefore we also hope that the fun and entertainment value of such "tricky questions" will not come too short and that the mood of "cheerful science" may also jump over to our inclined viewers. As a small "appetizer" our question catalog to the interview should serve here already once. The answers will of course be given in the interview.

Interview questions:

1. Prof. Ganteför, in your new book "Das rätselhafte Gewebe unserer Wirklichkeit und die Grenzen der Physik" (Westend Verlag, 2023) you go to the limits of physics.
● Could you perhaps explain to us the "enigmatic fabric of our reality" using the example of the "participatory universe" (Wheeler), and in doing so, address the new role of the "observer" in (quantum) physics experiments?

2. In your YouTube video "The discovery of the IMMATERIAL? | #7 The enigmatic fabric of the
Reality" you point out that modern physics may only be able to represent a small part of reality because it is based on basic materialistic assumptions.
● What does the "immaterialistic part" of modern physics look like to you?
● In your view, to what extent would "quantum physics information conservation" have to lead to a rethinking or paradigm shift?

3. another YouTube video "INFORMATION CONSERVATION | #4 and COMPUTER SIMULATION | #5" deals with the aspects of "time reversal invariance" in quantum physical equations (e.g., "Schrödinger equation") and the "quantization of reality."
● Does this mean that the ideas of a "directed time" in the form of a "time arrow" is possibly outdated and perhaps needs a "new metaphysics"?
To what extent could "computer simulations" on a quantum computer perhaps lead to further results in this respect?

4. You mention in one of your videos Anton Zeilinger, who e.g. researches on the topic of "quantum teleportation" and received the Nobel Prize in 2022 for his results on the related "entanglement".
● Could you imagine that this basic research might one day find application in "beaming a` la Enterprise" ("Scotty, beam me up!")?

The complete interview is available on our Youtube channel "Zoomposium" under the link: https://youtu.be/V4pUEEtFCUo

or information at:

https://philosophies.de/index.php/2023/04/16/zoomposium-gerd-gantefoer/