Biochemist Dr. Isaac Asimov was joking, of course, when he came up with the substance (it came up in his orals for his doctorate, and it terrified him), but some theoretical physicists have suggested that something similar to Asimov's fictional chemical actually exists at the quantum level.
Phys Org reports that "Physicists provide support for retrocausal quantum theory, in which the future influences the past."
(Phys.org)—Although there are many counterintuitive ideas in quantum theory, the idea that influences can travel backwards in time (from the future to the past) is generally not one of them. However, recently some physicists have been looking into this idea, called "retrocausality," because it can potentially resolve some long-standing puzzles in quantum physics. In particular, if retrocausality is allowed, then the famous Bell tests can be interpreted as evidence for retrocausality and not for action-at-a-distance—a result that Einstein and others skeptical of that "spooky" property may have appreciated.
It's a long and informative article that I found fascinating.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday July 09 2017, @02:36PM (3 children)
Anyone who hasn't read Asimov can hardly consider himself a nerd. The joke was the original article about the fictitious substance that was written as if it was a real scientific paper.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 3, Touché) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday July 09 2017, @07:55PM (2 children)
Well, maybe not a pompous nerd, anyway.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday July 10 2017, @09:26PM (1 child)
No, if you don't read, you're not a nerd.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday July 11 2017, @03:39PM
Also false, but also not what you said in the first place.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk