There are many situations in the real world where small initial differences can easily grow into very large differences just out of pure chance.
Since we are on a social network, let's create a toy model* where a number of posts all have the same probability to be reposted/shared/boosted by any person seeing them. Since the more people see a post, the more people have a chance of boosting it, the posts with more visibility are also the ones that are likely to gain more visibility. So small initial fluctuations (just one or two extra boosts at the beginning) can lead a post to skyrocket in popularity, even though it is not intrinsically "better" than any of the other.
If we simulate this process numerically and make a histogram of the result, we see that the distribution of how many boosts a post had rapidly grows a tail, with most posts having no visibility whatsoever, and a few having a LOT more than the average.
#ITeachPhysics #ProbabilityTheory #ToyModel

* In the #Physics jargon, a "toy model" is a very simple (often unrealistic) model, which nevertheless capture the essence of the problem, without being burdened by all the real world complications. If you ever heard about spherical cows in vacuum, that is a toy model!

I'm Novikov, named after the self-consistency conjecture. I'm currently a #physics student who wants to maximize understanding of the universe

I'm also an #anarchist, which makes me interested in collaborative decision-making, abolishing all forms of domination, and maximizing human agency (especially with technology via #transhumanism)

I'm here to make connections and expand my capacity for cooperation.

I'm also into #philosophy, #theatre, and #scifi

#introduction

It's a funny thing, but the actual #mathematics of a Bell test, which I am writing in a paper now (for direct distribution, not publication in the failed journal system), is quite beautiful.

It is a pair of wheels that, when they turn in unison, produce a wave-like effect in the detectors. (One has to imagine PBS that can do a whole 360.) With INVARIANT correlation coefficient.

Yet those incompetent #quantum #physics dunderheads cannot see it, because they are unqualified cultists.

Scientists figured out how to write in water - Enlarge / A selection of images drawn in water (linear scales: 250 µm) ... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1966985 #condensedmatterphysics #ionexchangebeads #fluiddynamics #science #physics

Ars Technica: Scientists figured out how to write in water https://arstechnica.com/?p=1966985 #Tech #arstechnica #IT #Technology #condensedmatterphysics #ionexchangebeads #fluiddynamics #Science #Physics #science

This is kinda freaky. We have a small window by the stairs in our house and it faces the sunset. It's early evening right now and the plant in the window is casting a shadow at the opposite wall. I was just going down the stairs and noticed this movement. There's no traffic going by or any other vibrations through the wall. But there is a tree on this side of the house and the sunlight is shining through its crown. So I guess it's the movement of the tree's foliage that's causing this? #physics

I've thinking for some time about entering into causal inference, but I'm not sure how useful it can be for physics. I guess it's really helpful for social sciences and health sciences, but since in physics causality and causes are well established and known (at least in classical physics), I have doubts.

Are you people in #physics using #causalinference? #statistics

New #openaccess publication #SciPost #Physics Lecture Notes

An introduction to higher-form symmetries

Pedro R. S. Gomes
SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 74 (2023)
https://scipost.org/SciPostPhysLectNotes.74

#LondrinaStateUniversity
#CNPq

✨ Joint Max Planck-Weizmann Postdoctoral Programme ✨

The Max Planck Society (@maxplanckgesellschaft) and the Weizmann Institute of Science jointly offer outstanding postdoctoral researchers in the fields of #physics, #chemistry, #mathematics, #ComputerScience and #EarthSciences a prestigious four-year appointment in a unique research environment.

🚨 Application dealine: 1 November 2023

☑️ Get more info: https://www.mpg.de/20566192/max-planck-weizmann-postdoc-programm

We hope everyone has a fun and informative time at the Alpine Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Solids!

@bioinformatics @biophysics @chemistry @compchem @nmrchat @physics @strucbio

#alpineMR2023 #biochemistry #bioinformatics #biology #biophysics #chemistry #CompChem #metabolomics #NMR #NMRChat #NMROnline #physics #StructuralBiology

Magnetic whirls pave the way for energy-efficient #computing: Researchers @uni_mainz_eng, @UniKonstanz and @TohokuUniPR increase the diffusion of #skyrmions by a factor of 10 / #spintronics #antiferromagnet #physics @spin_plus_x @NatureComms
https://nachrichten.idw-online.de/2023/09/11/magnetic-whirls-pave-the-way-for-energy-efficient-computing

Magnetic whirls pave the way for energy-efficient #computing: Researchers @uni_mainz_eng, @UniKonstanz and @TohokuUniPR increase the diffusion of #skyrmions by a factor of 10 / #spintronics #antiferromagnet #physics @spin_plus_x @NatureComms
https://nachrichten.idw-online.de/2023/09/11/magnetic-whirls-pave-the-way-for-energy-efficient-computing

My solution to this Bell test fiasco is quite correct. Any errors are trivial details. The whole thing is really quite a simple and actual rather lovely random process. My IEEE technote-style paper is coming along nicely and shows (w/o QM) that the correlations are invariant under in-unison rotations of the PBS/magnets/etc.

But it has nothing to do with the utter fantasy called "#entanglement", and #quantum #physics is revealed to be the work of dunderpated jackalopes such as Bell and CHSH.

Miriam Frankel speaks with Jim Al-Khalili and Sara Imari Walker about how #physics is wrestling with #life vs non-life, Al-Khalili suggests that quantum physics may provide one direction of exploration, while Walker addresses time, emergence, complexity are avenues of addressing physics and life.

https://theconversation.com/great-mysteries-of-physics-5-will-we-ever-have-a-fundamental-theory-of-life-and-consciousness-203127

just getting some boxes! #indiedev #physics

I hate to break it to you #physics nerds, but literally everything is unknown until it's observed.

#schrodinger #SchrödingersCat #schrodingerscat #quantum #quantumPhysics #science

it's nine in the am california time on a sunday morning so that means it's time for another #officehour on the subject of #physics #biophysics @physics

join me to ask questions you might have and i'll answer them

https://meet.google.com/emn-iuad-dnw

Wired: A New Map of the Universe, Painted With Cosmic Neutrinos https://www.wired.com/story/cosmic-neutrinos-origin/ #Tech #wired #TechNews #IT #Technology via @morganeogerbc #Science/PhysicsandMath #particlephysics #QuantaMagazine #SpaceOddities #darkmatter #neutrinos #Astronomy #Science #physics #Gravity #space

This liquid simulation took like two and a half hours to resolve, but I really like how it turned out.

#blender #blender3d #b3d #physics #liquid #simulation #render #cycles

A story that no one had ever told me before and that deserves to be told, even just as a tragically spectacular example of the reliability of the scientific community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe5WT22-AO8

#chemistry #physics #science #documentary #videoessay #elements #berkeley #decay