Constructive Interference

Paul Kwiat’s group at UIUC is doing experiments in counterfactual computing, which use constructive interference (among other phenomena).

Kwiat explains that:

In a sense, it is the possibility that the algorithm could run which prevents the algorithm from running…

which sounds dangerously like post-modern jargon. Should we issue a Sokal alert? No, physics is just outrunning our ability to parody it (again).

Of course none of this is actually relevant to our project. Maybe we should be finding ways to use the internet for counterfactual computing…

Update: John Holbo at Crooked Timber has a somewhat more extreme reaction to this development…

Update: Wait, there’s more!  Sean Carroll at Cosmic Variance explains it all in terms of salad, steak, and sleeping puppies (no, really!  I told you physics was beyond parody).  As a bonus he tells you all you need to know about quantum mechanics, and notes that “the rest is just some equations to make it look like science.”

Filed by Jed Harris at 11:38 am under Light
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