Link – Page 416 – Chris Aldrich

🔖 Causal Entropic Forces, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 168702 (2013)

Bookmarked Causal Entropic Forces (Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 168702 (2013) journals.aps.org )

Recent advances in fields ranging from cosmology to computer science have hinted at a possible deep connection between intelligence and entropy maximization, but no formal physical relationship between them has yet been established. Here, we explicitly propose a first step toward such a relationship in the form of a causal generalization of entropic forces that we find can cause two defining behaviors of the human “cognitive niche”—tool use and social cooperation—to spontaneously emerge in simple physical systems. Our results suggest a potentially general thermodynamic model of adaptive behavior as a nonequilibrium process in open systems.

[1]

A. D. Wissner-Gross and C. E. Freer, “Causal Entropic Forces,” Physical Review Letters, vol. 110, no. 16. American Physical Society (APS), 19-Apr-2013 [Online]. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.168702 [Source]

🔖 How Life (and Death) Spring From Disorder | Quanta Magazine

Bookmarked How Life (and Death) Spring From Disorder by Philip Ball (Quanta Magazine)

Life was long thought to obey its own set of rules. But as simple systems show signs of lifelike behavior, scientists are arguing about whether this apparent complexity is all a consequence of thermodynamics.

This is a nice little general interest article by Philip Ball that does a relatively good job of covering several of my favorite topics (information theory, biology, complexity) for the layperson. While it stays relatively basic, it links to a handful of really great references, many of which I’ve already read, though several appear to be new to me. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

While Ball has a broad area of interests and coverage in his work, he’s certainly one of the best journalists working in this subarea of interests today. I highly recommend his work to those who find this area interesting.

References

[1]

E. Mayr, What Makes Biology Unique? Cambridge University Press, 2004.

[2]

A. Wissner-Gross and C. Freer, “Causal entropic forces.,” Phys Rev Lett, vol. 110, no. 16, p. 168702, Apr. 2013. [PubMed]

[3]

A. Barato and U. Seifert, “Thermodynamic uncertainty relation for biomolecular processes.,” Phys Rev Lett, vol. 114, no. 15, p. 158101, Apr. 2015. [PubMed]

[4]

J. Shay and W. Wright, “Hayflick, his limit, and cellular ageing.,” Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 72–6, Oct. 2000. [PubMed]

[5]

X. Dong, B. Milholland, and J. Vijg, “Evidence for a limit to human lifespan,” Nature, vol. 538, no. 7624. Springer Nature, pp. 257–259, 05-Oct-2016 [Online]. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature19793

[6]

H. Morowitz and E. Smith, “Energy Flow and the Organization of Life,” Santa Fe Institute, 07-Aug-2006. [Online]. Available: http://samoa.santafe.edu/media/workingpapers/06-08-029.pdf. [Accessed: 03-Feb-2017]

[7]

R. Landauer, “Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process,” IBM Journal of Research and Development, vol. 5, no. 3. IBM, pp. 183–191, Jul-1961 [Online]. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1147/rd.53.0183

[8]

C. Rovelli, “Meaning = Information + Evolution,” arXiv, Nov. 2006 [Online]. Available: https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.02420

[9]

N. Perunov, R. A. Marsland, and J. L. England, “Statistical Physics of Adaptation,” Physical Review X, vol. 6, no. 2. American Physical Society (APS), 16-Jun-2016 [Online]. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.6.021036 [Source]

[10]

S. Still, D. A. Sivak, A. J. Bell, and G. E. Crooks, “Thermodynamics of Prediction,” Physical Review Letters, vol. 109, no. 12. American Physical Society (APS), 19-Sep-2012 [Online]. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.120604 [Source]

Thanks to Trump, Scientists Are Going to Run for Office | The Atlantic

Read Thanks to Trump, Scientists Are Planning to Run for Office (The Atlantic)

… and they’ve got help.

How Life Turns Asymmetric | Quanta Magazine

Read How Life Turns Asymmetric | Quanta Magazine (quantamagazine.org)

Scientists are uncovering how our bodies — and everything within them — tell right from left.

🔖 A de Bruijn identity for discrete random variables by Oliver Johnson, Saikat Guha

Bookmarked A de Bruijn identity for discrete random variables by Oliver Johnson, Saikat Guha (arxiv.org)

We discuss properties of the "beamsplitter addition" operation, which provides a non-standard scaled convolution of random variables supported on the non-negative integers. We give a simple expression for the action of beamsplitter addition using generating functions. We use this to give a self-contained and purely classical proof of a heat equation and de Bruijn identity, satisfied when one of the variables is geometric.

Don’t Cancel the Academy Awards Over Trump. Oscar Nominees, Try This Instead. | Slate

Read Don’t Cancel the Academy Awards Over Trump. Oscar Nominees, Try This Instead. (Slate Magazine)

With the news that that the latest disaster in Donald Trump’s Lizard Brain Jamboree will bar Oscar nominee Asghar Farhadi from attending the Academy Awards (and Farhadi’s later decision to skip them whether he is allowed to come or not), the film community has been scrambling to find an effective response.

How Authors and Publishers Can Increase Book Discovery | DBW

Read How Authors and Publishers Can Increase Book Discovery by Daniel Berkowitz (Digital Book World)

Chris Sim, founder and CEO of Kadaxis, spoke at Digital Book World about how indie authors and publishers can better use keywords to increase book sales.

Sage vs Underscores

Bookmarked Sage vs Underscores | WordPress Starter Themes (Roots)

Sage makes you a better developer. Modern build tooling, live reloading, modern PHP & requirements, DRY templates with template inheritance and more.

Modern front-end workflow

If Underscores is a “1,000 hour head start”, Sage is a 10,000 hour head start.

Write stylesheets with Sass, automatically check your JavaScript for errors, optimize images, enable synchronized browser testing, and more with our gulp setup.

The 86-Year-Old Breakout Star of Sundance | The Daily Beast

Read The 86-Year-Old Breakout Star of Sundance (The Daily Beast)

After six decades in showbiz—she made her film debut opposite James Dean—Lois Smith is finally getting her due as a grieving widow in the Sundance sci-fi drama ‘Marjorie Prime.’

The Republican Fausts | The New York Times

Read The Republican Fausts (nytimes.com)

They struck a deal with the devil, Donald Trump, that comes at too high a price.

President Trump at a retreat last week in Philadelphia for congressional Republicans. Doug Mills/The New York Times

Many Republican members of Congress have made a Faustian bargain with Donald Trump. They don’t particularly admire him as a man, they don’t trust him as an administrator, they don’t agree with him on major issues, but they respect the grip he has on their voters, they hope he’ll sign their legislation and they certainly don’t want to be seen siding with the inflamed progressives or the hyperventilating media.

Continue reading The Republican Fausts | The New York Times

Trump’s voter fraud expert registered in 3 states | Associated Press

Read Trump's voter fraud expert registered in 3 states (AP News)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man who President Donald Trump has promoted as an authority on voter fraud was registered to vote in multiple states during the 2016 presidential election,

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man who President Donald Trump has promoted as an authority on voter fraud was registered to vote in multiple states during the 2016 presidential election, the Associated Press has learned.

Gregg Phillips, whose unsubstantiated claim that the election was marred by 3 million illegal votes was tweeted by the president, was listed on the rolls in Alabama, Texas and Mississippi, according to voting records and election officials in those states. He voted only in Alabama in November, records show. Continue reading Trump’s voter fraud expert registered in 3 states | Associated Press

Fitbit will lay off 110 employees amid challenges in wearable market | The Verge

Read Fitbit will lay off 110 employees amid challenges in wearable market (theverge.com)

Fitbit today released preliminary results for its upcoming fourth quarter earnings report, and the news isn’t good.

References

Analyzing the news of the past 24 hours