Comment by breatheoften
1 year ago
I remember this paper being discussed in the novel "Science of Discworld" -- a super interesting book involving collaboration between a fiction author and some real world scientists -- where the fictional characters in the novel discover our universe and its rules ... I always thought there was some deep insight to be had about the universe within this paper. Now moreso I think the unexpectedness says something instead about the nature of engineering and control and human mechanisms for understanding these sorts of systems ... -- sort of by definition human engineering relies on linearized approximations to characterize the effects being manipulated -- so something which operates in modes far outside those models is basically inscrutable. I think that's kind of expected but the results still provoke the fascination to ponder the solutions super human engineering methods might yet find with the modern technical substrates.
Xe highly recommend the series! Xe keep going back to them for bedtime audio book listening. Chapters alternate between fact and fiction and the mix of intriguing narrative and drier but compelling academic talk help put xir otherwise overly busy mind to rest. In fact, xe bought softcover copies of two of them just last week.
The science is no longer cutting edge (some are over twenty years old) but the deeper principles hold and Discworld makes for an excellent foil to our own Roundworld, just as Sir Pratchett intended.
Indeed, the series says more about us as humans and our relationship to the universe than the universe itself and xe love that.