Matt Leifer

@nicoleyh11 @Oxford 25th anniversary of when I *started* my Ph.D. I don't want people to think I am older than I am :)

Matt Leifer @Oxford Quantum Centennial: Not only are we celebrating the 100th anniversary of quantum theory, but Matt is also celebrating the 25th anniversary of his PhD. So he's "25 years more confused." @mattleifer

@elonmusk Errors caused by cosmic rays would be significantly higher. You need a planetary magnetic field to deflect them.

Quantum computing is best done in the permanently shadowed craters on the Moon

@aidan_mclau @skdh That's OK because I positively update on the likelihood of anyone who says what you just said being a philosophical zombie.

i knowww this take will be universally hated but i negatively update on the iq of anyone who believes in qualia or the hard problem of consciousness

@APSphysics This, and yet you still send me emails asking why I haven't renewed my APS membership yet.

We’re always in our #physics era. Check out our #TaylorSwift albums as #physics fields. What did we get right? Which would you change? #TheLifeOfAShowgirl

Interview with me by Essentia Foundation with Hans Busstra and Lidia de Rio youtu.be/w1K6LDpF7mA?si…

@csferrie Wow, somebody had a lot of free time!

What's your quantum interpretation? Find out here. csferrie.medium.com/the-ultimate-q…

@hota_BA_ @Kaju_Nut The nature of the subject being what it is, I cannot completely endorse the opinions in those books, so I will also point you to my lectures pirsa.org/c19002 Those are intended for Masters students though.

@hota_BA_ @Kaju_Nut Depending on your level, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics by Norsen is a good intro for undergrad physicists The Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Mechanics by Barrett is good for the philosophy side and How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog by Orzel is a good popsci book.

“Whenever a creature was faced with several possible courses of action, it took them all, thereby creating many distinct temporal dimensions and distinct histories of the cosmos." - Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon, written 20 yrs before Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum theory

@APSphysics Exhausting!

Exciting. Fun. Interesting. Breathtaking. How would you describe your #APSSummit25 experience in just one word? Tell us below 👇

Quantum foundations was once a niche field—now it’s gaining momentum. In our latest interview, Matt Leifer (@mattleifer) discusses how perceptions of quantum mechanics have shifted, questions that remain, and his work on quantum agency. Read more: bit.ly/3XAFFFl #QuantumMechanics #Physics

@restoreorderusa Meanwhile, all of the grants that help to reinforce national security, the military and economy are also suspended. And there are a lot more of those. Vanevar Bush is rolling in his grave.

Trump issued a temporary freeze on federal grant payments today. This is a necessary move, as many of these of these grants are used to fund ridiculous left-wing projects – many not even in America! Let's take a look at some of them. 🧵🧵🧵

@_trish_07 ZX Spectrum BASIC -> IBM BASIC -> BBC BASIC -> Amos -> Pascal -> MATLAB -> Maple -> C -> C++ -> PHP -> Java -> Python -> Mathematica. I still miss Pascal. Now ask me the order that I forgot them in.

trying to see something list the programming languages you know, *in the order you learned them* me: C -> C++ -> Assembly -> JavaScript -> Java -> Rust -> Golang

@BernardJBaars Because philosophical zombies exist, and this is empirical proof of that fact.

Why do some people deny the existence of consciousness, the "what-it-is-like" of experience?

@Kaju_Nut @animeshsingh38 Of course, this only works for intro physics courses, but at the higher levels textbook authors are making virtually no revenue anyway.

@Kaju_Nut @animeshsingh38 I see. A lot of people use ExpertTA with OpenStax, so charging for a homework system or other resources can work as a model. In this case, ExpertTA is independent of OpenStax, but I can imagine a Wordpress-like model where these are done by the same organization.

How do we solve this issue? My suggestion is that academics cut out the publishers and sell books directly to students. Publish through Amazon, or sell pdfs via some website like Gumroad. Tools like Grammarly and chatgpt can help with proofreading, editing and similar services provided by the publisher. You might be able to make the same profit (which for most academic authors is not much anyway) while pricing the book much lower, because publishers won't be taking 80% of the profit. Thoughts?

@Kaju_Nut @animeshsingh38 I am confused. Openstax *is* textbooks, and it seems to be working.

@animeshsingh38 Openstax is supported by philanthropy. I am open to this model, but not sure if this will translate to textbooks.

@dorkburger84 @pschofie79 Because if they are randomly sending you papers out of the blue then they are not the good philosophers of science. What percentage of papers in your field are "good"?

@pschofie79 Why do they understand nothing about the practice of science then and why are the papers they send me so facile?

Name an academic discipline and I'll tell you if it's real or fake.

Nor do they understand the history of the second half of the 20th century, and the post-Manhattan project motivation of much of his work.

For the record, I am a physicist. I am not a member of the "grey tribe". Einstein was a genius, but von Neumann is my scientific hero. Those who are denigrating him as "merely" technically gifted do not understand the enormity and diversity of his achievements.

@maria__violaris Open problems? That would indicate that there are problems that might be solved. I just consider the models unlikely for a variety of reasons. Ultimately, quantum gravity will tell us how CTCs work, or indeed whether it is possible to interact with them at all.

@mattleifer Is there a model for how CTCs work that you think is better? and/or do you think CTCs wouldn’t work like that because of the open problems with those models?

Imagine if someone built a black-box computer that could efficiently solve computations in a complexity class that is allowed by systems with closed-timelike-curves (time-loops), but beyond quantum & classical computers w/o time-loops. Would that evidence the existence of closed-timelike-curves?