I realized, somewhat to my chagrin, that I didn't have a very good answer to the question "what phase of matter are living systems"? Thinking this through, they're a hybrid: many components are liquids or solids; many important components are far from equilibrium; &
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they contain amazing systems which are designed to keep them away from equilibrium.pic.twitter.com/5S3qXQqrUS
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On physics as a design science. One of my favourite distinctions is Herb Simon's distinction between sciences of the natural & sciences of the artificial. I wonder if physics might actually transition from one to the other?pic.twitter.com/Cim23RdVAo
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Here's Simon's book on the distinction:https://www.amazon.com/Sciences-Artificial-Herbert-Simon/dp/0262691914/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537418555&sr=8-1&keywords=herb+simon+artificial …
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And some speculation about whether the notion of fundamental particles even makes sense, since there are systems in which it's possible to give two equivalent descriptions in terms of entirely different sets of fundamental particles.pic.twitter.com/r2FsiRkrdS
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Replying to @litgenstein
Do you mean just in the standard sense that says the standard model (or whatever we should be using) is the fixed point of some RG flow from whatever the correct Planck-scale theory is?
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Replying to @litgenstein
I'm saying something very different. I'm speculating that depending on the phase of matter the experimenter lives in, they may see very different fundamental particles and forces (even at 10^-16 m, not the Planck scale). And so those "fundamental" particles & forces, well, aren't
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It's basically the standard argument that multiple quasiparticle descriptions of the same theory can be given. The linked notes on Jordan-Wigner work out an example in gory detail, but this same thing shows up wherever quasiparticles are used.
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Replying to @michael_nielsen @litgenstein
I guess you also need to think through some stuff about the way preparation and measurement apparati work - how you couple the experimenter in & out of the system. I'm not sure I've ever seen the whole picture written out together in a publication.
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