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DonaldMcIntyre comments on Recovering the past - Less Wrong Discussion

5 Post author: NancyLebovitz 12 March 2015 07:25PM

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Comment author: DonaldMcIntyre 15 March 2015 01:08:58AM *  2 points [-]

Thx so much for the link above!

Since I am not a scientist I didn't know about the inverse problem, but I had thought about that intuitively.

I think it's true that a current state of an atom, in a 3 dimensional context, may be achieved through multiple histories or even manipulated by a living being who wants to "cheat the system".

But in a 4 dimensional context, where the coordinates on a base field (maybe Higgs field), which could also be called time, are included, that would eliminate the possibility of recreating the same position for different stories since time happens only once, in a forward motion, and thus making that state unique and irreplaceable.

I think a position of height x, width y, and depth z is replicable the way you say above.

But, is a position of height x, width y, depth z, at time w (considering a single time line since the big bang) replicable?

If yes then the inverse problem refutes my original idea in this thread, if not IMO it is still possible to reverse-understand the universe that way.

Comment author: jbay 15 March 2015 05:07:42PM 2 points [-]

Ah, hmm.... Maybe! If you include the entire history of the atom, then I'm not actually sure. That's a tough question, and a good question =)