#!/bin/env python ###################################################################### # # In his famous and highly respected paper, "Bertlmann's socks and the # nature of reality" (available open access at # https://cds.cern.ch/record/142461/ ), the physicist John S. Bell # asserts that, if we could control the temperature, and control for # family quarrels, and so on, then the rates of heart attack in Lille # and Lyon would be statistically independent (Equation 10). His # defense of this assertion is that "it seems reasonable to expect". # # "It seems reasonable to expect" is, of course, not a defense at # all. And there is an actual mathematical theory of probability that # Bell is blithely ignoring, or perhaps did not even know about, that # says this expectation is unreasonable. But let us ask: to what # purpose is he making this claim? It is to justify the assumption # that two variables can be treated as independent parameters (rather # than as functions of other parameters), even if the two variables # describe objects that have a common origin. # # By such reasoning, my siblings and I must have statistically # independent DNA! For the only thing our DNAs have to explain any # correlation is that share a common origin. Hold as many variables # constant as you want, it will make no difference in the # correlation. For this reason, I can hardly believe anyone doesn’t # simply burst out laughing, when reading Bell's writing. But this # writing is, in fact, mandatory doctrine not only in physics # departments, but wherever quantum computers are dealt with. # # But let us, as amateur and professional computer programmers, not # burst out laughing, but instead use our computers to examine what # happens if we assume two cities have the same temperature, the same # quarreling behaviors, etc., and--this is crucial--whose populations # share a common origin. Let us use our computers to enlighten at # least ourselves. For, to quote Richard Hamming: # # THE PURPOSE OF COMPUTING IS INSIGHT, NOT NUMBERS # # Towards this end, I came up with the following story. # ###################################################################### # # Our story runs as follows: # # The cities of Twinkle and Sprinkle always have the same temperature, # same weather, same day length, same time zone. They always have the # same quarreling behavior. Everybody eats practically the same things # and practically at the same times. The two cities have # indistinguishable sleep habits. They share their water supply. So on # and so on and so on. # # In fact, let us go so far as to say that Twinkle and Sprinkle have # exactly the same population. Not only that, but exactly half the # population of each city is women cloned from the same woman, and # half the population is men cloned from the same man. We shall # further assume that the two progenitors were genetically sterile, so # that there are no children in either Twinkle or Sprinkle. Everyone, # in fact, is exactly the same age. There is no mutation or genetic # drift. # # We could say much more, but you get the idea. We have controlled # every variable there is: not just every variable we can think of, # but literally every variable there IS. One of which is: the rate of # heart attacks. Let us say that no one in either Twinkle or Sprinkle # ever, ever has a heart attack. # # Let us now more closely examine the two progenitors. We discover # that the male progenitor, but not the female progenitor, had a # peculiarity of the DNA: that the sound of the "Lady Beware Alarm" # device of the movie "Invasion of Astro-Monster" # (https://godzilla.fandom.com/wiki/Invasion_of_Astro-Monster) causes # instant heart attack. # # On a sunny day in July, suddenly it is raining "Lady Beware Alarm" # devices on Sprinkle, and the devices are blaring at full blast. We # observe Sprinkle and see that all the men have heart attacks, but # none of the women do. # # We have not observed events in Twinkle. However, we know about the # pecularity of the DNA, and we know that, as with everything else, # rainfall in Twinkle is the same as in Sprinkle. We know this to be # true even if the rain is made of electronic devices instead of # water, because the two cities are controlled for every variable. Not # only variables we thought of, but literally every every variable # there is. # # Here we come to the use of a computer to gain insight. # # Write code to compute and print the heart attack rates for that July # day in Twinkle and Sprinkle. The rates in Sprinkle are the observed # ones, but the rates in Twinkle are predicted by inference. # print () print (" Heart attack rates, according to logical inference") print (" Women Men Overall") print (" Twinkle (predicted) 0 1 0.5") print (" Sprinkle (observed) 0 1 0.5") print () # # Now assume, against all common sense and soundness of logic, that # heart attacks in Twinkle cannot be predicted from heart attacks in # Sprinkle. We have controlled for all variables, but we also assume # common origin is irrelevant. # # Write code to compute and print out the heart attack rates, # according to that way of thinking. # print (" Heart attack rates, according to the incurious") print (" Women Men Overall") print (" Twinkle (predicted) ??? ??? ???") print (" Sprinkle (observed) 0 1 0.5") print () # # According to such theory, there is nothing we can predict about # Twinkle. What happens in Twinkle will remain a complete mystery # until we go there and observe. # # But further suppose we have a so-called "Godzilla's theorem", which # quotes no postulates or theorems known to mathematics, but which # instead introduces this postulate: that men having heart attacks in # Sprinkle would have to have a causal influence on heart attack rates # in Twinkle, for Twinkle's heart attack rates to change. This is so # because we have controlled all variables and the "residual # fluctuations" can be integrated out (as in Bell's Equation 10). The # two cities are utterly the same. The only difference is we have # observed the men in Sprinkle have heart attacks and have not # observed Twinkle at all. # # Write code to compute and print out the heart attack rates predicted # by "Godzilla's theorem". # print (" Heart attack rates, according to Dr. Godzilla") print (" Women Men Overall") print (" Twinkle (predicted) 0 0 0") print (" Sprinkle (observed) 0 1 0.5") print () # # Now we go into Twinkle and observe that all the men have had heart # attacks, but none of the women have. # # Write code to compute and print out the observed heart attack rates. # print (" Heart attack rates, according to observers") print (" Women Men Overall") print (" Twinkle (observed) 0 1 0.5") print (" Sprinkle (observed) 0 1 0.5") print () # # These empirical results stand in stark contrast to our prediction, # which was predicated on the assumption of "causal reality". # # Write Artificial Intelligence code to print out the conclusion of # adherents to "Godzilla's theorem". # print (" Output of an AI of a \"Godzilla's theorem\" adherent") print ("However strange it may seem, heart attacks in Twinkle and") print ("Sprinkle are now scientifically proven to involve some kind") print ("of violation of causal reality.") print () # # Then write Artificial Intelligence code to print out the conclusion # of the educated public. # print (" Output of an AI of a very intellectual person") print ("Adherents to \"Godzilla's theorem\" are society's greatest") print ("geniuses, so what they say is true.") print () # # That was the tale of two remarkable cities, Twinkle and # Sprinkle. Write your own version of the program, in the programming # language of your choice. # # Okay. Now what do YOU, who just wrote a program for the purpose of # gaining insight, think? What insight have you gained? # # In the end, we are all individually responsible for what we think, # even if we got it by deferring to "scientific authority". # # THE END. # # Afterword: Those familiar with the debates within physics might # recognize that the DNA peculiarity is what they would call a "hidden # variable". The crucial question is this: can a "hidden variable" be # shared due to a common origin, or can it not? I say it can be, John # Bell said otherwise. But you must decide for yourself. It is your # decision, even if that decision is to believe "Whichever of the two # 'scientific authority' proclaims to be the truth." #