Does anyone know whether the most advanced versions of artificial intelligence (AI) have been given the task of reconciling general relativity (GR) and quantum mechanics (QM)? If not, why not?
I'm far from being an expert on any of these topics, but it appears to me that this would be an excellent challenge for AI. The best minds in science have struggled with this deeply troubling challenge -- unsuccessfully -- for over 100 years. If AI could come up with a convincing resolution it would be an amazing milestone for both AI and for physics.
Artificial intelligence cannot know how to act in real-time, fast and emotion-specific situations.
Tasking artificial intelligence (AI) to reconcile general relativity (GR) and quantum mechanics (QM) would not involve a real-time, fast and emotion-specific situation. It would require that AI learn the rules of both general relativity and quantum mechanics. It could do that over any length of time required. Then, having learned the rules of both, it would remain for it to reconcile the two in a way that has eluded the world's best scientists and physicists for over 100 years.
My personal conjecture is that such an exercise would spotlight the fundamental, underlying reason this reconciliation has eluded us for so long: as physicist Lee Smolin wrote: "More and more, I have the feeling that quantum theory and general relativity are both deeply wrong about the nature of time. It is not enough to combine them. There is a deeper problem, perhaps going back to the beginning of physics." (Lee Smolin, The Trouble With Physics, p. 256). I agree with Smolin wholeheartedly. We need to revise our thinking about the fundamental nature of time.
On the other hand, however, it is possible that AI might, in fact, reconcile GR and QM. If so, it would be a huge milestone for physics as well as for AI. But we won't know the answer until we conduct the experiment.
I regret that I am not conversant in your language; my failing. Could you please post in English? Thank you.
Yordan Epitropov thank you for your reply.
It is my thinking that general relativity and quantum mechanics both operate according to a set of rules, but a different set of rules for each. That is how science is able to use these two powerful tools. Human scientists obviously have managed to master these rules and make use of both GR and QM. But we have never managed to reconcile the two powerful tools.
If advanced artificial intelligence (AI) could learn the rules for each tool (GR and QM), perhaps it then would be able to bridge the gap that has prevented science from reconciling general relativity and quantum mechanics for over 100 years. At least it might be worth a try. What do we have to lose from trying?
Dear Yordan Epitropov, you are right, too, of course, but the best creative power of man has been working diligently -- without success -- for over 100 years to find a solution. This suggests to me that perhaps we might have been asking the wrong question all along? Is it not possible that if we pose this challenge to our most advanced AI we will at least learn something of value? I'd like to see someone try it!
Dear Yordan Epitropov, and I might have added to my earlier comment: is it not true that using AI to find the solution to this problem is, in itself, a form of man using his creative power to solve the problem?
Yordan Epitropov, the more I think about it, the more I think you are right. Is it possible that we need more refined, more precise terminology to replace or augment the term "creativity"? Artificial intelligence is "creating" new medicines, for example, but perhaps we should refer to that as "building" (or some other term) new medicines rather than "creating" them?
Yordan Epitropov, the terms "exploring" and "discovering" come to mind as alternatives to the term "creating" when thinking about what it is that AI is doing. The value of AI's explorations and discoveries then must be established by their contributions to benefit/advancement of humanity, perhaps? Your thoughts?
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Phytochemistry
- Extracts