Sabine Hossenfelder's Blog, page 12

New Evidence AI Thinks Like Humans—So Why Can’t It Reason?

In this video I have a look at the recent Apple paper that made headlines with the "Illusion of Thinking", the criticism of it, and another paper about AI thinking that appeared at almost the same time.

What is empty space?

What is empty space? In this video I summarize what physics tells us about this. What really are virtual particles? What do they have to do with the vacuum energy and can we extract this energy? This video comes with a quiz which you can take here:

Qubits Can Create Space, Physicists Show

In a stunning new paper, a pair of physicists argue that space could be made up of qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers, giving support to Wheeler’s “It from Qubit” idea according to which everything is ultimately qubits. Does this mean that the universe might be a quantum computer? Let’s take a look.

We Have An Aura of Visible Light, Scientists Show

Has anybody ever told you that they like your aura? Well, maybe they weren’t as crazy as you thought. According to a new study, living beings do indeed have an aura in the visible range of the spectrum. What colour is it? I’ve had a look.

AI is becoming dangerous. Are we ready?

Agentic AI – bots which can carry out certain tasks on your behalf – are about to be unleashed on the internet. But recent reports make clear that these AI agents are being shipped with a lot of serious problems. Let’s take a look.

Is physics worth the pain?

A lot of young people have asked for my advice regarding pursuing a career in physics recently. Here are my general feelings about working in the field.

New idea explains dark energy AND dark matter (maybe)

Dark energy and dark matter are two placeholders for mysterious forces and substances that expand our universe and make up the majority of its matter, respectively. In a new theory, one physicist says that defects in spacetime explain both of these mysteries at the same time. Let’s take a look. This video comes with a quiz which you can take here:

Scientists Measure Qualia for First Time – It was thought to be impossible

For decades, researchers have assumed that qualia – each person’s subjective experiences – can’t be measured. Indeed, the idea of qualia has long been thought to be outside of science. But a few weeks ago, a group of researchers went and measured qualia for the first time. Let’s take a look at what this means for consciousness research.

Universe Will Die Sooner Than We Thought, Physicists Claim

Current estimates about the universe’s lifespan give it about 10^1000 years before everything has collapsed to black holes and the black holes have evaporated. But in a new paper, physicists claim that this might happen in just 10^78 years, as they say that stars can evaporate in a similar manner to black holes. Really? Let’s take a look.

The Quantum Internet Just Passed A Crucial Test

Recently, researchers used fiber-optic internet cables to send quantum messages over a distance of 250 kilometers, marking the first time that quantum information has been shared over basically-normal internet infrastructure. Does this mean that the quantum internet is almost here? What even is the quantum internet? Will it revolutionize cybersecurity or is it just hype, once again? Let’s take a