Open Thread June 12, 2023 SCOTUS on Wetlands
Alito pretends physics does not exist. Nearby wetlands do not matter unless they have a surface connection to a stream, river, or lake. The notion a wetland can only be linked to streams or lakes by a continuous surface connection—presumably visible to the justices themselves—is fundamentally at odds with hydrology or the science of water. The movement of water beneath the surface (groundwater) connects water bodies in ways that are just as or more important than surface connections. This is something understood by hydrologists for well over a century.
Open Thread June 8, 2023 New SCOTUS Ruling, Angry Bear, angry bear blog.
Elsewhere in physics news…
The Most Massive Test Ever of The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox
Science Alert – June 12
In the most massive test to date, physicists have probed a major paradox in quantum mechanics and found it still holds even for clouds of hundreds of atoms.
Using two entangled Bose-Einstein condensates, each consisting of 700 atoms, a team of physicists co-led by Paolo Colciaghi and Yifan Li of the University of Basel in Switzerland has shown that the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox scales up. …
Colciaghi, Li, and their physicist colleagues Philipp Treutlein and Tilman Zibold, also of the University of Basel, generated two Bose-Einstein condensates using two clouds, each consisting of 700 atoms of rubidium-87. They separated these condensates spatially by up to 100 micrometers and measured the properties.
They measured the quantum properties of the condensates known as pseudospins, independently choosing which value to measure for each cloud.
They found that the two condensates’ properties seemed to be correlated in a way that could not be attributed to random chance, demonstrating the EPR paradox holding firm at a much larger scale than previous Bell tests.
The implications of the team’s findings are largely relevant to future quantum research.
“Our experiment is particularly suited for quantum metrology applications. One can, for example, use one of the two systems as a small sensor to probe fields and forces with high spatial resolution and the other one as a reference to reduce the quantum noise of the first system,” the researchers write in their paper.
“The demonstration of EPR entanglement in conjunction with the spatial separation and individual addressability of the involved systems is thus not only significant from a fundamental point of view but also provides the necessary ingredients to exploit EPR entanglement in many-particle systems as a resource.” …
(What this implies is that under certain circumstances, ‘information’ can travel faster than the speed-of-light, a notion which really troubled Einstein and most other physicists.)
The EPR Paradox, simplified: Particles created together (as in twin-photon emission) or closer together than they normally would be (as in a super-cooled Bose-Einstein condensate) somehow manage to stay in contact even when separated by arbitrary distances. Go figure!
The paradox was first observed with twin-photon emission, which is rare but does occur in a particular radioactive decay. The photons fly far apart. When something happens to one of them, this can be detected in the other one immediately.
Oddly, nothing much is made of the special nature of the pairing. Ordinarily, it can be said that it is impossible to know if particles are identical.
Vaguely related:
The Eddington Number
In astrophysics, the Eddington number, NEdd, is the number of protons in the observable universe. Eddington originally calculated it as about 1.57×1079; current estimates make it approximately 1080.
The term is named for British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington, who in 1940 was the first to propose a value of NEdd and to explain why this number might be important for physical cosmology and the foundations of physics.
All these protons, which are extremely stable particles – they simply do not decay – are identical. But not coupled in the way that photons can be.
In astrophysics, the Eddington number, NEdd, is the number of protons in the observable universe. Eddington originally calculated it as about 1.57×10**79; current estimates make it approximately 10**80.
The term is named for British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington, who in 1940 was the first to propose a value of NEdd and to explain why this number might be important for physical cosmology and the foundations of physics.
All these protons, which are extremely stable particles – they simply do not decay – are identical. But not coupled in the way that photons can be.
Related?
Quantum entanglement over ‘great distances’
Science = June 15, 2017
Quantum entanglement—physics at its strangest—has moved out of this world and into space. In a study that shows China’s growing mastery of both the quantum world and space science, a team of physicists reports that it sent eerily intertwined quantum particles from a satellite to ground stations separated by 1200 kilometers, smashing the previous world record. …
In other news…
NATO, shocked by Russian atrocities, is becoming the war-fighting alliance it once was
NY Times – June 12
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the costliest conflict in Europe since World War II, has propelled the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into a full-throttled effort to make itself again into the capable, war-fighting alliance it had been during the Cold War.
The shift is transformative for an alliance characterized for decades by hibernation and self-doubt. After the recent embrace of long-neutral Finland by the alliance, it also amounts to another significant unintended consequence for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, of his war.
NATO — many of whose members are participating in giant air force drills starting this week in Germany — is rapidly moving from what the military calls deterrence by retaliation to deterrence by denial. In the past, the theory was that if the Russians invaded, member states would try to hold on until allied forces, mainly American and based at home, could come to their aid and retaliate against the Russians to try to push them back.
But after the Russian atrocities in areas it occupied in Ukraine, from Bucha and Irpin to Mariupol and Kherson, frontier states like Poland and the Baltic countries no longer want to risk any period of Russian occupation. They note that in the first days of the Ukrainian invasion, Russian troops took land larger than some Baltic nations.
To prevent that, to deter by denial, means a revolution in practical terms: more troops based permanently along the Russian border, more integration of American and allied war plans, more military spending and more detailed requirements for allies to have specific kinds of forces and equipment to fight, if necessary, in pre-assigned places.
NATO nations kick off their biggest air force drills since the end of the Cold War
More than 250 aircraft and 10,000 personnel began a two-week military exercise on Monday involving NATO nations and Japan, in what host nation Germany bills as the largest deployment of aircraft in the alliance’s history.
Planning for the training began in 2018. But it comes as fighting escalates on NATO’s doorstep in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces, backed by arms from Western allies, are mounting an offensive to reclaim territory captured by Russia since the invasion ordered last year by President Vladimir V. Putin.
Officials involved in the 25-nation NATO exercise said it sends a message about the alliance’s solidarity. …
The Supreme Court seems to like to make up its own facts. One recalls its assertion that racial bias had abated to the extent that the Voting Rights Act no longer required the designated states to clear voting regulation changes with the Justice Department. How did the Court learn this? It was floating in the air.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/us/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-alabama.html
June 8, 2023
Supreme Court Rejects Voting Map That Diluted Black Voters’ Power
Voting rights advocates had feared that the decision about redistricting in Alabama would further undermine the Voting Rights Act, which instead appeared to emerge unscathed.
By Adam Liptak
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/us/voting-rights-act-supreme-court.html
June 8, 2023
Supreme Court Gives the Voting Rights Act a Tenuous New Lease on Life
The main remaining power of the landmark 1965 law, over racial bias in political mapmaking, gets an unexpected buttressing from a court that had been weakening the law for years.
By Michael Wines
https://english.news.cn/20230612/fa55c14cd8c24a3fb9efd01ecd3eebb0/c.html
June 12, 2023
Unraveling peace-loving DNA of Chinese civilization
BEIJING — “In this vast world, I may be like a small feather. But even so, I want this feather to carry a wish for peace.”
These are excerpts from the diary of He Zhihong, a Chinese peacekeeper who died in the line of duty while serving on a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in Haiti in 2010. She was just 35.
Peace is in the blood of the Chinese people. Amity with neighbors, universal peace, and harmony without uniformity are values that have been cherished in the Chinese culture for millennia.
An aspiration for peace is one of the five defining attributes of Chinese civilization highlighted by President Xi Jinping at a high-profile meeting on cultural inheritance and development on June 2.
The peaceful nature of Chinese civilization fundamentally determines that China will continue to build world peace, contribute to global development and safeguard the international order, said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, when addressing the meeting.
About 2,400 years ago, a great Chinese philosopher Mozi said that “the strong and the rich should not bully the weak and the poor.” And a military work from over 2,000 years ago put forward the wisdom of the “war-like state, however big it may be, will eventually perish.”
The pursuit of peace and harmony is deeply rooted in the spiritual world of the Chinese nation. This can be seen everywhere from the Confucian idea that “a gentleman should seek harmony in diversity and should not do to others what he would not like himself,” to Chinese sociologist Fei Xiaotong’s vision of a world in which countries treasure their own distinct heritages, appreciate other cultures and promote shared prosperity.
The peaceful nature of Chinese civilization fundamentally determines that China will continue to pursue exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations rather than cultural hegemony. It also determines that China will not impose its own values and political system on others….
https://english.news.cn/20230530/e6b6e31544f247c6abb42cf18ce60f41/c.html
May 30, 2023
Chinese Blue Helmets become vital force in UN’s peacekeeping efforts: spokesperson
BEIJING — A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Tuesday that over the past three decades and more, China has sent over 50,000 peacekeepers to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations (UNPKOs) in more than 20 countries and regions, and that Chinese Blue Helmets have become a vital force in the UN’s peacekeeping efforts.
May 29, 2023 was the 21st International Day of UN Peacekeepers. Spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks at a daily news briefing when answering a relevant query.
Noting that UN peacekeeping missions are an important means to advance international peace and security, Mao said that over the past seven decades or so, the UN has conducted over 70 missions, rallying more than a million peacekeepers under the UN flag and making outstanding contributions to safeguarding and restoring regional peace and assisting in the resolution of regional conflicts.
“The Blue Helmets have become a symbol of peace and hope, winning wide acclaim from the international community,” she said.
That’s all very nice but there are other behaviors you don’t mention (Ask the Uygurs, South Vietnamese, folks at Tienneman Square one day, Hong Kong residents, South Koreans, current residents of Taiwan.). All is not making nice, nice.
That’s all very nice but there are other behaviors…
[ These “other behaviors” are false; simply false and meant to ruin China which will never be possible but would be impossibly dangerous to attempt.
Please try to understand when you have been purposely misinformed by the likes of the Murdoch family. ]
That’s all very nice but there are other behaviors you don’t mention…
[ Also, I have no idea what mention of the Vietnamese and South Koreans means here. China does not interfere in the domestic affairs of either country. ]
ltr:
Nonsense . . .
By its very being, China has an influence on what other nearby countries are doing domestically and globally. Quite strategically, it is expanding its influence globally and economically. This is not the person I was acquainted to reading at Economists View.
You perhaps have heard that the Chinese invaded South Korea in support of North Korea? They have also meddled with Vietnam in a variety of ways and are seriously disliked there.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202305/1291284.shtml
May 24, 2023
Xinjiang region receives 51 million tourists between Jan-Apr, up 29.6%
From January to April this year, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region received 51.2 million tourists, an increase of 29.6 percent year-on-year, with the region’s total tourism revenue rising 60.6 percent to hit 42.64 billion yuan ($5.45 billion), local news portal ts.cn reported on Tuesday….
[ Tens of millions of visitors regularly pass through Xinjiang, and problems of discrimination or repression are never reported. Rather, the well-being of the residents of Xinjiang is reported repeatedly. ]
Are you with the Chinese diplomatic corps?
ChatGPT in the news …
Doctors Are Using Chatbots in an Unexpected Way
NY Times – June 12
Despite the drawbacks of turning to artificial intelligence in medicine, some physicians find that ChatGPT improves their ability to communicate empathetically with patients.
On Nov. 30 last year, OpenAI released the first free version of ChatGPT. Within 72 hours, doctors were using the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot.
“I was excited and amazed but, to be honest, a little bit alarmed,” said Peter Lee, the corporate vice president for research and incubations at Microsoft, which invested in OpenAI. …
Most surprising to Dr. Lee, though, was a use he had not anticipated — doctors were asking ChatGPT to help them communicate with patients in a more compassionate way.
In one survey, 85 percent of patients reported that a doctor’s compassion was more important than waiting time or cost. In another survey, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they had gone to doctors who were not compassionate. And a study of doctors’ conversations with the families of dying patients found that many were not empathetic.
Enter chatbots, which doctors are using to find words to break bad news and express concerns about a patient’s suffering, or to just more clearly explain medical recommendations.
Even Dr. Lee of Microsoft said that was a bit disconcerting.
“As a patient, I’d personally feel a little weird about it,” he said. …
In other medical news …
Obamacare Mandate for Preventive Care Is Restored, for Now
NY Times – June 12
Health plans must pay for all types of preventive care, including a pill to prevent H.I.V., while an appeals court deliberates whether to strike down part of the Affordable Care Act.
Lawyers reached a deal on Monday to keep the Affordable Care Act’s mandate requiring health plans to cover preventive care at no cost to patients.
A district court in Texas ruled in March that part of the requirement was unconstitutional. The decision took effect immediately, meaning insurers no longer had to cover certain types of preventive care, including a pill to prevent the spread of H.I.V.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily stayed the ruling last month, bringing the health law’s provision back into effect. The appeals court also asked the two parties — a group of Texas residents and businesses challenging the law, and the Biden administration, which is defending it — to come to a compromise on how much of the mandate should be put on hold while it weighed its decision.
The deal they reached leaves the provision almost fully in tact, requiring a vast majority of health plans to continue providing preventive care at no charge. The agreement includes an exemption for the small businesses and individuals challenging the provision; these entities will be allowed to use a plan that does not cover all preventive services if they can find a health insurer who offers it.
The appellate court, which is expected to rule on the preventive care mandate’s constitutionality later this year, still has to approve the lawyers’ agreement. …
And in other news …
Trump to Appear in Miami Court on Classified Material Charges
NY Times – June 12
Donald J. Trump’s appearance in court in Miami will make him the first former president in American history to be arraigned on federal charges. He is expected to plead not guilty.
Donald J. Trump is set to become the first former president to be arraigned on federal charges when he appears in a Miami courtroom on Tuesday to face charges that he illegally retained national security documents after leaving office, obstructed efforts to retrieve them and made false statements about the matter.
His appearance at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. federal courthouse comes a few days after an indictment that has upended historical precedent and shaken the political universe in the United States, making Mr. Trump both the first former commander in chief and the first presidential candidate to be charged with federal crimes. …
Trump’s legal team remains in flux hours before he goes into court
NY Times – just in
Former President Donald J. Trump’s legal team remained in flux just hours before he goes to federal court in Miami on Tuesday afternoon, according to two people briefed on the matter.
He will be accompanied by at least one member of his existing team, Todd Blanche, the people said.
Mr. Trump has been preparing to add other lawyers to his team to defend him against the federal charges lodged against him last week by the special counsel, Jack Smith, stemming from his handling of classified documents after leaving office. But he did not settle on any of the possible new lawyers.
Mr. Blanche represents Mr. Trump in the New York case over hush money payments to a porn star that was filed against the former president in March by the Manhattan district attorney. He is not licensed in Florida.
But who will join Mr. Blanche as a lawyer licensed in Florida at the arraignment was not clear by midmorning. …
Back to the economic impact of A.I. …
Generative A.I. Can Add $4.4 Trillion in Value to Global Economy, Study Says
NY Times – June 14
The report from McKinsey comes as a debate rages over the potential economic effects of A.I.-powered chatbots on labor and the economy.
“Generative artificial intelligence” is set to add up to $4.4 trillion of value to the global economy annually, according to a report from McKinsey Global Institute, in what is one of the rosier predictions about the economic effects of the rapidly evolving technology.
Generative A.I., which includes chatbots such as ChatGPT that can generate text in response to prompts, can potentially boost productivity by saving 60 to 70 percent of workers’ time through automation of their work, according to the 68-page report, which was published early Wednesday. Half of all work will be automated between 2030 and 2060, the report said.
McKinsey had previously predicted that A.I. would automate half of all work between 2035 and 2075, but the power of generative A.I. tools — which exploded onto the tech scene late last year — accelerated the company’s forecast.
“Generative A.I. has the potential to change the anatomy of work, augmenting the capabilities of individual workers by automating some of their individual activities,” the report said.
McKinsey’s report is one of the few so far to quantify the long-term impact of generative A.I. on the economy. The report arrives as Silicon Valley has been gripped by a fervor over generative A.I. tools like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, with tech companies and venture capitalists investing billions of dollars in the technology. …
The economic potential of generative AI
McKinsey Global Institute
Putin Asserts Russia won’t use nukes in Ukraine
NY Times – June 17
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia wrapped up what was for him an extraordinary and sometimes rambling week of upbeat commentary on the Ukraine war by asserting on Friday that Russia was so assured of prevailing against the Ukrainian counteroffensive that he had ruled out using nuclear weapons.
Dropping what had been a strict avoidance of discussing the war in any detail, Mr. Putin told an audience of Russia’s business elite, gathered for the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, that Ukraine had “no chance” against Russian forces and indicated that its Western backers would tire of the conflict and stop supplying weapons, ending Kyiv’s war effort.
Yet, Mr. Putin’s assertions of success in the face of repeated setbacks seemed to rankle a small but ever louder chorus of critics. They point to the counteroffensive, drone attacks on Moscow, incursions by pro-Ukraine militias into southern Russia and cross-border shelling of Russian towns as evidence that things could be spiraling out of control.
That could explain why Mr. Putin took care this week to present himself as a hands-on, knowledgeable commander in chief, even asserting at one point Friday that “right now” the Ukrainians were attacking with two tanks here and five tanks there. But his strategy of proclaiming success while brushing off problems with key military elements like smart weapons or border protection is a contradiction, his critics say, that cannot endure endlessly. …
… While charging the Ukrainians with trying to bait him into escalating the conflict, Mr. Putin stated that Russia had no need to resort to its considerable nuclear arsenal because the war could not threaten his country’s very existence.
“The use of nuclear weapons, of course, is possible, for Russia, it is possible if there is a threat to our territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty, the existence of the Russian state,” he said before adding, “We don’t have this need.”
Mr. Putin also confirmed that the first batch of Russian tactical nuclear warheads had been deployed in neighboring Belarus to serve as a deterrent against attacks on Russia, and that more would arrive before the end of the year. …
Mr. Putin has maintained since the invasion started that the West forced his hand by using Ukraine as a stalking horse to threaten Russia. Critics have scoffed at that, saying he decided to invade because his repeated attempts to assert political control over Kyiv had failed and that he could not tolerate having a thriving democratic alternative to Russia’s autocracy right next door.
Through the bluster and unsubstantiated claims of success, Mr. Putin made it clear this week that, whatever may happen in the short term, his greatest weapon is time.
“His own hope is that the West will get out of Ukraine,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, the head of the political analysis firm R.Politik. “He does not want to talk with the West; it is too late and it went too far, and he does not seem to be willing.”
If Mr. Putin tried to present a certain calm with regard to the counteroffensive, on Friday he did threaten that the F-16 fighter jets promised to Ukraine would “burn” just like some of the modern Western tanks Ukraine is employing in its counteroffensive. He added that Russia might have to take more aggressive measures if the warplanes were based at airfields outside Ukraine.
He also repeated that Russia might be forced to carve out a buffer zone in eastern Ukraine to put Ukrainian artillery out of reach, a remark that prompted mocking commentary, given the problems that have plagued the Russian military. …