List of All Articles with Tag 'i'

MARRAKESH Inflation in Germany is on a downward trajectory, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said on Friday on the

Toyota Motor Corp. and Idemitsu Kosan Co. are jointly developing the technology and manufacturing facilities needed to mass-produce

“The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now in this very room." So says Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus in sci-fi classic ‘The Matrix’ as he offers Keanu Reeves’s Neo the choice to find out just how “deep the rabbit hole goes”. Now, just as Neo discovered that the "life" he'd been living was little more than an algorithmic construct, scientists and philosophers are arguing that we could be stuck inside a simulation ourselves. In a paper published earlier this month, physicist Melvin Vopson, of the University of Portsmouth, offered scientific evidence for a philosophical theory known as the simulation hypothesis. This, in a nutshell, posits that the entire universe and our objective reality are just super-advanced virtual reality illusions. Elon Musk is among the well-known fans of the theory, which – as Dr Vopson notes in his paper – has been “gaining traction in scientific circles as well as in the entertainment industry”. The university lecturer also pointed out that recent developments in a branch of science known as information physics “appear to support this possibility”. Information physics suggests that physical reality is made up of bits of information. However, Dr Vopson has gone further and is working to prove that information has a physical mass and is a fundamental building block of the universe. He even claims that information could be the mysterious dark matter that makes up almost a third of the universe. In previous research, the physicist proposed that all elementary particles (the smallest known building blocks in the universe), store information about themselves, much like DNA in humans. Then, in 2022, he discovered a new law of physics, christened the second law of infodynamics, which states that entropy – the degree of randomness or disorder – within an isolated information system either remains constant or decreases over time. In other words, the system becomes less and less chaotic, implying that there is some kind of mechanism governing it rather than random chance. “I knew then that this revelation had far-reaching implications across various scientific disciplines,” Dr Vopson said in a statement released by the University of Portsmouth. “What I wanted to do next is put the law to the test and see if it could further support the simulation hypothesis by moving it on from the philosophical realm to mainstream science.” Is the Universe a Simulation? | Melvin Vopson www.youtube.com Dr Vopson employed the law in a range of different fields, including genetics, cosmology and even symmetry. Here, he found that the abundance of symmetry in the Universe (think snowflakes and facial structures) could be explained by the second law of infodynamics. "Symmetry principles play an important role with respect to the laws of nature, but until now there has been little explanation as to why that could be,” he said. “My findings demonstrate that high symmetry corresponds to the lowest information entropy state, potentially explaining nature's inclination towards it." Again, put simply, nature prefers things to be as well-ordered as possible. He continued: “This approach, where excess information is removed, resembles the process of a computer deleting or compressing waste code to save storage space and optimise power consumption.” As a result, this “supports the idea that we’re living in a simulation.” Dr Vopson is serious about this idea and, last year, even launched a crowdfunding campaign to test it. At the time, he announced that he had designed an experiment to determine whether we are all just characters in an advanced virtual world. “There is a growing community out there looking seriously at the possibility that information is more fundamental to everything than we think,” he said in a statement released back in December. “If information is a key component of everything in the universe, it would make sense that a vast computer somewhere is in control. “Assuming the universe is indeed a simulation, then it must contain a lot of information bits hidden everywhere around us. I’ve devised an experiment that proposes a way of extracting this information to prove it’s there.” His proposed experiment is based on his conclusion that information is physical and that elementary particles have a DNA of information about themselves. He posited that the information in an elementary particle could be detected and measured by using particle-antiparticle collision. “We can measure the information content of a particle by erasing it. If we delete the information from the particles, we can then look at what’s left,” he said in the December statement. “This experiment is highly achievable with our existing tools, and I’m hoping the crowdfunding site will help us achieve it.” And whilst the crowdfunder closed well before reaching its proposed £185,000 target, Dr Vopson still hopes to carry out the ambitious test. Following his most recent paper, he suggested the experiment had the power to confirm the “fifth state of matter in the universe” and “change physics as we know it.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Online apps have been recommended to help people with lower back pain in a bid to tackle NHS waiting lists. Seven platforms have been given the green light for people over the age of 16 to manage their condition in early value assessment guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice). According to the NHS Long Term Plan, lower back pain is the biggest cause of disability and is thought to account for about 30% of GP consultations every year. England affected by long-term back pain" data-source="UKHSA"> UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show there are 9.11 million people living with long-term back pain in England. Nice said it hopes its guidance will work towards reducing inequalities in care for musculoskeletal conditions. It also hopes the move could reduce NHS waiting lists, as well as bringing down the number for people using medication or waiting for GP or physiotherapy appointments. On Thursday, it emerged that a record 7.75 million people in England were waiting to start NHS treatment at the end of August. The digital platforms our committee has recommended could provide the NHS with extra capacity to get those effected off waiting lists, which vary in length across the country, and into treatment Mark Chapman, Nice Mark Chapman, interim director of medical technology and digital evaluation at Nice, said: “More than two million people suffer from low back pain each year and there are considerable pressures on NHS services to provide the treatment and care to those needing support with this debilitating condition. “The digital platforms our committee has recommended could provide the NHS with extra capacity to get those effected off waiting lists, which vary in length across the country, and into treatment. “We believe these technologies have the potential to offer value for money for the taxpayer, while offering people with low back pain quicker access to get the care they need at a time and place of their choosing.” The platforms recommended for NHS use are ACT for PAIN, getUBetter, Hinge Health, Kaia, Pathway through Pain, selfBACK and SupportBack. Some of the apps are designed for people with new back pain, while others are aimed at those with chronic back pain. These apps are yet another example of how technology can be used help patients get the care they need, when they need it Health minister Will Quince The platforms offer access to multi-disciplinary teams, along with guided exercise videos, and reminder functions for patients to do tasks such as filling in questionnaires. Health minister Will Quince added: “These apps are yet another example of how technology can be used help patients get the care they need, when they need it. “They offer a range of services which will allow patients to manage lower back pain from the comfort of their homes by improving access to musculoskeletal services – which will form a key part of our Major Conditions Strategy. “This will help to reduce pressures on the NHS and can help to cut waiting lists – one of the government’s top priorities – and will help people to live happier, healthier lives.” The technologies recommended in the guidance can be used once they have appropriate regulatory approval and meet the standards within NHS England’s Digital Technology Assessment Criteria, Nice said. The watchdog also recommends lower back pain self-management, exercise, manual therapies, psychological therapy, and combined physical and psychological programmes as well as return to work programmes. Denice Logan Rose, executive director of BackCare (National Back Pain Association), said: “Very many people living with non-specific low back pain feel that they have nowhere to turn for help, they are desperate and are at a complete loss about what they can do to help themselves. “Apps form a significant part of the technology-driven world we live in and if they can be used to help people living with back pain to lead more pain-free and active lives, this is a huge step forward.” Read More From choppy bobs to fox red, 5 celebrity-approved hair trends for autumn The UK’s first dedicated male breast cancer organisation has launched – here’s why it matters How Taylor Swift’s style has evolved over the years Model Emily Ratajkowski unveils latest fashion campaign 10 ways to cosy-up your home for an autumnal vibe 5 must-have bag trends for autumn

Shares have fallen in Asia after a retreat on Wall Street as the vise tightened from rising yields in the bond market

LONDON Geopolitics are at the forefront of everyone's minds after war broke out between Israel and Palestinian militant

Israel's military has warned 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes, amid signs Israel is set to ramp up its retaliatory offensive against Hamas following the group's October 7 terror attacks.

A TikTok that has a filter on to show what the world looks like to people who are colour blind has caused people to ponder whether they themselves are too after believing the filter to be "normal". Colour vision deficiency (CVD) is believed to affect 300 million worldwide, and around three million people in the UK (about 4.5% of the the country's population). The condition where people struggle to tell various colours apart affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8 per cent) and 1 in 200 women. Yellow, red and green are the colours which those with CVD struggle to distinguish and are known as 'red-green' colour vision. While 'blue-yellow' deficiency does too exist where blue, greens and yellows are trickier to differentiate, this is less common. A recent viral TikTok by Tess (@tessromie) used a filter that could filter that demonstrate how colourblind people view the world. In text captions she wrote: "Discovering how my colour blind husband sees the world." “I’m in shock and I’ll never recover," she added. @tessromie I’m in shock and I’ll never recover #colorblind #husband #dogvision Since sharing the video, it now has over 3.6m views with people flocking to the comments section where they realised they too may be colourblind. One person said: "...it literally looks normal to me." "Yo that’s how I see," another person wrote. Someone else added: "Yeah I seriously don’t notice a thing that's different, colorblind gang." "I'm colorblind and I literally watched the video over and over trying to figure out what they were talking about," a fourth person commented. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE China's central bank is expected to keep borrowing costs unchanged but ramp up liquidity support when it

LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 13, 2023--

Director Baz Luhrmann has expanded his movie epic Australia into a six-part TV series TV series using unseen footage rescued from the cutting room floor

Steps have no plans to work together again until their 30th anniversary in four years time.