Thread by archon of cringe ⚚
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- Jan 19, 2022
- #Technology #Physics
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the world really did end in 2012
clearly our planet is still around, but i think this year did mark a transition of human society to a new order
this was brought about by the domination of the internet and the rise of smartphones and can be tied to a 2nd-order phase transition
clearly our planet is still around, but i think this year did mark a transition of human society to a new order
this was brought about by the domination of the internet and the rise of smartphones and can be tied to a 2nd-order phase transition
as you may remember from school, a phase transition is what happens when varying a parameter of a system (like its temperature) causes it to exhibit fundamentally new behavior
when you lower water's temp enough it becomes solid ice, if you raise it, it becomes gaseous vapor
when you lower water's temp enough it becomes solid ice, if you raise it, it becomes gaseous vapor
there are more subtle phase transitions too, one example is heating a magnet
if you heat a magnet enough, it stops being magnetic and will not be (strongly) magnetic anymore even after cooling it back down
if you heat a magnet enough, it stops being magnetic and will not be (strongly) magnetic anymore even after cooling it back down
you can re-magnetize it by cooling it down, getting another magnet and rubbing them together
both de- and re-magnetizing the magnet are examples of phase transitions, the 1st brought about by varying the parameter of temperature and 2nd brought about varying the applied field
both de- and re-magnetizing the magnet are examples of phase transitions, the 1st brought about by varying the parameter of temperature and 2nd brought about varying the applied field
so what are critical phenomena? they are the behaviors that occur at the extremes of phase transitions
the prototypical example is the critical point of water
the prototypical example is the critical point of water
there are pressures and temperatures where liquid water and water vapor can coexist, so water at these temperatures will oscillate back and forth between a liquid and a gas
however, if you raise the temperature and pressure high enough the water will become a supercritical fluid, a fluid which is not a liquid or a gas
the point where this happens is the critical point
the point where this happens is the critical point
we need one last point of terminology before we can continue, which is correlation length
intuitively, this is the distance where two things can be considered to correlate with each other
intuitively, this is the distance where two things can be considered to correlate with each other
as an example, consider a pool table densely packed with balls, kinda like the 1st picture below
if you want to know the chance of finding a ball in one location relative to a central ball, it is essentially given by the 2nd image:
if you want to know the chance of finding a ball in one location relative to a central ball, it is essentially given by the 2nd image:
it is zero for a small distance (solid balls can't overlap), then increases because two balls can be right next to each other, then decreases again cause balls that are further out can't overlap with the neighboring balls...
this leads to an oscillating function that approaches a uniform density - the further away you get, the chance of finding another ball just approaches the density of balls on your table; ie the balls are correlated near each other but then become uncorrelated
the correlation isn't just something related to finding one ball given you know the location of another - it can also be things like how likely one part of a magnet has a magnetic field aligned with another or how a protein molecules bouncing around in a cell are correlated
now on to my actual point.
a curious thing is that some types of critical phenomena and phase transitions are described by the correlation length becoming unbounded
a curious thing is that some types of critical phenomena and phase transitions are described by the correlation length becoming unbounded
that is, as a system is transitioning to a qualitatively new form, its constituents go from only being correlated to their neighbors to being correlated with every single other constituent at all distances
this leads to many interesting phenomena, eg in magnet-like materials a small fluctuation in the direction of one constituent's magnetic field can amplify in such a way that the entire material's field aligns with that constituent
you might see where i'm going now
you might see where i'm going now
ancestrally, social networks essentially had a low correlation length, ppl would communicate with local people they knew and ideas could diffuse through this network, but only slowly
to communicate with someone distant in the network - say on the other side of the country - could be done but would take a great deal of time and energy, most importantly, it happened by ideas spreading locally from person to person on the network
the early rise of telecommunications technology didn't change this much - ppl still communicated with specific other people who they at least knew vaguely - tho it did represent the correlation length of the social network starting to increase
the rise of the internet is where the social network correlation length began to diverge. any person could communicate with a thousand randos at once, which was further augmented by the rise of smartphones
late 2012 was the time that smartphones surpassed 50% market penetration in the US, and represents when this societal correlation length became unbounded
(the following thread also has some of my early thoughts on this subject)
(the following thread also has some of my early thoughts on this subject)
so what are the characteristics in a social network with unlimited correlation length? fluctuations - which in this case would be something like small, eccentric ideas - can amplify and spread throughout the network instantaneously 
you might observe the rise of multiple fringe ideologies, random ppl rising and falling from fame, and the average person's consciousness growing increasingly schizotypal as it's bombarded by ideo-pressure from a million directions
and fwiw i don't think this is just an analogy: social networks are mathematically graphs and graph dynamical systems are excellent for demonstrating critical phenomena
btw i'm not necessarily implying that this was the end predicted by the mayan calendar, nostradamus, mckenna etc...
but the alignment of these end times coincides nicely with the major societal change that did happen, so i'll take it 😁
but the alignment of these end times coincides nicely with the major societal change that did happen, so i'll take it 😁
