Beyond the Physical Horizon

This is a visual representation of the internet. Image source

Worldwide quantum web may be possible with help from graphs

phys.org, June 2016

Sometimes when I think about Kuhn’s paradigm shifts in science, I wonder if physics will ever be supplanted by something else, especially when considering that we are in the Information Age, one pivot away from the Industrial Age. Is information ultimately physical, or does it transcend the physical? Can information exist apart from the physical world?

Back on track, we have here in this mention of a quantum web is a glimpse of a potential future where network science (part graph science) is the new edge of science.

In this new study, thinking about quantum networks in light of abstract mathematical graphs really optimizes the architecture of the network. (A Scientist in the article declares that “a network is a physical system,” by the way.)

Notes:

Albert-László Barabási, head of Barabási Labs and author of two major books on network science as well as a full textbook on the subject:

Bursts: The Hidden Patterns Behind Everything We Do, from Your E-mail to Bloody Crusades, 2011

Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life, c.2001

Network Science [the textbook]

Inter-links from Network Address:

-on Barabási’s Bursts

Current News in Network Science (aka Connection Science?)

Using data from social networks to understand and improve systems

April 2016, phys.org