Jochen Szangolies studied physics in Germany at the university of Siegen, completing his diploma in 2012. His thesis was developed into a book, published by Springer in 2015 under the title 'Testing Quantum Contextuality - The Problem of Compatibility'. He obtained his PhD at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the University of Düsseldorf in 2016, working in the Quantum Information group. After a brief stint outside of academia, he has now returned to research on quantum computing at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), while keeping an interest in the foundations of physics and the philosophy of mind. He enjoys to travel, and carries on meditating without ever really getting better---but figures that's why they call it 'practice'. Email: jochen.szangolies [at] gmx.de
by Jochen Szangolies I have once again been thinking about power, and once again I feel ill at ease with it. Yet while I do consider myself somewhat badly equipped for this pursuit, I nevertheless feel, “in these trying times”, a certain responsibility to not cozy up with pursuits closer to my heart and talents,…
by Jochen Szangolies It was while watching the unveiling video of 1X Technologies’ home robot assistant Neo that I was hit with a revelation of a fundamental truth of our current moment in time: the world is a lot as if my ten year old sci-fi nerd self had had many of his wishes fulfilled,…
by Jochen Szangolies The principal argument of the previous column was that without the possibility of making genuine choices, no AI will ever be capable of originating anything truly novel (a line of reasoning first proposed by science fiction author Ted Chiang). As algorithmic systems, they can transform information they’re given, but any supposed ‘creation’…
by Jochen Szangolies We have entered a versioned world. A new release of a major AI model (GPT-5) triggers the subsequent release of new versions of articles variously hyping and disparaging the progress it represents. How does it stack up in benchmarks against earlier models? How well can it code? Can you feel the AGI…
by Jochen Szangolies Stephen King’s Dark Tower-series takes place in a world that has ‘moved on’, and appears to be deteriorating. The story’s main protagonist, Roland Deschain, last of an ancient, knight-like order of gunslingers, is seeking the titular Dark Tower, which forms a sort of nexus of all realities, to perhaps halt or even…
by Jochen Szangolies Mind, it seems to us, is a closed-door affair: without taking any strong stance on how, it is surely related to what the brain does; and the brain does its thing in the dark cavern of the skull. Thus, the content of your mind and mine seem divided by an unbridgeable gap.…
by Jochen Szangolies The previous essay in this series argued that, given certain assumptions regarding typicality, almost every sentient being should find themself part of a ‘galactic metropolis’, a mature civilization that either has extended across the galaxy, or filled whatever maximal habitat is attainable to capacity. That this is not our experience suggests a…
by Jochen Szangolies In 1950, during a lunch conversation with colleagues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Enrico Fermi asked the wrong question. Famously, after a discussion on the subject of recent UFO sightings, extra-terrestrial life, and the possibility of faster-than-light travel, Fermi blurted out: “But where are they?” In that context, it was a…
by Jochen Szangolies When asked about the foundational technologies of human civilization, most people will probably point to the wheel, or fire, or maybe the lever. Perhaps the atlatl as arguably humanity’s first machine might make the cut. Few, I think, would point to the humble fence: rather than being a construct, fences often seem…
by Jochen Szangolies Politics does not come naturally to me. Part of it is because I have a tendency to be interested mostly in the view sub specie aeternitatis, in the deep truths of the world, what it is, what we are, and how it all hangs together, rather than in the accidents of human…
by Jochen Szangolies When the Luddites smashed automatic looms in protest, what they saw threatened was their livelihoods: work that had required the attention of a seasoned artisan could now be performed by much lower-skilled workers, making them more easily replaceable and thus without leverage to push back against deteriorating working conditions. Today, many employees…
by Jochen Szangolies In the previous two installments of this series ([1], [2]), I have been engaged in the project of communicating a bit of the intuition behind the abstract notions of physics (and the necessary mathematics). My guiding principle in this attempt (essay in the literal sense) has been a famous quote of Hungarian…
by Jochen Szangolies In the last column, I have argued against the idea that understanding in mathematics and physics is transmitted via genius leaps of insight into obscure texts rife with definitions and abstract symbols. Rather, it is more like learning to cook: even if you have memorized the cookbook, your first soufflé might well…
by Jochen Szangolies Modern physics in its full mathematical splendor introduces an array of unfamiliar concepts that daunt the initiate, and often even bewilder the pro (or is that just me?). A part of it is just that it’s a complex topic, and its objects of study are far removed from everyday experience: a quark…
by Jochen Szangolies Humans, Plato famously held, are featherless bipeds: uniquely singled out from other animals by walking permanently on two legs, which delineates us against fish, mammals, and reptiles, while not sporting the sort of plumage associated with birds. Of course, he knew little of the mighty T. Rex (although its featherlessness is subject…
by Jochen Szangolies There is a widespread feeling that the introduction of the transformer, the technology at the heart of Large Language Models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s various GPT-instances, Meta’s LLaMA or Google’s Gemini, will have a revolutionary impact on our lives not seen since the introduction of the World Wide Web. Transformers may change the…
by Jochen Szangolies If you spend any time in a place with public parks, gardens, or simple green areas fenced in squarely by concrete walkways, you’ll be familiar with the sight of trampled paths cutting across the grass, tracing a muddy connection through that which the street would lead you around. Depending on your mood…
by Jochen Szangolies Recently, the exponential growth of AI capabilities has been outpaced only by the exponential growth of breathless claims about their coming capabilities, with some arguing that performance on par with humans in every domain (artificial general intelligence or AGI) may only be seven months away, arriving by November of this year. My…
by Jochen Szangolies The quantum world, according to the latest science, is, like, really weird. Cats that are both dead and alive, particles tunnel through impenetrable walls, Heisenberg can’t both tell you where he is and how fast he’s going, and spooky influences connect systems instantaneously across vast distances. So it seems that anything that…
by Jochen Szangolies In the previous column, I took Philip Goff’s latest offering Why? The Purpose of the Universe as a jumping-off point to present some of my own rumination on life, the universe, and what it all means. While that prior installment was mainly concerned with looking outward, into the wider cosmos, here, I’ll…