Search results for " Darwin"
showing 10 items of 54 documents
Role of information backflow in the emergence of quantum Darwinism
2019
Quantum Darwinism attempts to explain the emergence of objective reality of the state of a quantum system in terms of redundant information about the system acquired by independent non interacting fragments of the environment. The consideration of interacting environmental elements gives rise to a rich phenomenology, including the occurrence of non-Markovian features, whose effects on objectification {\it a' la} quantum Darwinism needs to be fully understood. We study a model of local interaction between a simple quantum system and a multi-mode environment that allows for a clear investigation of the interplay between information trapping and propagation in the environment and the emergence…
Witnessing objectivity on a quantum computer
2021
Understanding the emergence of objectivity from the quantum realm has been a long standing issue strongly related to the quantum to classical crossover. Quantum Darwinism provides an answer, interpreting objectivity as consensus between independent observers. Quantum computers provide an interesting platform for such experimental investigation of quantum Darwinism, fulfilling their initial intended purpose as quantum simulators. Here we assess to what degree current NISQ devices can be used as experimental platforms in the field of quantum Darwinism. We do this by simulating an exactly solvable stochastic collision model, taking advantage of the analytical solution to benchmark the experime…
Objective features in quantum states
2023
One of the key features of quantum mechanics is that any superposition of quantum states is in itself a legitimate quantum state. This has far reaching consequences, and is behind the stark difference in behaviour between quantum and classical systems. In particular, quantum systems are not -unlike classical ones- intrinsically objective, that is, different observers are not always able to agree on the properties of the system. Understanding the conditions for objectivity in quantum states is therefore key to address the wider issue of the quantum-to-classical transition. Here, we discuss several aspects of quantum objectivity, and in particular subtleties that arise to the definitions of o…
Naturalism, Science and Literature: Perspectives and Controversies
2001
The article evaluates the impact that the emerging scientific discourses had on the literary production of the second half of the nineteenth century in England
La letteratura necessaria. Sul confine tra letteratura ed evoluzione
2011
Perchè le storie ci aiutano a vivere. La letteratura necessaria
2017
Non sappiamo perché e come l’Homo sapiens abbia sviluppato la capacità di costruire storie. Possiamo però ipotizzare come presumibilmente siano andate le cose. Cioè come un ominide abbia sviluppato la facoltà di narrare storie e come queste lo abbiano avvantaggiato tra tutte le specie. Si tratta dunque di studiare la narrazione, la fiction e la letteratura nel contesto della teoria dell’evoluzione e delle scienze cognitive, prendendo le mosse dalle recenti acquisizioni dell’archeologia cognitiva che mettono in relazione la produzione di utensili e lo sviluppo di capacità narrative. Si comprende così che la narrazione ha un ruolo decisivo nella costituzione del Sé e delle sue protesi esterne…
Letteratura e darwinismo. Introduzione alla biopoetica
2018
La teoria letteraria ha dovuto di recente prendere atto del superamento della tesi delle "due culture", quella scientifica e quella umanistica, e ha cominciato a interrogarsi sull'interazione tra evoluzione biologica ed evoluzione culturale degli ominidi. Dopo un'ampia analisi della svolta bioculturale, il libro si sofferma sul cosiddetto Literary Darwinism, sia nella sua versione ortodossa, sia nelle forme che attingono alle scienze della mente, alle neuroscienze e all'archeologia cognitiva. Si delineano così i tratti fondamentali di una biopoetica, la disciplina che si propone di far convergere scienze del bios e teoria letteraria nel contesto più ampio di uno studio del comportamento nar…
Breve storia della bioetica. Gottschall, Boyd, Dutton
2019
l termine ‘biopoetica’ affascina gli studiosi di letteratura, e ancor più la moda delle ‘svolte bioculturali’. Ancora una volta, sullo sfondo ci sono figure come quelle di Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze e Felix Guattari, ai quali va l’indiscutibile merito di aver voluto ripercorrere più volte il sentie- ro fangoso che unisce gli studi umanistici alle scienze naturali, tra l’altro dando ampia diffusione a termini come ‘biopolitica’ e ‘biofilosofia’. the term "biopoetic" fascinates scholars of literature, and even more the fashion of "biocultural changes". Once again, in the background there are figures like those of Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, who deserve unquestiona…
Senescence and longevity : from physiological mechanisms to evolutionary processes : studies in birds and mammals
2012
There is an incredible diversity of lifespan in the animal kingdom ranging from a few days for small gastrotrichs worms to several hundred of years for some bivalves or tortoises. This amazing diversity has long questioned biology researchers. The growing interest in the phenomenon of aging, mainly due to the increase in life expectancy in humans, has questioned researchers on processes that determine patterns of longevity and ageing. On the one hand, biomedical and biogerontological studies helped describe numerous cellular and physiological mechanisms related to aging. Among these mechanisms, oxidative stress has been identified as playing a major role, through life-time accumulation of d…
Reading a Qubit Quantum State with a Quantum Meter: Time Unfolding of Quantum Darwinism and Quantum Information Flux
2019
Quantum non-Markovianity and quantum Darwinism are two phenomena linked by a common theme: the flux of quantum information between a quantum system and the quantum environment it interacts with. In this work, making use of a quantum collision model, a formalism initiated by Sudarshan and his school, we will analyse the efficiency with which the information about a single qubit gained by a quantum harmonic oscillator, acting as a meter, is transferred to a bosonic environment. We will show how, in some regimes, such quantum information flux is inefficient, leading to the simultaneous emergence of non-Markovian and non-darwinistic behaviours.