One post a day on quantum computing, consciousness, and mathematics — and where they meet.https://parallaxplaybook.com/en-ushttps://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/ai-mathematical-proof-erdos-conjecture/https://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/ai-mathematical-proof-erdos-conjecture/Last October, OpenAI overclaimed an Erdős breakthrough and got publicly dismantled by Thomas Bloom. This week, the same skeptics published companion remarks backing a new AI mathematical proof that disproves a 1946 Erdős conjecture in discrete geometry.Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTmathematicshttps://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/quantum-computing-replication-crisis/https://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/quantum-computing-replication-crisis/A Pittsburgh-led team carefully reran the experiments behind several headline quantum computing breakthroughs and found the signals had simpler, less exotic explanations. The replication paper took a record two years to get published. Here's what it actually changes.Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTquantumhttps://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/quantum-computer-reversed-time/https://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/quantum-computer-reversed-time/A team of physicists ran a quantum computer's clock backwards, nudging scattered particles back into order. They didn't break causality — what they actually did is stranger, and more useful.Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTquantumhttps://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/two-theories-of-consciousness-collided/https://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/two-theories-of-consciousness-collided/Rival camps usually snipe at each other from a distance. This time, two leading theories of consciousness agreed in advance on exactly which experiment would prove one of them wrong. Then they ran it.Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTconsciousnesshttps://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/ai-won-silver-at-the-math-olympiad/https://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/ai-won-silver-at-the-math-olympiad/The International Math Olympiad breaks brilliant teenagers. An AI system sat the same problems, worked some for days, and landed one point shy of gold — a line nobody expected machines to cross this soon.Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTmathematicshttps://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/the-sun-shouldnt-shine/https://parallaxplaybook.com/posts/the-sun-shouldnt-shine/By the strict rules of classical physics, the core of the Sun isn't hot enough for hydrogen to fuse. The Sun shines anyway — thanks to a quantum loophole called tunnelling.Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTquantum