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Some perspective on the NIST result noted in sourcery's thread from a few weeks ago:

NIST Physicists Coax Six Atoms Into Quantum 'Cat' State

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Ping

[Red Badger]

Perfect communication device...........

[mtbopfuyn]

Dead and alive is my cat's state.

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[randog]

The team that pulled off the beryllium feat....hailed it as another step toward computers that would use quantum magic to perform calculations.

Or cars that fly!

[Restore]

Spooky action at a distance.

[R. Scott]

Another big WOW!
I love quantum mechanics – but then again, I never did believe in a classical “reality”.

[nuffsenuff]

Wow... That made my head hurt.

[Brilliant]

Well, I'm not a physicist, but from what I've read about these experiments, I'm not particularly convinced. It seems like they are basing their conclusions on assumptions that certain aspects of the quantum theory are correct. Sure, if you assume that the equations of quantum mechanics are correct, then you are going to get experimental results that seem consistent with them.

It doesn't really prove anything that these guys are able to poke holes in Einstein's conjectures. Einstein did not have all of the pieces of the puzzle, either. What is embarrassing, though, is that the groupthink the experimental physicists are engaged in does not seem to allow room for them to devise experiments that might test their own theories. They are only concerned about testing Einstein's.

[TexGuy]

... the condition of being two diametrically opposed conditions at once ...

Quantum Kerry? For and Against! Brilliant yet Stupid!

[theFIRMbss]

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

These atoms were each spinning clockwise and counterclockwise at the same time.

I suppose it depends on whether you observe them from above or below.

I mean, the Earth rotates clockwise and counter-clockwise simultaneously...depending on whether the observer is looking down from above the North pole or the South pole.

[ConorMacNessa]

When I read this my nose is both bleeding and not bleeding at the same time.

[Maceman]

To a physicist, a "cat state" is the condition of being two diametrically opposed conditions at once, like black and white, up and down, or dead and alive. These atoms were each spinning clockwise and counterclockwise at the same time.

Big deal. John Kerry already achieved this state more than a year ago. Maybe we should start calling it the DemoCAT party.

[Ciexyz]

"Quantum Leap" bump.

[Graymatter]

Seriously now, we don't actually HAVE unobserved cats, do we? They might like us to think so but a cat in a box is going to be measurable every time. They, and everything else macro, just don't go all at once into that unmeasured, unobserved state.
Only that little divine spark meets the radioactive atom at the OK Corral. The rest of the cat gives us the score later, no? The rest of the cat doesn't really change; in fact it stops changing, if it comes up dead.

Well if S. did have a cat I hope he called it Plato. ;)

[Servant of the 9]

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"
--- Arthur C. Clark

"When a distinguished and elderly scientist tells you that something is possible, he is almost certainly right.
When a distinguished and elderly scientist tells you that something is impossible, he is almost certainly wrong."
-- Arthur C. Clark

Clark was much more than a science fiction writer.
He was a philosopher of science.

So9

[mikrofon]

[Bellflower]

ping

[razorback-bert]

The fog comes
on little cat feet.