Why Quantum Mechanics Is Not So Weird after All

Skeptical Inquirer ^ | July 2006 | Paul Quincey

[snarks_when_bored]

Light night reading matter...

[snarks_when_bored]

Ping...

[varyouga]

Im hammered and QM just made sense. truly a good night

[ThomasThomas]

But why did they need to kill the rabbit in the box. Could they use a paint gun to mark him her or it.

[MilesVeritatis]

I'm going to see if my head tunnels through my pillow by tomorrow morning.

[snarks_when_bored]

Rabbit?

[Kirkwood]

Need to save for tomorrow.

[martin_fierro]

Already posted

[Kirkwood]

I always liked Feynman.

[Kirkwood]

"Already posted"

Heh! Those tricky electrons!

[snarks_when_bored]

Purity of heart is to will one thing...(laugh)...

[Jaguarbhzrd]

Too tired for this tonight, maybe tomorrow.

[grey_whiskers]

"QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter" is one of the most concise, yet readable, Physics for the Layperson texts I have ever read.

Thanks to Snarks for a great article.

Now, can anyone go over spin-orbit coupling with me?

Cheers!

[snarks_when_bored]

He was a oner, fer sure...

[veryconernedamerican]

Watch "what the bleep down the rabbit hole" and call it good

[snarks_when_bored]

I need to read QED again...and I would if I could find the box it's hiding in!

[ThomasThomas]

Somebody's uncertainly principle. I'll remember tonight if I wake around 2am.

[Southack]

"It is rather revealing that one of the few novel quantum phenomena is a means of cryptography-a way of concealing a signal rather than sending one."

Great article except for that one line which should read that quantum phenomena is a means of cryptography-a way of detecting if a signal has been intercepted...

[snarks_when_bored]

Maybe you're thinking of Schrödinger's Cat?

[El Sordo]

Innerestin'

[ThomasThomas]

Maybe you're thinking of Schrödinger's Cat?

Yes I found this http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/02/27/quantum-interrogation/

While trying to look it up. He tries to feed a sleeping puppy.

[grey_whiskers]

Public libraries are your friend.

So is Amazon.

Cheers!

[onyx eyes]

I enjoyed Richard Feynman, myself, he wrote so the lay person could comprehend it.

Leaving aside the subject of Quantum Mechanics, I enjoyed also, reading and learning a bit, about fractals.

Fractals are amazing, and when one Journal said that they were studying oatmeal, and didn't elucidate on the oatmeal, I was sort of P'Oed, until, when eating oatmeal the next morning, I intentionally examined the oats and discovered that each oat had the little branch, like a tree, which had a smaller branch and then from that, a smaller, identical branch....

[snarks_when_bored]

Public libraries are your friend.

So is Amazon.

Neither helps for this evening's reading, though...

But, hey, there's world enough, and time...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I switched to this thread from the Mideast daily thread....makes more sense....thanks for posting the article...will read it again tomorrow.

[D-fendr]

mark for later..

[snarks_when_bored]

...I intentionally examined the oats and discovered that each oat had the little branch, like a tree, which had a smaller branch and then from that, a smaller, identical branch....

...which for some reason reminds me of this bit of de Morgan doggerel:

Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.

[Captain Beyond]

bump for later read. good article catch.

[Sunsong]

I love this stuff. Thanks. I hope you will post more...

[onyx eyes]

...which for some reason reminds me of this bit of de Morgan doggerel: Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.

No, Fractals really are, like that.... they showed coastlines, snowflakes, and talked about the double universe....

[MHGinTN]

.

[siznartuf]

Good article.

I would like to read more of the same caliber.

Thanks for posting it.

[snarks_when_bored]

I was kidding around...

As for fractals, you might enjoy this:

Andrei Linde, The Self-Reproducing Inflationary Universe" (PDF)

[Jonx6]

ping

[ImaGraftedBranch]

Of course, there is now a new big question of how one of the possibilities in the future is selected to form what we see as the present and what becomes the past, but we should not see the lack of a ready answer as a fault of quantum mechanics. This is a question that is large enough, encompassing such ideas as fate and free will, to be set aside for another time

Convenient. It can not, nor will it ever be answered by the mind of man, so "a later time" equates to eternity.
Perhaps it is all as simple as each particle's instantaneous verification with the Will of God. It is an explanation that will remain no further from the truth as any other untestable explanation conceived of by man. It appears there are limits to what we are allowed to know.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

To human eyes, too much of light
Is blinding as the blackest night.
And this is so, too, of the mind,
In total ignorance it's blind.
But more truth than it can absorb
Will overwhelm the mental orb.
So, lest our vision burn to ashes
God shows us truth in bits and flashes,
White revelations that the brain
Can comprehend and yet stay sane.
And we, poor fools, demand truth's noon
Who scarce can bear its crescent moon.
-- "White Revelations," by Georgia Starbuck Galbraith.

[snarks_when_bored]

Parsimony in one's assumptions is a not unworthy aim...

[Cacique]

btt

[Dajjal]

BTTT

[quietolong]

for later

[muir_redwoods]

for later

[Caipirabob]

LOL!

[Caipirabob]

Has either of you read "Timeline" by Crichton? It has a very interesting story based on quantum mechanics and quantum theory. While it's a fascinating topic, it's still beyond most people. Crichton has a knack for explaining it in such a way that everyone can get a grasp of it. Such an excellent writer. I recommend the book, it's very enjoyable.

[Erasmus]

"But what's between the branches?"

"Nothing. It's branches, all the way down."

[FreeRadical]

Right On. Every time I read that little gem I love it.

[Erasmus]

Thenks fer the inspiration fer the new tagline.

[Larry Lucido]

Sometimes the path not taken is not taken for a reason. Like, it's scary.

[Hardastarboard]

All I know about physics is Murphy's Law. All I know about Murphy's Law is two things:

Murphy has a personal grudge against me.

Murphy's First Law is "P!$$ on Hardastarboard".

[capitalist229]

Do not try to understand something outside of its exact mathematical model.

The math works, the layman's interpretation does not.

BUMP

[glorgau]

The final point is a little vague but more fundamental. If we accept that the future is not fixed, we expect it to contain surprises. Crudely speaking, this is not very plausible in a world where particles have continuous trajectories and an infinite amount of information is freely available. It is much more plausible in a world that is in some way discontinuous, where the available information is limited.

The future is not yet set. What a hopeful thing!

Perhaps this is how God gave us "free will" and how Einstein was misguided in saying that "God does not play dice with the universe".