"But then we're still left without a theory that could explain the behaviour of a single photon without resorting to randomness, correct?"
No. There is no theory that can tell us where a single photon will go within the infinite-photon-number diffraction pattern. Take my word for that. In the half-plane diffraction thought experiment that I described, there are an infinite number of paths that the photon could take. So with this one photon, do we get an infinite number of parallel worlds. That is doubtful. But then someone who believes in MWI should explain how that is possible. It may be that the number of parallel worlds depends on the number of detectors or pixels in a photo-sensitive plane. At least that would be finite but still rather large splitting for one photon interaction. In MWI your body is a blur of overlapping copies that are fungible as they say. I am not sure what you must do to get completely separate bodies in separate parallel worlds. Perhaps when making a decision as to whether you go left or right in a fork in the road would do. BTW my gmail service prevents me from interleaving, at least in this parallel world. Occasionally my computer is off in another world and I cannot get online. Richard On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 11:39 AM, Telmo Menezes <te...@telmomenezes.com>wrote: > On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 5:07 PM, Richard Ruquist <yann...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > Telmo, > > > > I can only give you my opinion. > > Thanks Richard. > > > You are of course referring to the double > > slit experiment where one photon can follow at least two different paths, > > and potentially an infinite number of paths. > > > > But even diffraction of a single photon will do that: in the simplest > case > > send a photon on to a semi-infinite metallic plane and the photon > > potentially scatters into an infinite number of paths from the edge of > the > > plane. We only know which path when the photon reaches a detector plane > on > > the far side. The actual deterministic diffraction pattern only emerges > when > > the number of photons sent approaches infinity in plane waves. The actual > > path of a single photon is random within the constraints of the > > infinite-photon diffraction pattern. > > > > So I say the way to deal with that is to propagate a large number of > photons > > or do an EM wave calculation for the diffraction pattern. > > But then we're still left without a theory that could explain the > behaviour of a single photon without resorting to randomness, correct? > > > I wonder how comp treats such single photon instances. Does it use > > algorithms that are random number generators? > > I'll leave this one for Bruno, of course. My understanding is that > it's consistent with the MWI and also with what Russel proposes in his > book: everything happens but each observer only perceives one of the > outcomes. > > This seems highly unintuitive to a lot of people, but it seems more > reasonable to me than the idea that there is just one Telmo with one > personal diary. If there are infinitely many, each one with his own > personal diary, the world still looks exactly like it does to this > particular instance of me, and we do not have to resort to any > randomness magic. > > It's tempting for me to extend this idea to everyone and not just > Telmos, at the risk of sounding a bit new-agey. > > I don't yet understand how an algorithm could be a random number > generator (non-pseudo), but I think Bruno has more to say here. > > Telmo. > > > Richard > > > > > > On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 10:35 AM, Telmo Menezes <te...@telmomenezes.com> > > wrote: > >> > >> On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 4:24 PM, Richard Ruquist <yann...@gmail.com> > >> wrote: > >> > Mathematics itself seems rather magical. > >> > For instance the sum 1+2+3+4+5.....infinity = -1/12 > >> > > >> > And according to Scott Aaronson's new book > >> > when string theorists estimate the mass of a photon > >> > they get two components: one being 1/12 > >> > and the other being that sum, so the mass is zero, > >> > thanks to Ramanujan > >> > > >> > If that sum is cutoff at some very large number but less than > infinity, > >> > does anyone know the value of the summation.? > >> > >> Hi Richard, > >> > >> Ok, but in that case physics is deterministic, just hard to compute. > >> How do we then deal with the fact that two photons under the precise > >> same conditions can follow two different paths (except for some hidden > >> variable we don't know about)? I'm not a physicist and way over my > >> head here, so this is not a rhetorical question. > >> > >> > > >> > On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 10:15 AM, Telmo Menezes < > te...@telmomenezes.com> > >> > wrote: > >> >> > >> >> On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 3:30 AM, Stathis Papaioannou > >> >> <stath...@gmail.com> > >> >> wrote: > >> >> > On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 5:35 AM, Craig Weinberg > >> >> > <whatsons...@gmail.com> > >> >> > wrote: > >> >> >> > >> >> >> > >> >> >> On Thursday, April 11, 2013 3:29:51 PM UTC-4, John Clark wrote: > >> >> >>> > >> >> >>> On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 Craig Weinberg <whats...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> >> >>> > >> >> >>>> > If matter is deterministic, how could it behave in a random > way? > >> >> >>> > >> >> >>> > >> >> >>> It couldn't. > >> >> >> > >> >> >> > >> >> >> Are you saying then that matter is random, or that it is neither > >> >> >> random > >> >> >> nor > >> >> >> deterministic? > >> >> > > >> >> > Matter behaves randomly, but probability theory allows us to make > >> >> > predictions about random events. > >> >> > >> >> In my view, randomness = magic. > >> >> The MWI and Comp are the only theories I've seen so far that do not > >> >> require magic to explain observed randomness. > >> >> > >> >> > > >> >> > -- > >> >> > Stathis Papaioannou > >> >> > > >> >> > -- > >> >> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > >> >> > Groups "Everything List" group. > >> >> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, > >> >> > send > >> >> > an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > >> >> > To post to this group, send email to > >> >> > everything-list@googlegroups.com. > >> >> > Visit this group at > >> >> > http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. > >> >> > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> > >> >> -- > >> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > >> >> Groups > >> >> "Everything List" group. > >> >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, > send > >> >> an > >> >> email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > >> >> To post to this group, send email to > everything-list@googlegroups.com. > >> >> Visit this group at > >> >> http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. > >> >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > >> >> > >> >> > >> > > >> > -- > >> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > >> > Groups > >> > "Everything List" group. > >> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send > >> > an > >> > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > >> > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com > . > >> > Visit this group at > >> > http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. > >> > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > >> > > >> > > >> > >> -- > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups > >> "Everything List" group. > >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send > an > >> email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > >> To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > >> Visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. > >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > >> > >> > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Everything List" group. > > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en > . > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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