On Fri, Nov 8, 2019 at 12:01 PM Alan Grayson <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 5:25:56 PM UTC-7, Brent wrote: >> >> On 11/7/2019 4:13 PM, Alan Grayson wrote: >> >> They've sent 2000-atom sized molecules through double slits. >>> >>> What about sending cats? >>> >>> >>> You will loss the ability to get the interference, because it is hugely >>> more complex to isolate a cat from the environment, so its alive or dead >>> state will be pass on you unavoidably very quickly. See my explanation to >>> Grayson why any (unknown) interaction of an object in a superposition state >>> makes it logically impossible to remain in a superposition relatively to >>> you. It uses only very elementary algebra. The quantum effect, to be >>> exploited, require perfect isolation, which is impossible for most >>> macroscopic object. But some “macro-superposition” have been obtained with >>> superconducting device. In fact, superconductor is a quantum macroscopic >>> effect. >>> >>> >>> Aside from the isolation problems the de Broglie wavelength of a cat is >>> extremely small so to get an interference pattern the slit and slit spacing >>> must be correspondingly small. The C60 experiment was only made possible >>> by the development of the Tablot-Lau interferometer. >>> >>> Brent >>> >> >> I've made this point before; the decoherence time for a cat is very very >> short, but how does this effect the point Schroedinger wanted to make, >> since the cat is in that paradoxical superposition for some short but >> finite duration? AG >> >> >> There is no paradox. It's just some hang up you have that a cat can't be >> dead and alive at the same time. It's as though your physics was stuck in >> the time of Aristotle and words were magic so that "Alive implies >> not-dead." was a law of physics instead of an axiom of logic. >> >> In fact a moments thought will tell you that quite aside from quantum >> mechanics there would be no way to identify the moment of death of the cat >> to less than a several seconds. It would be simply meaningless to say the >> cat was alive at 0913:20 and dead at 0913:21. >> >> Brent >> > > You can imagine a different experiment, without cats, with the same > paradoxical result. The point of Schroedinger's thought experiment was to > demonstate tHE title of this thread; that there's something wrong with the > prevailing interpretation of superposition. In your view I am hung up with > Aristotle? In my view, you're seduced by some quantum nonsense. AG > We have moved on somewhat in the 80-plus years since Schrodinger's thought experiment. The "prevailing view" is now different from his, so what he thought he had demonstrated is no longer particularly relevant. Bruce -- 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAFxXSLRmKXx763pyvG_fNcGbL8pq5kDK1ES1EYzJxmdiK2oLbg%40mail.gmail.com.
