On Wed, Nov 13, 2024 at 6:00 PM Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote:
> *> To confuse these variables with the things themselves is to confuse the > map with the territory.* > *Thanks to advancements in information science it is now clear that information is physical, and because of that and new ideas such as virtual reality, the 2D holographic universe, and the simulation hypothesis, the clear distinction between the map and the territory has become a little more blurry. * > > *> The problem we have is that many-worlds theory does not actually > explain anything that does not already have a simpler explanation in terms > of some other, less extravagant, theory. For example, many-worlds theory > does not explain why we get only one result on any measurement,* > *A measurement is performed by an intelligent agent, and like everything else in the universe that agent is a quantum object. According to Many Worlds when an electron goes left instead of right, even though both possibilities are allowed by Schrodinger's equation, the electron splits but that's not the only thing that splits, so does everything else that interacts with that electron, and that would include the intelligent quantum object called "the observer". So in one world the electron goes right and you observe it going right, and in another world the electron goes left and you observe the electron going left.* *People ask if Many Worlds is right then why is it that I never observe the electron going both ways at the same time? That could only happen if the electron split but you did not, but that is impossible because you are compelled to obey the laws of quantum mechanics just as much as an electron is. * > * > and it does not explain why we get the observed result rather than any > other.* > *It's amazing how simple, seemingly harmless personal pronouns like "we" and "I" can sweep so much sloppy reasoning under the rug, especially when discussing topics like, quantum mechanics, Many Worlds, and of course consciousness. * > * > This observed fact is easily explained in standard quantum mechanics > as the result of a stochastic process* > *Quantum mechanics predicts that if you let X interact with Y and you observe what is produced and then let the result of that interaction interact with Z then you will get one result, but if you do NOT observe what is produced and then let the result of that interaction, whatever it is, interact with Z then you will get an entirely different result. Many Worlds can explain that, invoking a stochastic process can not.* *And a stochastic process cannot explain how a quantum bomb tester could work. * *If you have information about which way a photon goes in a particular part of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer (which contains half silvered mirrors) then it will behave differently than it would if you had no information about which path the photon took. This fact could even have a practical use in bomb testing. * *Suppose you are the foreman of a factory that makes bombs that are advertised as being so sensitive that if a single photon hit the bomb's fuse it would go off (I'm not quite sure why anybody would wanna buy such a product, but this is just a thought experiment so let's just say for some reason there is a huge demand for such a thing). You have a problem, your manufacturing process is good but not perfect, sometimes you make a defective fuse and that bomb will never go off. However your customers demand perfection, they insist that each fuse be tested so it could be guaranteed to work. This would seem to be an impossible problem because if you test a bomb with a photon and it goes off then you know it did work, but now you don't have the bomb any longer so you can't sell it.* *But actually there is a way to do this and it involves a Mach–Zehnder interferometer and whether or not you have information about which way a photon goes in a particular part of the interferometer. The bad news is that half of the good bombs that you manufacture will blow up during testing so you can't sell them, but the other half of them do NOT explode and even though no photon has ever touched them those bombs are absolutely certain to work as advertised, they have been tested and now we know for sure that they are not defective and one single photon will blow them up. Many Worlds can explain why this works, randomness cannot. * *The big news is that interaction free measurement is possible: * *Elitzur–Vaidman bomb tester* <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitzur%E2%80%93Vaidman_bomb_tester#:~:text=The%20Elitzur%E2%80%93Vaidman%20bomb%2Dtester,Avshalom%20Elitzur%20and%20Lev%20Vaidman.> *John K Clark See what's on my new list at Extropolis <https://groups.google.com/g/extropolis>* ve2 -- 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 visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv32n2_yhDMRFzLQDSYRpTkPsaLw6YA-gM9vdd07qUJ7Mg%40mail.gmail.com.
