What is the difference between causal and deterministic here? Is there a sufficient cause for the photon always ending up at detector 1? Or is it just...
No. It is in principle possible that Alice could roll a dice a million times and get a six every time. That result is no less likely than any other st...
My argument using the MZI experiment is against non-deterministic interpretations. According to such interpretations, the photon always turns up at th...
Here's a talk by David Wallace (philosopher of physics) where he gives the reasoning for treating quantum states as real with reference to the MZI exp...
Sending a photon through the MZI is the experiment. The main issue to consider is that the photon always ends up at detector 1. With certainty. This r...
The MZI experiment is a simple and crystal-clear demonstration of quantum behavior without any stochastic elements. The point is that introducing stoc...
In the Mach-Zehnder interferometer experiment there's no slit, only two beam splitters, two mirrors and two detectors. In a single beam-splitter exper...
It's not a proof but it is a possible explanation. Can you (or anyone else) outline a non-deterministic process that explains the Mach-Zehnder interfe...
Actually baseballs are described by quantum states (just as photons are). There's no need for an infinite number of worlds. The Mach-Zehnder interfero...
The quantum state is analogous to the classical state in Newtonian Mechanics. Quantum states evolve deterministically according to the Schrodinger equ...
1. The Schrodinger equation uniquely determines a system's quantum state at a future time. It is instead measurements of the system that are (sometime...
That's a quote specifically about measurement, not the Schrodinger equation. In that same article the author says, "Also, at a deep level, quantum mec...
The Schrodinger equation is deterministic. From SEP: "Given the state of a system at t and the forces and constraints to which it is subject, there is...
Unique experience doesn't imply that the world can't be understood objectively, it only implies that the objects of one's experience may be different....
The problem is to predict the behavior of particle systems which classical mechanics cannot do. What distinguishes quantum mechanics from classical me...
Great to hear another perspective. The way I would characterize RQM is as quantum mechanics with a relativist premise. That is, RQM defines reality in...
The multiplicity is inherent in the mathematics of quantum mechanics - its not something that can just be ignored as if it weren't there. That's why t...
It's interesting to see what the math says here. A quantum state can itself be in a linear superposition of quantum states which, for a two-state syst...
Agreed. For example, see the interaction-free measurements such as the Elitzur–Vaidman bomb tester. I think that's true for classical scientific reali...
If true, then the same would apply to the Bohmian pilot wave. To summarize: The Everett model - realism plus quantum mechanics (the relative states of...
What is being observed is the correlation due to the initial preparation of the entangled pair of particles. If they have been prepared in a state whe...
The initial superposition that expresses the entangled particle pair is: particle A is spin-up and particle B is spin-down + particle A is spin-down a...
That just is the test. What the violation of Bell's inequalities means is that, at most, only one of the following can be true: Locality, or Counterfa...
Yes, that was the kind of experiment I was referring to. What the results demonstrate is a violation of Bell's inequalities, not "spooky action at a d...
What the experiments have tested for and confirmed is that the measurements of two entangled particles separated by large distances conform to the pre...
Non-locality hasn't been experimentally observed. That is an interpretational claim. The Everett model explains EPR-style experiments in a local manne...
Heisenberg was correct. That is, the idea of a classical state does not apply to the smallest particles. Schrodinger took this a step further with his...
What Bell proved was that hidden variables and locality were incompatible. The Bohm model accepts hidden variables and rejects locality. Whereas the E...
I mean it in the sense that tables, trees and tigers are emergent not fundamental entities. We don't require that they be identified in our fundamenta...
I would say the same of the Everett model except more so. As I see it, the Bohm model modifies the quantum picture and tries to provide a picture that...
A realist account need not require that particles are fundamental entities. A particle can be an emergent feature of an underlying field. So, in the d...
First, your quote explicitly does not exclude a finite number of branches (i.e., it says "very many"). Second, it's no secret that people variously us...
Well, first, branching does not entail more than one universe. A tree has branches, but it is only one tree. Secondly, it does not entail infinite out...
What I am claiming is that the universe has a (quantum) branching structure rather than a classical linear structure. I think that phrase expresses th...
The point is just that interactions between systems result in the entanglement of those systems. Observers are not special in this regard. OK, I'll re...
Nice post, but I'm curious about where we might disagree. In the double-slit experiment, the detection of the photon at the back screen is not the onl...
Consider the double-slit experiment where a single photon produces interference. There is amplitude for the photon going through both slits (all inter...
The familiar example would be Schrodinger's Cat. In the thought experiment, after a while, there is a superposition of a live cat and a dead cat. One ...
Actually the Everettian view is both lucid and parsimonious. The postulates are simply: 1. The universe is described by a quantum state 2. The quantum...
That's true. But I'm thinking of occasions where we might spontaneously answer a question or select from some range of options. For example, my normal...
OK, per hypothesis, there would be a (Many-Worlds) quantum world where a real Harry Potter exists as well as the Harry Potter fictional stories in our...
When we say that Harry Potter can point to stuff, we are making a different kind of claim to when we say that we can point to stuff. The latter is und...
Per realism, that we can observe or point to something is not what makes that thing exist (which is a separate question), but it is what allows us to ...
Not necessarily. Choices can be spontaneous. Yes, at some level the choice will terminate in factors beyond our control. But in normal cases, those fa...
Immanent realism reframes the relationship between subject and object. We don't perceive appearances, we perceive things. But an objective representat...
Comments