And the quantum world keeps on getting stranger and stranger
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Quantum entanglement is fascinating, along with things like dark matter and dark energy. Quantum physics in general is quite interesting coupled with my interest in neurology, AI, and even more esoteric things like chance, fate, predestination, and so forth. Marc
If you're interested in neurology AND quantum physics, you may enjoy a book called 'the mind and the brain'.
Christian Graus No longer a Microsoft MVP, but still happy to answer your questions.
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I read a lot of books on brain science, and my current one claims that quantum physics explains why our thoughts can influence our brains. His explanation makes no sense to me, so I asked a physicist friend and she basically said that she hates quantum mechanics :-) But, the book is covering the whole 'measuring one photon influences another' thing, that appears to be the basic tenet of quantum mechanics, the idea that things don't have a value until you measure them. It seems to me like a theory that exists entirely to explain the results of the famous experiment where you shine light through a piece of paper with slits in it.
Christian Graus No longer a Microsoft MVP, but still happy to answer your questions.
Christian Graus wrote:
I read a lot of books on brain science, and my current one claims that quantum physics explains why our thoughts can influence our brains. His explanation makes no sense to me
The whole quantum spirituality thing really annoys me as well.
Christian Graus wrote:
It seems to me like a theory that exists entirely to explain the results of the famous experiment where you shine light through a piece of paper with slits in it.
The Uncertainty principle does offer an explanation for the results of the double slit experiment but, it came about when Heisenburg was developing a formal, modern replacement for the maths used in "old" quantum mechanics.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
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If you're interested in neurology AND quantum physics, you may enjoy a book called 'the mind and the brain'.
Christian Graus No longer a Microsoft MVP, but still happy to answer your questions.
Christian Graus wrote:
you may enjoy a book called 'the mind and the brain'.
Thanks! I'll see if I can get a copy from the library, otherwise, off to Amazon! Marc
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I read a lot of books on brain science, and my current one claims that quantum physics explains why our thoughts can influence our brains. His explanation makes no sense to me, so I asked a physicist friend and she basically said that she hates quantum mechanics :-) But, the book is covering the whole 'measuring one photon influences another' thing, that appears to be the basic tenet of quantum mechanics, the idea that things don't have a value until you measure them. It seems to me like a theory that exists entirely to explain the results of the famous experiment where you shine light through a piece of paper with slits in it.
Christian Graus No longer a Microsoft MVP, but still happy to answer your questions.
Christian Graus wrote:
t seems to me like a theory that exists entirely to explain the results of the famous experiment where you shine light through a piece of paper with slits in it
It is also the basis for theories of electricity in matter. All transistors and the like are results of purely quantum effects. All of basic chemistry is based on the quantum theory of the atom. Superconductivity is another purely quantum effect, not to mention nuclear physics. It has probably had the biggest impact on modern technology out of any branch of physics.
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
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Christian Graus wrote:
I read a lot of books on brain science, and my current one claims that quantum physics explains why our thoughts can influence our brains. His explanation makes no sense to me
The whole quantum spirituality thing really annoys me as well.
Christian Graus wrote:
It seems to me like a theory that exists entirely to explain the results of the famous experiment where you shine light through a piece of paper with slits in it.
The Uncertainty principle does offer an explanation for the results of the double slit experiment but, it came about when Heisenburg was developing a formal, modern replacement for the maths used in "old" quantum mechanics.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
Chris Austin wrote:
The whole quantum spirituality thing really annoys me as well.
What gets me is that if all that spiritual stuff actually worked like quantum mechanics, nobody would believe in it. There are no analogies for quantum behavior.
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
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Chris Austin wrote:
The whole quantum spirituality thing really annoys me as well.
What gets me is that if all that spiritual stuff actually worked like quantum mechanics, nobody would believe in it. There are no analogies for quantum behavior.
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
Andy Brummer wrote:
What gets me is that if all that spiritual stuff actually worked like quantum mechanics, nobody would believe in it.
:laugh: I've never thought of it that way.
Andy Brummer wrote:
There are no analogies for quantum behavior.
This is why I always dread trying to explain aspects of quantum theory to "some" people.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
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Andy Brummer wrote:
What gets me is that if all that spiritual stuff actually worked like quantum mechanics, nobody would believe in it.
:laugh: I've never thought of it that way.
Andy Brummer wrote:
There are no analogies for quantum behavior.
This is why I always dread trying to explain aspects of quantum theory to "some" people.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
Chris Austin wrote:
This is why I always dread trying to explain aspects of quantum theory to "some" people.
Yeah, I've definitely given up trying to explain any of it to anyone that doesn't have a really open mind and is willing to do a lot of reading. I really believe that QM just isn't compatible with the way humans think, so the only tools we have for understanding it are mathematical. On top of that it takes the math and requires you to use it wrong. Nobody on this planet would ever conceive of mapping complex linear algebra onto a form of mechanics like that in a million years. [edit]wrong is probably not the correct word there. Unnaturally is probably better.[/edit]
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
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Chris Austin wrote:
I've made the same switch to Dark Energy and Dark Matter... absolutely fascinating.
Have you notice how many science geeks there are here in the Lounge? There sure are a lot.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
science geeks
What other kind are there? :((
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I think it is the case though that however fast the entanglement "transmits" that it cannot be used to transmit information FTL. Re Dark Energy there was an article in New Scientist not so long ago that suggested that the clumpy distribution of matter in the universe could be affecting photons as they pass through it in such a way as to produce an effect which looks like "Dark Energy" to our models, which utilise a uniform matter distribution, and that Dark Energy may therefore not be required to model the universe. I suspect that Dark matter will also turn out to be no more than a limitation in our models and not some exotic form of matter. Personally I also think that Superstrings are a total con and a distraction from the true search for a GUT. Give any system enough degrees of freedom and you can make it look like anything.
Steve_Harris wrote:
Personally I also think that Superstrings are a total con and a distraction from the true search for a GUT. Give any system enough degrees of freedom and you can make it look like anything
You go Stan! ;P
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Chris Austin wrote:
This is why I always dread trying to explain aspects of quantum theory to "some" people.
Yeah, I've definitely given up trying to explain any of it to anyone that doesn't have a really open mind and is willing to do a lot of reading. I really believe that QM just isn't compatible with the way humans think, so the only tools we have for understanding it are mathematical. On top of that it takes the math and requires you to use it wrong. Nobody on this planet would ever conceive of mapping complex linear algebra onto a form of mechanics like that in a million years. [edit]wrong is probably not the correct word there. Unnaturally is probably better.[/edit]
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
Andy Brummer wrote:
QM just isn't compatible with the way humans think, so the only tools we have for understanding it are mathematical.
Just like anything above three dimensions.
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Andy Brummer wrote:
QM just isn't compatible with the way humans think, so the only tools we have for understanding it are mathematical.
Just like anything above three dimensions.
Only when we try to think of it on the same terms as 3 spacial dimensions. We deal with plenty of higher dimensional spaces fairly regularly without realizing it, and the mathematics is the same. Quantum mechanics goes something along the lines of, take an absurdly high dimensional space and then do some weird kind of rotation operation on it and see how the lengths of everything changed. We'll call that a position measurement. Do the same thing with a related rotation and that's a measurement in a different direction. Do a really strangely weird rotation and we'll call that a momentum measurement. Take those operations and stick them together like it makes sense to do so and bam, you have energy. Make them into a differential equation and now you have motion. It all manages to be consistent, and make the most accurate predictions of any theory we've come up with, but absolutely nobody has any idea why any of it would be in the first place.
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
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Quantum entanglement is fascinating, along with things like dark matter and dark energy. Quantum physics in general is quite interesting coupled with my interest in neurology, AI, and even more esoteric things like chance, fate, predestination, and so forth. Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
predestination
I knew you were going to say that.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
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Quantum entanglement is fascinating, along with things like dark matter and dark energy. Quantum physics in general is quite interesting coupled with my interest in neurology, AI, and even more esoteric things like chance, fate, predestination, and so forth. Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
Quantum physics in general is quite interesting coupled with my interest in neurology, AI, and even more esoteric things like chance, fate, predestination, and so forth.
That enum reminded me of the movie "What the 'bleep' do we know?!" Have you seen it?
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Quantum entanglement is fascinating, along with things like dark matter and dark energy. Quantum physics in general is quite interesting coupled with my interest in neurology, AI, and even more esoteric things like chance, fate, predestination, and so forth. Marc
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That's one cool sig.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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That's one cool sig.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
I wanted to edit it and higlight the bits about the lone electron and hole mating and producing a tiny post, but I can't click on it without following the link. But I couldn't.
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Steve_Harris wrote:
Re Dark Energy there was an article in New Scientist not so long ago that suggested that the clumpy distribution of matter in the universe could be affecting photons as they pass through it in such a way as to produce an effect which looks like "Dark Energy" to our models, which utilise a uniform matter distribution, and that Dark Energy may therefore not be required to model the universe. I suspect that Dark matter will also turn out to be no more than a limitation in our models and not some exotic form of matter.
If I remember correctly the "Cosmic Illusion" argument against Dark Energy doesn't really stand up when considering the density differences on volumes large enough (millions of light years I think) to effect universal expansion; I think someone did a survey using gravitational lensing to measure the density. Also, isn't the density difference model pretty immature/ over simplified at this point? Still it is all very fascinating to me.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
Chris Austin wrote:
density
I thought that the "uniform over a large enough volume" approach was what they had found didn't work?
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I initially went into Bio-Engineering even though I loved my Physics classes more than anything in high school. I realized in my first year that I preferred Physics and switched majors by my third semester.
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
It's only been in the last 10 years that I really started to get into quantum theory.
:) I've made the same switch to Dark Energy and Dark Matter... absolutely fascinating.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
The Bible says: "AS ABOVE AND SO BELOW." Anything is energy first before it manifested in the material plane.
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Charming :rim-shot:.
Software Zen:
delete this;