The Quantum Mess: Part Five

Are observers really necessary in order for reality to have reality? Is the realm of the quantum really spooky? Is causality doomed? Welcome to the world of the quantum mess!

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

THE QUANTUM MESS -  SIZE MATTERS (or) THE QUANTUM YOU: You are composed of multi-billions (and then some) of bits of matter like electrons, neutrons, protons, etc., each one of which can act both like a spread out wave and as a point particle simultaneously (and this has been demonstrated experimentally by the way). Because you (and everything else) are composed of stuff that exhibits wave-particle duality, it should come as no surprise that you must exhibit wave-particle duality. You certainly can identify with the particle bit, having mass and (seemingly) solidity. Yet, while particles in its wave disguise can pass through two doors simultaneously (the famous double-slit experiments), the probability of you doing so is as close to infinitely improbable (so near zero that you may as well call it zero) as makes no odds. So, if every particle that you are composed of can pass through two doors simultaneously, by themselves, why can’t you? I suggest that this is because one particle is one wave. You are many particles with many associated waves which don’t act in unison. All your waves collectively exhibit interfere and just about cancel each other out. However, you still have a wave function! It’s just too micro tiny to matter within your macro existence. Size matters! [I believe to put it more scientifically that you are huge relative to Planck’s constant which dominates wave-particle duality (among other things) on the quantum scale. Planck’s constant’s impact or influence diminishes as size and mass increases.]

THE QUANTUM MESS – THOSE DEBATES

What a line-up! - In the left corner, Bohr, Heisenberg and a host of others; in the right corner Einstein and Schrodinger. On the left side, there’s argument that reality is just probability and observer dependent. On the right side, there’s counter-argument that reality reflects absolute causality and is observer independent. The gut of the left’s argument is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. On the right, the summary is that ‘God does not play dice’. There must be some hidden variables, something deeper and as yet undiscovered that will replace quantum probability and uncertainty and indeterminacy with hard and fast certainty. Alas, to this day no hidden variables have been uncovered. The quantum is as uncertain a realm now, as it was in the 1920’s and 1930’s.  

Further readings on those quantum debates:

Jones, Sheilla; The Quantum Ten: A Story of Passion, Tragedy, Ambition and Science; Oxford University Press, New York; 2008:

Kumar, Manjit; Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality; Icon Books, Cambridge; 2008:

Lindley, David; Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr and the Struggle for the Soul of Science; Anchor Books, N.Y.; 2008:

Segre, Gino; Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics; Viking, N.Y.; 2007:

Whitaker, Andrew; Einstein, Bohr and the Quantum Dilemma: From Quantum Theory to Quantum Information; Cambridge University Press; Cambridge; 2^nd edition; 2006:

THE QUANTUM MESS – THE EASY WAY OUT: There is another interpretation of all things quantum, called the ‘shut up and calculate’ interpretation. It works; just do it; don’t worry about what it means.’

THE QUANTUM MESS - SUMMARY: IMHO, despite all evidence to the contrary, causality is preserved at the micro level; entanglement isn’t spooky; and observers are irrelevant. And I’ve just fluked Quantum Physics 101!

Further readings on the quantum mess:

Al-Khalili, Jim; Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed; Weidenfield & Nicolson, London; 2003:

Anastopoulos, Charis; Particle or Wave: The Evolution of the Concept of Matter in Modern Physics; Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey; 2008:

Bruce, Colin; Schrodinger’s Rabbits: The Many Worlds of Quantum; Joseph Henry Press, Washington, D.C.; 2004:

Chown, Marcus; Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You: A Guide to the Universe; Faber and Faber, London; 2007:

Feynman, Richard P.; QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter; Penguin Books, London; 1990:

Gilmore, Robert; Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics; Copernicus Books, New York; 1995:

Gribbin, John; In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality; Black Swan, London; 1991:

Gribbin, John; Schrodinger’s Kittens and the Search for Reality; Phoenix, 1996:

Hey, Tony & Walters, Patrick; The New Quantum Universe; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 2003:

Kuttner, Fred & Rosenblum, Bruce; Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness; Oxford University Press, N.Y.; 2006:

Orzel, Chad; How to Teach Physics to Your Dog; Scribner, New York; 2009: