Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by kurthr on Sunday March 19, 2023 @04:45PM
(#35223391)
Weird, it seems like that's one of the most popular discussions in pop-sci. The real question is more philosophical... does Many Worlds even mean anything scientific (eg is it testable or a usefully simple model). Certainly, it's entertaining.
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Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by lmm on Sunday March 19, 2023 @05:46PM
(#35224006)
Shouldn't that be "does the Copenhagen intepretation even mean anything scientific"?
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by whatshisface on Sunday March 19, 2023 @05:50PM
(#35224041)
The answer to both is "no." It is really obvious that the answer is no, because they lead to the same predictions. There is real work being done in quantum foundations (which is not the same thing as fundamental physics), but it doesn't involve arguing about MWI and Copenhagen. :-)
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by wannabedev22 on Sunday March 19, 2023 @07:00PM
(#35224650)
Why isn’t debating of the significance of quantum mechanics “real work”?
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by whatshisface on Sunday March 19, 2023 @07:03PM
(#35224683)
Because some debates are like, "Given the proposition 'x or not x', is x true?"
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by wannabedev22 on Sunday March 19, 2023 @07:28PM
(#35224933)
I’m not sure about what precisely you’re referring to. There is an entire school of mathematics that dismisses the law of excluded of middle and I’m not sure why that would not be “real work”.
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by whatshisface on Sunday March 19, 2023 @08:24PM
(#35225439)
There's no system of logic where 'x or not x is true' implies x.
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by j16sdiz on Sunday March 19, 2023 @09:07PM
(#35225889)
The example you gave is not specific enough to guess what you are referring to.
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by whatshisface on Sunday March 19, 2023 @10:15PM
(#35226446)
I am referring to the fact that it is possible for indeterminacy to be an absolute fact and not a temporary artifact of incomplete development.
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by goldenkey on Monday March 20, 2023 @05:26AM
(#35229115)
I can make that an axiom of my system. It'll cause explosion and is a next to useless system but it's still a system.
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by GoblinSlayer on Monday March 20, 2023 @07:40AM
(#35230123)
Why though? MWI works just fine.
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by whatshisface on Monday March 20, 2023 @01:39PM
(#35235431)
So does Copenhagen. That's why you can't choose between them.
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by GoblinSlayer on Tuesday March 21, 2023 @01:59AM
(#35242958)
Didn't you say you can't tell whether randomness is true or due to incomplete interpretation? If Copenhagen is incomplete, then it doesn't work, only its one part works - the Schrodinger equation.
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by whatshisface on Tuesday March 21, 2023 @02:37PM
(#35250516)
MWI doesn't allow you to predict what you will end up observing, so it is just as incomplete.
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by GoblinSlayer on Wednesday March 22, 2023 @02:00AM
(#35257353)
It doesn't predict collapse if that's what you mean, because collapse doesn't happen, but it predicts that the result of observation is eigenvalue, and the prediction is consistent and matches observation.
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by slowmovintarget on Sunday March 19, 2023 @05:54PM
(#35224078)
He published a paper with some colleagues on a way to disprove Everettian Mechanics. It falls into the difficult but not impossible category. It involves looking for minuscule energy spikes that would be evidence of some kind of "collapse of the wave function" that would rule out Many Worlds.
The Copenhagen Interpretation isn't a theory, it it is an attitude.
Re:The Origin Story Behind the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
by GoblinSlayer on Monday March 20, 2023 @07:23AM
(#35229997)
MWI is confirmed in a sense that it exactly matches the Schrodinger equation and doesn't add anything contradictory or ad hoc hypotheses, and is compatible with the rest of science. And the Schrodinger equation is verified quantitatively. This is as far as verification goes.