Entangled Moose writes:
<<<More a philosophical problem that a science problem, no?
Seems to be both a science AND philosophical problem. QM has proven extremely
robust in predicting experimental results and if there were convincing evidence
that
objective results are observer dependent, that would have profound
implications. There is no clear upper limit to the size of objects that can
undergo entanglement:
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/45/22413
Even if not directly applicable, quantum effects can be very imp't for
macroscopic beings--witness use of the these effects by enzymes, navigation by
flutterbys and probably birds--magneto-reception is very likely based on the
production of quantum entangled radical pairs that interact differently with
the earth's magnetic field.
I suppose if QM is a final theory with nothing deeper, we may never know how it
works. If one is an anti-realist like Niels Bohr all this doesn't matter. He
is the source for the "Copenhagen
interpretation" which can be summarized as "shut up and calculate." There are
no paradoxes when QM viewed like that as wave functions are not real but an
artificial construction like a hieroglyph that are useful in predicting results
but have no do not mirror reality. Einstein and other realists have a problem
as there is no explanation for how wave functions collapse and nonlocality.
Hidden variables have been debunked by elegant experiments showing violation of
Bell's inequality. It just seems very unsatisfactory not have a deeper
explanation for the workings of QM. Most physicists working on this have
previously ended up in departments of mathematics or philosophy. There is no
conspiracy against this line of inquiry but no mentor would let their student
head down a likely dead end. There seems to be more work on this now and
perhaps the physicist is alive today that will slay John Wheeler's "Great
Smokey Dragon."
(tail is wave fxn before collapse, head is after, with large smokey middle)
As Einstein said, "Reality is merely an illusion albeit a very persistent one,"
or better yet from the american science fiction writer Philip K Dick, "Reality
is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away," Mike
--
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