Quantum causal relations: A causes B causes A

EurekAlert ^ | 10/2/12

[LibWhacker]

Not surprising to me. When I was a graduate student, I proved the temporal order of events was relative; i.e., whether event A precedes event B or B precedes A in time depends on the frame of reference of the observer. It was not a difficult proof. It's bothered me ever since because I concluded there is no such thing as cause. These authors say A can cause B AND B cause A. Either way, THE UNIVERSE IS INSANE! Or at least not based on logic and reason, which should bother us.

[OldNavyVet]

Unintented consequences are a fact of life.

[AU72]

Firesign Theatre postulated in 1970:

“How can you be in 2 places at once when not anywhere at all?”

[Olog-hai]

How many frames of reference were you using? An outcome is still a singular event; the WTC is still gone, for example.

[Chode]

and the cat can be dead and alive at the same time... feh

[WilliamofCarmichael]

If a video game programmer can code superposition into a game what would it look like? And of course our Creator can easily “code” superposition into our existence. (If you haven’t guessed already.. I know nothing about physics and very little about science in general.)

[oblomov]

“But if we believe that quantum mechanics governs all phenomena...”

The key phrase. Quantum mechanics is an attempt to explain the behavior of subatomic particles and the forces that act upon them. If the theory works, it’s provisionally true. But this doesn’t mean we understand quantum behavior as it really is, just that we have an explanation of the quantum behavior that we have observed in experiments, which is an infinitesimally small proportion of all quantum behavior.

[mikrofon]

So it’s “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” or “Alice & Carol & Ted & Bob” depending on your “perspective”...

[Olog-hai]

Nah; that was Schrödinger’s brain cells.

[Fresh Wind]

That’s easy when you work for the Department of Redundancy Department.

[oblomov]

One is used to moving a video game character through space; now imagine that the character can move just as easily through time. Time is just another “direction” in which the character can move. So, from the character’s perspective, what is a cause, and what is an effect? If the character moves backward through time, the “effects” come before the “causes”. Now consider the subjective philosophical perspective of the game character...it would likely see a cause-effect relationship as being a duality, not a fixed, one-way relationship.

[Cboldt]

I've been a physics fan for decades. Recently started reading again, just to see what's new, etc. Best book so far, out of the half dozen or so, is "Hidden in Plain Sight"

Hidden in Plain Sight Kindle Edition is 99 cents. The author is Andrew Thomas.

It helps, I think, if you've been exposed to quantum and relativity for awhile, and are either in awe or puzzled that the two regimes don't reconcile.

The other stuff I've been reading is heavy on string theory, which is sort of interesting and aims to put some more meat on what Mr. Thomas is getting at; and books about "dark matter" and "dark energy." Very strange physical world we live in, in many many ways.

[oblomov]

This reminds me of Borges’ masterful “Tloen, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”:

http://www.coldbacon.com/writing/borges-tlon.html

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

So should I get a Obama phone or not?

[Chode]

pretty much...

[Fester Chugabrew]

You seem to be reading material similar to what my older brother reads. He’s a virtual wealth of conversation when it comes to the deeper things of science and discussing them in layman’s terms.

[Chode]

i've taken physics and read some quantum and string, but in the case of the cat there is or there isn't, not maybe... and the viewing of it makes no difference in the outcome at all that i can see, but then again i'm no physicist

and if things are in parallel universes, they aren't the same thing anyway

[Misterioso]

Very strange physical world we live in, in many many ways.

Strange? As opposed to what, familiar? Physical? As opposed to what, mental? Relax, everything will be all right.

[Chode]

for 99c i'll pick one up with my next amazon order, thx

[muawiyah]

How would you know?