I love reading about quantum physics. I love the “spooky” physics.
I just don’t understand it that well.
2 states at once.
Maybe I misunderstand it all.
You can’t be HERE and THERE.
You cant be ALIVE and DEAD.
It’s just too above my head.
The cat is just a metaphor for not knowing until looking not only brings certainty but also influences the answer.
As the famous Mathematician, Scientist and Philosopher Rene Descartes pointed out:
And to render this quite clear, I remark, in the first place, the difference that subsists between imagination and pure intellection or conception. For example, when I imagine a triangle I not only conceive (intelligo) that it is a figure comprehended by three lines, but at the same time also I look upon (intueor) these three lines as present by the power and internal application of my mind (acie mentis), and this is what I call imagining. But if I desire to think of a chiliogon, I indeed rightly conceive that it is a figure composed of a thousand sides, as easily as I conceive that a triangle is a figure composed of only three sides; but I cannot imagine the thousand sides of a chiliogon as I do the three sides of a triangle, nor, so to speak, view them as present with the eyes of my mind. And although, in accordance with the habit I have of always imagining something when I think of corporeal things, it may happen that, in conceiving a chiliogon, I confusedly represent some figure to myself, yet it is quite evident that this is not a chiliogon, since it in no wise differs from that which I would represent to myself, if I were to think of a myriogon, or any other figure of many sides; nor would this representation be of any use in discovering and unfolding the properties that constitute the difference between a chiliogon and other polygons. But if the question turns on a pentagon, it is quite true that I can conceive its figure, as well as that of a chiliogon, without the aid of imagination; but I can likewise imagine it by applying the attention of my mind to its five sides, and at the same time to the area which they contain. Thus I observe that a special effort of mind is necessary to the act of imagination, which is not required to conceiving or understanding (ad intelligendum); and this special exertion of mind clearly shows the difference between imagination and pure intellection (imaginatio et intellectio pura).
--From Meditations of First Philsophy, 1641, Rene Descartes, translated by John Veitch in 1901. From the sixth meditation.
“I love reading about quantum physics. I love the “spooky” physics.
I just don’t understand it that well.
2 states at once.”
Yes, I sympathize...
The way I’ve come to understand it, is that the “wave function” is nothing more than what in probability is called a “random variable”. Random variables don’t have single values, rather they have a distribution of values (distribution curve). So that a random variable can take on many different values depending on when or what you sample.
For example, take the random variable “height of people”. There is no single value for that variable - people come in all sort of different heights. It is best described by a distribution curve (similar to a bell curve).
It takes on a distinct value only when you measure the height of a specific person. Similarly the wave function of a particle takes on a specific value - a state - when it is measured.
Another example might be “wind speed” on a gusty day. There is no single value that describes the wind - sometimes it’s calm sometimes it’s strong, so the variable “wind speed” has a range of values. It takes on a specific value when you actually measure it.
So just like Schrödinger’s cat can be either dead or alive, the same wind can be strong or calm.
At least that’s my two cents worth of understanding. I welcome anyone with four cents worth of understanding to correct me if I’m wrong. :)
(BTW the reason sometimes this stuff is hard to grasp is because “the experts” use esoteric terms - like “wave function” instead of the more common and understandable “distribution curve”. Physics is not the only field that obfuscates understanding for the layman, Every specialized field does that. In economics you have “quantitative easing’ which is just an obfuscation of “printing money”. In politics you have “affirmative action” which is an obfuscation of “reverse discrimination” or “racial quota system”. There are many such examples.)
How can you be 2 places at once when you’re not anywhere at all?
“I love reading about quantum physics. I love the “spooky” physics.
I just don’t understand it that well....”
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You ought to periodically check in on Sabine Hossenfelder’s blog. She’s a German physicist but her blog is in English.
Here’s a link to her blog.
http://backreaction.blogspot.com/
As Feynman said “if you think you understand quantum physics, you don’t understand quantum”
It’s the closest thing to magic.
Yeah - my mind reached its limit when my Dad told me about the “triple point of water” in the ‘60s.
It’s the point where it is said to exist as liquid/gas/solid at the same time - the fun part is that the balance is so tenuous that when water is at the exact temperature, a finger nail flick to the container “knocks the heat out of it” and it immediately crystalizes into ice.