Quote:
Originally Posted by Polar Bear
I know quantum mechanics is the latest way to explain all the great mysteries of the universe  , but I got a problem with that... 
Since I don't believe in the multiverse, nonlocality, or determinism, how am I supposed to buy into quantum mechanics?!? 
Any of you quantum physicists out there agree with me?  |
Well, first off, I'm an engineer who loves to read about modern physics, so I am NOT an expert, but I have a rudimentary knowledge of these things. It just so happens that I am wearing a t-shirt that essentially says Schroedinger's cat (a thought experiment) is AdLeIaVdE (the caps say alive and the lower case says dead to imply that the cat is alive and dead at the same time.
QM does not include gravity, so it doesn't explain "all the great mysteries." String theory was developed largely to merge gravity with the other forces all into one framework. To do so requires adding a bunch of extra dimensions. Some argue that these extra dimensions are "rolled up" so tightly that we don't notice them. Imagine a person walking on a tightrope. To her, the rope seems one dimensional; she can go only forward and backward. But, to an ant walking on that tightrope it is two dimensional. Like the person, the ant can go forward and backward, but it can also go around the rope at any point along its length. This is an example of a tightly rolled dimension. It's only noticeable on a scale much smaller than we can perceive.
If you don't believe in a multiverse, then I guess maybe you ascribe to the Copenhagen Convention, which many of the earlier theoreticians came up with about 100 years ago (Schroedinger was one of them). Their opinion was that a QM experiment can be in multiple states UNTIL a human being measures it, like the cat. That then collapses Schroedinger's wave function to yield just one result. I personally find that to be a bit strange and think the idea of a "Quantum Multiverse" to be a little less bizarre. That's the one (I've read about nine different kinds of multiverses) that says whenever a quantum event or experiment happens, ALL the possible results happen, but each different result creates a different universe. Copies of the experimenter end up in each one to read a different result.
Experiments have shown that QM accurately predicts the results of virtually every experiment happening in the incredible tiny quantum domain to a very high resolution. It is very well tested. QM predicted the Higg's Boson decades before they built the LHC to look for and find it. Such a thing gives physicists lot of warm fuzzies. That's why it is considered a full-fledged theory instead of a hypotheses, which is an untested speculation or a what if. So, if you can't believe in action at a distance, then you are refusing to believe a well-tested theory. Back in the day, it was inconceivable that one could talk to another person who was on the other side of the world in real time. That's because they knew nothing about electricity or radio. Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law states that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." It does seem rather magical, doesn't it?