[Sussex] More on Bad Maths

[Geoff Teale]

Just in the interest of greater understanding I forwarded this to the old
man who is the only person I know qualified to speak with any authority...

Mark wrote:
-----------
> Since when?
> 
> Suggest that a quick visit to the library for "Six Not So 
> Easy Pieces" by 
> Richard Feynmann, and a flip to the chapter on Qunatum 
> physics would be in 
> order at this point.
> 
> Some states are:
> 
> 1: Not, as it turns out, physical absolutes.
> 2: Not actually deterministic.

His comments are as follows - please don't ask me to explain!:

> I have not read this book, so I cannot talk accurately about it's context.
I will assume > that in this publication we are talking about the concept of
superposition, as this is 
> the most common case and likely to be the only one explored in a book with
a single 
> chapter on quantum physics.
>
> Superposition means that either an electron or photon existing as waves
can have many spins at any 
> fixed point plotted in dimension one to four.  This is a fundemental
aspect of quantum 
> weirdness on which much of the current study is based.  The act of
observation fixes the > spin and in the case of quantum entanglement it also
fixes the spin of entangled 
> particles.  While we are convinced of the existance of such states, they
are not 
> in themselves demonstrable.  We have to live with extrapolation from
evidence such as  
> Isaac Chuang's calculation of correct primes of 15 using a seven-qubit
computer.  This is > a shame, but in any application of science there is
always a root assumption.
>
> To recap, in essence all states exist simultainiously but only a single
state of each 
> particle is observable as the resolved, classical reality.  This state we
observe is 
> always determined by the quantum realm of the observation.  What we call
"reality" is 
> thus not in a random state, but rather elements of reality become concrete
only when we 
> choose to observe them.

-- 
geoff.teale at claybrook.co.uk
tealeg at member.fsf.org

"A survey of convicted rapists in the USA in 1984 showed that whilst 57% had
read pornographic magazines at least once, 95% had read the New Testament at
least once. Before you quote statistics at me you should at least get them
in perspective"
- Frank Zappa, speaking out for freedom of speech.

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