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Whenever I hear someone describe quantum physics as "weird" - whenever I hear someone bewailing the mysterious effects of observation on the observed, or the bi
by CamperBob 16y ago
Whenever I hear someone describe quantum physics as "weird" - whenever I hear someone bewailing the mysterious effects of observation on the observed, or the bizarre existence of nonlocal correlations, or the incredible impossibility of knowing position and momentum at the same time - then I think to myself: This person will never understand physics no matter how many books they read.
Well, that rules out Einstein.
- jodrellblank 16y agoNo it doesn't, Einstein died years before that author was even born. He will never hear Einstein bewailing anything.
- CamperBob 16y agoPoint being, Einstein spent a large part of his career completely unable to deal with the sheer weirdness of quantum physics. ("God does not play dice," "spooky action at a distance," and so forth.) Ultimately he was able to adapt his worldview to include the implications of quantum theory, but until then he was most certainly not in a state where he would "never understand physics." It was a great essay, actually, just a terrible lede, as EY himself acknowledged in the comments.