3 ms·

I believe roughly he's saying that we are a universe experiencing itself that is intrinsically a single quantum state. It has never made sense to me to separat

I believe roughly he's saying that we are a universe experiencing itself that is intrinsically a single quantum state. It has never made sense to me to separate the observer and the experiment, it's weird to suggest the observer is somehow more classical than the experiment, both are just evolving together in time as a quantum system. The idea of "collapse" makes no sense, there is no observer separate from the experiment, and instead the question of why we experience what we call "collapse" the way we do comes up. Practically, it makes more sense to me. How can our experience of consciousness be real? What does it mean to be conscious? Can we numerically measure free will? Are those answerable questions under this framework? Just let's not talk too much like that to the pop-gurus...

gus_massa 8y ago
The idea that the universe is a single quantum state can be applied to any quantum theory, from a toy universe that only have a few particles and electromagnetism, to the universe with the standard model, and many other variants. For example some years ago many people believe that it was possible to unify all the forces using the SU(5) group. It was a very nice theory, people like it, sadly experiments disagree. The idea that the universe is a single quantum state can't differentiate between the current standard model and the SU(5) model. I really hate that the weak force only acts on left handled particles. Experiments disagree with my preferences. The idea that the universe is a single quantum state can't differentiate between the current version and the version where the weak force affect all particles. So, how can be the idea that the universe is a single quantum state imply that the universe laws are beautiful? --- Nobody like the collapse and the almost magical properties of the observer (the observer can be a machine, it's not necessary a human). Anyway, it's very useful if you can shut up and do the calculations. I vote that the answer to the problem is something something decoherence. It's still a research topic (not my topic), so we have to wait a few years/decades/centuries to be sure. --- I think that "conscious" is like "alive". It's not magical. It's just an useful classification of some aggrupation of matter following the laws of physics.

gus_massa 8y ago

The idea that the universe is a single quantum state can be applied to any quantum theory, from a toy universe that only have a few particles and electromagnetism, to the universe with the standard model, and many other variants. For example some years ago many people believe that it was possible to unify all the forces using the SU(5) group. It was a very nice theory, people like it, sadly experiments disagree. The idea that the universe is a single quantum state can't differentiate between the current standard model and the SU(5) model. I really hate that the weak force only acts on left handled particles. Experiments disagree with my preferences. The idea that the universe is a single quantum state can't differentiate between the current version and the version where the weak force affect all particles. So, how can be the idea that the universe is a single quantum state imply that the universe laws are beautiful? --- Nobody like the collapse and the almost magical properties of the observer (the observer can be a machine, it's not necessary a human). Anyway, it's very useful if you can shut up and do the calculations. I vote that the answer to the problem is something something decoherence. It's still a research topic (not my topic), so we have to wait a few years/decades/centuries to be sure. --- I think that "conscious" is like "alive". It's not magical. It's just an useful classification of some aggrupation of matter following the laws of physics.