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There seems to be some confusion here, based around the usage of words. You seem annoyed by the terminology of words like "worlds" or "multiverse", but are you
by jbay808 7y ago
There seems to be some confusion here, based around the usage of words.
You seem annoyed by the terminology of words like "worlds" or "multiverse", but are you also thinking about what a MWI advocate is referring to by the usage of those words? They are shorthand for "the observable wave function" and "the global wave function".
There being "copies" of Schrodinger observing his cat is the most intuitive and expressive way to summarize Schrodinger being in a linear superposition of two states in a (cat alive, cat dead) basis. It's not any different from how a Copenhagenist would treat a photon passing through a polarizating beamsplitter as being in a superposition of having passed through and having been reflected; if the photon then goes and interacts with other things, they would keep track of what would have happened in each "branch" of the superposition.
If you have an issue with those, why don't you have an issue with the idea of superposition itself? It's exactly the same concept.
(UPDATE)
In particular, when MWI people say "multiverse", it's not a sleight of hand where we are being deceptive when we actually mean "observable and unobservable components of the wave function". The term "multiverse" had no prior meaning in physics; MWI is defining it to mean the global wave function, using that word to draw attention to the fact that it has unobservable components.
These words are being given rigorous definitions that align with their intuitive meaning. You seem to be arguing against that practice?
Should I complain that when a Copenhagenist says "collapse", nothing is actually falling down and so it's misleading?
- lisper 7y agoNo it isn't. Copenhagenists insist that the wave function "collapses" upon "measurement" and so measurements only have one outcome in point of metaphyisical fact. Many-worlders insist that the wave function does not collapse, and hence measurements have many outcomes in point of metaphyiscal fact. You may consider this a distinction without a difference, but the fact of the matter is that people do argue about this. A lot.
- platz 7y agoYour usage of "many outcomes" is what may be causing contention/confusion for those looking for answers in what is described by the mathematical equations, and scientific theories. If you want to justify "many outcomes" on metaphysical grounds, that is not a scientific conversation. Also "metaphysical fact" is a questionable term.
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoConfused. Consider a light beam with only one photon at a time (very dim) measured by a photoreceptor. Put a 2nd photoreceptor after the first - it detects no photons. So detecting the first, definitely 'collapsed the wave function'. This is not an unknown result in physics.
- jbay808 7y agoI agree that it's an important difference! And it matters a lot. I am just saying that the concept of "copies" is no more mysterious than the concept of "superposition", and if you can accept the latter then I don't see why you complain about the former. As for collapse, Copenhagenists can't seem to explain why an interaction between a photon and electrons in a polarizing filter does not collapse the wave function, but an interaction between a photon and electrons in my retina does. They're made of the same stuff and should be following the same quantum rules; why does one of them perform a unitary transformation and the other a lossy projection?
- lisper 7y agoThe reason I can accept superposition is that I have first-hand access to experimental evidence of it. I can see interference fringes with my own eyes. By way of contrast, not only do I not have any direct evidence of the existence of copies of me, I cannot possibly have such evidence. And this is not a technological limitation. This is a limit predicted by the theory itself.