3 ms·
> My problem is that if a measurement is done on the other particle, long before any message from me could possibly have got there, then that measurement and th
by nessus42 14y ago
> My problem is that if a measurement is done on the other particle, long before any message from me could possibly have got there, then that measurement and the effects it has on its local environment and the effects they have are all also dependent on my measurement.
Imagine that your friend Joe writes the same word on two pieces of paper, puts them in envelopes and hands one envelope to you and mails the other envelope to Paris. At some point in time, you open up your envelope and read the word "popcorn". At some other point in time, Pierre open up his envelope and reads the same word.
The word that Pierre reads is not "dependent on your measurement". Nothing nonlocal occurred.
- kybernetikos 14y agoThat's a hidden variable theory.
- nessus42 14y agoNo, it's an analogy, not a theory. There are no hidden variables in the Many Worlds Interpretation, but it will appear to us as if there are. The Bohm Interpretation is the experimentally indistinguishable dual of MWI that proposes hidden variables rather than the absence of wave collapse. Despite the hidden variables in the Bohm Interpretation, there is nothing wrong with it, modulo Occam's razor.
- kybernetikos 14y agoSure, I used the word 'theory' incorrectly, I should have said 'explanation'. As I understand it, hidden variables are fine if you're happy to throw away locality, which is exactly what Bohm interpretation does and exactly what we're talking about here. Since your analogy is purportedly showing me how MWI is local, showing me that something that is significantly different (i.e. is a hidden variable explanation) is also local doesn't help a lot.
- nessus42 14y agoHere's a more thorough explanation: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-manyworlds/ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-manyworlds/