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What does it mean to exist? A thing exists specifically when it affects something else. What is measurement? It's a reciprocal affecting. So does a thing which
by z5h 11y ago
What does it mean to exist? A thing exists specifically when it affects something else. What is measurement? It's a reciprocal affecting.
So does a thing which is not affecting anything else and not being measured exist? No! QED
- anti-shill 11y agodepends on what the meaning of "is" is....
- hellbanner 11y agoE Prime is English without the definition of the word is, precisely for the sake of exploring language.. see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Psychology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Psychology
- themgt 11y agoRight. This way of describing it is much closer to "zero-worlds" or relational quantum mechanics, and to my mind is a far simpler, deeper way of understanding what's really going on - reality is simply all entanglement. What really still gets me is the way it's not simply that the atom wasn't interacted with, but that if the information about the interaction never leaks to the outside world - if it's "erased" after the interaction takes place - then the system still behaves as if the interaction never took place. It undermines not just the concept that matter really exists, but time as well.
- dmvaldman 11y agoDo you have a source for this "information leaking" concept. I remember hearing about an experiment confirming such an idea, but I can't recall what it was.
- themgt 11y agoI'm not sure the exact experiment performed in the article (which sounded similar), but I've always thought the delayed choice quantum eraser was about the best example of this, once you spend some time understanding the experiment and results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_choice_quantum_eraser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_choice_quantum_eraser
- wtbob 11y ago> What does it mean to exist? A thing exists specifically when it affects something else. What is measurement? It's a reciprocal affecting. All that's starting to sound an awful lot like Orthodox Christian theology about the essence of God…
- chadzawistowski 11y agoCan you elaborate on the similarities? I took a course on medieval philosophy and theology (Anselm, Aquinas, Avicenna, and so on) so I am earnestly interested, but the connection isn't jumping out at me.
- superpatosainz 11y agoI think he means Aquinas' Quinque Viae
- chadzawistowski 11y agoHmm, it does bear resemblance to the argument from contingency, thanks!