Philosophy
I teach a first year seminar called "Einstein in Wonderland: Physics, Philosophy, and Other Nonsense" in which we consider the classical notion of sense from Descartes and Newton, classical nonsense from Lewis Carroll, and then look at relativity theory and quantum mechanics to decide whether they violate the classical notion of sense, whether modern science forces us to not only rework our understanding of the world, but also our understanding of understanding. This year's bunch went beyond philosophy and actually framed their own scientific theory -- the quantum Santa hypothesis.
In quantum mechanics, when a system is unobserved it behaves according to Schrodinger's equation. This means that it finds itself in what we call a superposed state, that is, a combination of all possible values for its observable properties. In the case of position, for example, it means that a things "spreads out" over all of the places it might be found. But we never see a system in its superposed state, when we make an observation, the system collapses into one of its property states, into one single value of the observable quantity, for example, into one place.
The class realized that this might be the answer to the Santa paradox -- how can Santa visit every house in one night when doing so would require him to move faster than the speed of light, which, of course, is prohibited by the theory of relativity? The proposed answer hinges on the fact that Santa always comes in the middle of the night when no one is watching. Because no one observes Santa, he would be in a superposed state, that is in every house simultaneously.
Further, the presents he brings are not truly independent of him, but rather part of a larger system that is superposed. The potential of the system is set by the children's behavior throughout the year making the bicycle/coal coefficient lean in one direction or the other and as soon as the first little one wakes up and looks under the tree, a present measurement is made and the Santa wave function collapses into a single present state in which the value of all presents are instantly determined throughout the whole world at that moment, just like electron spin in the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-type cases.
Is the quantum Santa theory testable? I suppose one way would be to make constant observations throughout the night which would mean that Santa would be forced to remain in single positions throughout the entire eventing and thereby would be unable to deliver gifts to his full contingent of children. Perhaps there are some experiments that science shouldn't carry out.
- Scientific Truths, Quantum Mechanics, And Quantum Mechanics To Auto Mechanics
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- God And Stuff
A couple of God questions this week. kzndr asks, "Are any of the classical arguments for the existence of God actually any good?"No. The interesting one, though, is Anselm's argument that a perfect being must exist because existence is a perfection...
- When Is Belief In Santa Claus Rational?
We can start from the assertion that anyone older than 18 cannot rationally believe in the existence of Santa. Is it ever rational? For a five year old, you have a number of ways of acquiring this as a reasonable belief. First, there is a seemingly legitimate...
- Auto Mechanics And Quantum Mechanics -- Really
This has never happened before, I actually got questions about auto mechanics and quantum mechanics. Wow. Ben asks: Are the rotors on your car attached at all once you remove the calipers or will they just slide off? Seriously though, the auto-mechanics...
- Stool Pigeons And Quantum Logic
Claude brings us a nice ethical problem, Many are brought up being told that you should never tell on someone. At the same time, whistle blowing can bring many benefits to society. When is it unethical not to tell? Where do you draw the line between answering...
Philosophy
The Quantum Santa Hypothesis
I teach a first year seminar called "Einstein in Wonderland: Physics, Philosophy, and Other Nonsense" in which we consider the classical notion of sense from Descartes and Newton, classical nonsense from Lewis Carroll, and then look at relativity theory and quantum mechanics to decide whether they violate the classical notion of sense, whether modern science forces us to not only rework our understanding of the world, but also our understanding of understanding. This year's bunch went beyond philosophy and actually framed their own scientific theory -- the quantum Santa hypothesis.
In quantum mechanics, when a system is unobserved it behaves according to Schrodinger's equation. This means that it finds itself in what we call a superposed state, that is, a combination of all possible values for its observable properties. In the case of position, for example, it means that a things "spreads out" over all of the places it might be found. But we never see a system in its superposed state, when we make an observation, the system collapses into one of its property states, into one single value of the observable quantity, for example, into one place.
The class realized that this might be the answer to the Santa paradox -- how can Santa visit every house in one night when doing so would require him to move faster than the speed of light, which, of course, is prohibited by the theory of relativity? The proposed answer hinges on the fact that Santa always comes in the middle of the night when no one is watching. Because no one observes Santa, he would be in a superposed state, that is in every house simultaneously.
Further, the presents he brings are not truly independent of him, but rather part of a larger system that is superposed. The potential of the system is set by the children's behavior throughout the year making the bicycle/coal coefficient lean in one direction or the other and as soon as the first little one wakes up and looks under the tree, a present measurement is made and the Santa wave function collapses into a single present state in which the value of all presents are instantly determined throughout the whole world at that moment, just like electron spin in the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-type cases.
Is the quantum Santa theory testable? I suppose one way would be to make constant observations throughout the night which would mean that Santa would be forced to remain in single positions throughout the entire eventing and thereby would be unable to deliver gifts to his full contingent of children. Perhaps there are some experiments that science shouldn't carry out.
- Scientific Truths, Quantum Mechanics, And Quantum Mechanics To Auto Mechanics
C. Ewings asks, "Are "scientific truths" actually true?"By true, I'll take it you mean "can be known with certainty." In that case, it depends upon which scientific truths you are speaking of. There are statements of observable behaviors of parts...
- God And Stuff
A couple of God questions this week. kzndr asks, "Are any of the classical arguments for the existence of God actually any good?"No. The interesting one, though, is Anselm's argument that a perfect being must exist because existence is a perfection...
- When Is Belief In Santa Claus Rational?
We can start from the assertion that anyone older than 18 cannot rationally believe in the existence of Santa. Is it ever rational? For a five year old, you have a number of ways of acquiring this as a reasonable belief. First, there is a seemingly legitimate...
- Auto Mechanics And Quantum Mechanics -- Really
This has never happened before, I actually got questions about auto mechanics and quantum mechanics. Wow. Ben asks: Are the rotors on your car attached at all once you remove the calipers or will they just slide off? Seriously though, the auto-mechanics...
- Stool Pigeons And Quantum Logic
Claude brings us a nice ethical problem, Many are brought up being told that you should never tell on someone. At the same time, whistle blowing can bring many benefits to society. When is it unethical not to tell? Where do you draw the line between answering...