12th Generation Book of Shadows

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detector right in front of the light source and then we are going to run the double slit experiment only letting one photon
through at a time. Obviously, we only get a point of light on the TV screen each time a photon passes through. However, let
us record where each photon hits and run a bunch of single photons through the experiment. What do we get on the TV
screen? We might expect to see two little points of light on the screen, but we do not. We now get a full-fledged
interference pattern! Remember, this is a composite pattern made up of individual photons going through the experiment, not
a bunch of waves. This is truly weird.
There are only two ways to explain this last result, neither of them comfortable. Consider a photon passing through hole #1
as a photon in state 1 and a photon going through hole #2 as a photon in state 2. The only way we can get an interference
pattern is if we have something going through BOTH holes at the same time. This implies that the photon is traveling
through the double slit apparatus in both states at the same time. Remember we are not trying to detect which state the
photon is in as it goes through the holes, so the CI predicts that the photon is in both states, just as the results say it
must be. (We can make a similar argument for the Many Worlds case as well). This is hard experimental evidence for the
CI and has not been contradicted in the last 70 years or so. Just the opposite...other experiments have lent validity to the
CI. (By the way, this same experiment has been done with electrons and, I believe, neutrons as well.)
The Extreme Copenhagen Interpretation and Your Quantum Universe:
What follows is my personal interpretation of the Physics mentioned above.
Let us go back to Schrodinger's Cat since it is the simpler experiment. We need to discuss what makes a quantum observer
again, because it is a tricky point. A quantum observer is some nebulous thing that takes a measurement of a system.
What is it that creates the measurement process? Presumably, we have two systems to consider: the first is the actual
experiment that we want to measure, and the second is the system that does the measuring. Therefore, if we take the
measurement process to its most basic level, a measurement is the process by which the experimental system "gives"
information to the observer's system. This information exchange is mediated by photons (or W, Z, gluons, etc. Basically any
boson you wish. That's another topic.) To make a long story short, the observer gets information from the experiment by
absorbing a photon. This means that an electron can serve as a quantum observer since a absorbing a photon will alter the
electron's state. A quantum observer does not actually need to have an intelligence to function; it merely needs to respond
to the experiment in some way.
So. Let us go back to Schrodinger's Cat. According to the scientist running the experiment the cat is both alive and dead
until the box is opened. Say that he opens the box and knows the state of the cat. Now look at the people in the next room
who are waiting to hear from the scientist in the room with the cat. According to them, the cat is STILL in that odd alive
and dead mixed state. We can go further and state that the whole lab we ran the experiment in is in an undetermined
state since the scientist in the lab might take different actions depending on the state of the cat. No one outside the lab
can possibly know what is going on in the lab. Now look at the people in the next room beyond that, etc. What we have is a
nested set of "Schrodinger's Cats." Until the information is passed between different rooms, the set of rooms inside exists in
a mixed state.
We can take this argument to an (I feel logical) extreme. Since the individual particles in our bodies act as quantum
observers the only pertinent information we have about the state of the Universe at large is what we perceive through our
senses. Therefore, anything that we do not perceive through our senses exists in a mixed state similar to Schrodinger's
alive/dead cat: nothing exists in a definite state unless we are sensing it. This is what I call the "Extreme Copenhagen
Interpretation." (ECI) What this implies, then, is that each of us exists in our own personal universes and everything
exterior to that universe exists in an undetermined state until we sense it. Note: I am going to ignore the question of
other people existing...I will assume other people exist and our knowledge of their reality comes from the "interference" of
these multiple universes. To give a quick example consider the question: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around
to see it fall, does it make any noise?" The ECI states that since no one was around, the tree is in a mixed state of
existance/non-existance. Furthermore it has fallen/not fallen, much less made any noise/silence. Since the tree does not [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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