"The Case Against Reality"

[Mudd]

Not a new observation, but fascinating interview here:

The central lesson of quantum physics is clear: There are no public objects sitting out there in some preexisting space. As the physicist John Wheeler put it, “Useful as it is under ordinary circumstances to say that the world exists ‘out there’ independent of us, that view can no longer be upheld.”So while neuroscientists struggle to understand how there can be such a thing as a first-person reality, quantum physicists have to grapple with the mystery of how there can be anything but a first-person reality. In short, all roads lead back to the observer.

You could not form a true description of the innards of the computer if your entire view of reality was confined to the desktop. And yet the desktop is useful. That blue rectangular icon guides my behavior, and it hides a complex reality that I don’t need to know. That’s the key idea. Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. They guide adaptive behaviors. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know. And that’s pretty much all of reality, whatever reality might be. If you had to spend all that time figuring it out, the tiger would eat you.

 

[Stoo]

Interesting read, although it's still up against the Copenhagen Interpretation and Many-worlds. I dunno how scientists would test the merits of each, as I understand it they're just different interpretations of the same math.

 

[Gov Kodos]

”So while neuroscientists struggle to understand how there can be such a thing as a first-person reality, quantum physicists have to grapple with the mystery of how there can be anything but a first-person reality. In short, all roads lead back to the observer.

We're led back to Protagoras and 'Man is the measure of all things', good to know. I want an answer as to how my wife knows I am opening a chocolate bar anywhere or anytime?

 

[publiusr]

I don't know if this is religion already--but, were I do do my own religion--I might posit that there has only been one soul. And each of us is a lifetime of that one soul. All You Zombies taken to the ultimate extent.

Cloud Atlas city-johnson

Misc
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160519-ken-ono-mathematician-inspired-by-ramanujan/

Interesting https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160517-pilot-wave-theory-gains-experimental-support/

 

[ancient]

I guess scientists are being kept awake at night by the existential nightmare of quantum mechanics, so they are trying to introduce free will back into the equation.

 

[Kor]

I don't know if this is religion already--but, were I do do my own religion--I might posit that there has only been one soul. And each of us is a lifetime of that one soul. All You Zombies taken to the ultimate extent.

I am now trying to think of good pick-up lines involving the idea of being the same soul.

Kor

 

[doublegoodprole]

Existence is a computer simulation, run by an advanced civilization in a universe undergoing the Big Crunch.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

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[Crazy Eddie]

Not a new observation, but fascinating interview here:

I'm pretty sure this entire concept was actually pre-empted by the Schroedinger's Cat scenario but quantum physicists all over the world keep loosing the memo.

No, quantum superposition DOES NOT accurately describe reality and no, the collapse of the wave function to a final position is not a thing that actually happens when you make an observation. The collapse of the wave function is the REVELATION of reality that exists independent of the observer and the superposition of states, while mathematically valid, cannot be said to be literally true. In short the cat is NOT simultaneously alive or dead; the box contains one or the other, and quantum mechanics can only tell you the probability of either discovery.

Exactly why quantum physicists continue to grapple with this very simple concept, I cannot say. My uneducated guess is that the field is dominated by a huge number of people who don't actually understand how quantum mechanics works but nonetheless enjoy lucrative theoretical careers simply because none of their peers understand it well enough to call them on their bullshit.

 

[ancient]

I'm pretty sure this entire concept was actually pre-empted by the Schroedinger's Cat scenario but quantum physicists all over the world keep loosing the memo.

No, quantum superposition DOES NOT accurately describe reality and no, the collapse of the wave function to a final position is not a thing that actually happens when you make an observation. The collapse of the wave function is the REVELATION of reality that exists independent of the observer and the superposition of states, while mathematically valid, cannot be said to be literally true. In short the cat is NOT simultaneously alive or dead; the box contains one or the other, and quantum mechanics can only tell you the probability of either discovery.

Exactly why quantum physicists continue to grapple with this very simple concept, I cannot say. My uneducated guess is that the field is dominated by a huge number of people who don't actually understand how quantum mechanics works but nonetheless enjoy lucrative theoretical careers simply because none of their peers understand it well enough to call them on their bullshit.

With quantum mechanics, one of two possibilities present themselves:

1. Everything is random, which means free will is an illusion.
2. Everything is completely predictable, which means free will is an illusion. (far more likely imo)

So I think some scientists try to go a bit faith based with an option 3:

3. Everything is based on human free will, reality is an illusion.

 

[Nebusj]

Exactly why quantum physicists continue to grapple with this very simple concept, I cannot say. My uneducated guess is that the field is dominated by a huge number of people who don't actually understand how quantum mechanics works but nonetheless enjoy lucrative theoretical careers simply because none of their peers understand it well enough

Because if there's one sure route to raking in big, easy bucks, it's academia!

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Sounds like Crazy Eddie is describing the Bayesian interpretation.

 

[Venardhi]

I don't know if this is religion already--but, were I do do my own religion--I might posit that there has only been one soul. And each of us is a lifetime of that one soul. All You Zombies taken to the ultimate extent.

I developed a religion/cult for a novel based on this concept not too long ago.
1. All life in this universe is experienced one lifetime at a time by a single universal mind or "soul " in an effort to understand itself.
2. The soul of this universe is not constrained by time as we know it, but it is following a single path through the nearly innumerable lives it has does and will lead.
3. This soul retains memories of previous lives but is limited by the biological hardware of the creatures it is experiencing. Some of these memories (particularly from relatively recent experienced lives) may be perceived on occasion, especially through drug-induced hallucinations, dreams, etc. These experiences may also echo in the creature's mind subconsciously, disrupting the natural programming and causing mental illness or self-destructive behaviors.
4. The soul is not aware of its intent through this process except in the brief moments as it passes through time and space from the end of one life to the beginning of another.
5. People near the end of this near-infinite cycle of lives are more prone to enlightenment. These are the great teachers and prophets revealing this religion to others.
6. The universe is finite both in space and time. So there is a end, when the soul will reach its final life and understand the universe/itself. This final life is a promised one of sorts, believed to guide mankind into a golden age.

There are shenanigans.

 

[B.J.]

^So, "The Egg" by Andy Weir.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I suggest signing up a few Hollywood A-listers for fleecing.

 

[Venardhi]

^So, "The Egg" by Andy Weir.

Don't know that one, will have to look it up.

 

[B.J.]

Don't know that one, will have to look it up.

The entire short story is here: http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html
Won't even take 5 minutes to read.

 

[Venardhi]

Much appreciated.

 

[publiusr]

It really has all been done before.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Kind of boils down to Heinlein's Pantheistic Solipsism, doesn't it? Possibly not... I'm not a theologian...