Recent content by jeffn1

For what its worth, Art Hobson states, in Fields and Their Quanta, "The universe is a set of at least 25 fields, each of which fills the entire universe. These fields are probably facets of a single universal field." (P. 183)

Does it matter that the notion of retrocausality initially attributed to the "delayed choice" experiment has largely been debunked: It looks like the explanation of this fits well within Art Hobson's model.

Here is a summary of Art Hobson's view in Wigner's friend (hope okay to post--feel fee to ignore): Physicists like Art Hobson view the Wigner’s friend paradox and the idea of "superposed memories" as a misunderstanding of how quantum mechanics actually works. Hobson, a staunch proponent of...

My impression: He highlights that the pre-detection state is non-local. He stresses repeatedly that failure to accept this historically has pushed the physics community in wrong directions. He references the Rarity-Tapster-Ou (RTO) Experiments (and of course Bell's and Anspect's work). In...

At some point I would like to start (or participate in) a thread dedicated to Art Hobson's views in Fields and their Quanta and his other writings (strengths/weaknesses). At one point he "seems" to assert there is a causal relationship between entangled particles (even millions of miles apart)...

I am sorry I interfered with the more detailed discussion you are having. At some point (after your technical discussion is concluded) I would love a better understanding of this point (the more conceptual and less mathematical, the better) The you that is in the "cat is alive" branch sees the...

I am trying to understand where, from just a plausibility perspective, I would deviate from MWI. So, I think this is it, but I want to make sure. So, Peter, even under a less extreme view of MWI, whenever a person looks at a detector showing the location of decohered photon (what other...

I have been trying to get a better understanding of what appears to be (to me) a less fantastical interpretation of the Many Worlds Interpretation (without gazillions of universes created every time a photon interacts with something, etc.). So, it seems the Relative State interpretation of MW...

I need to understand MWI better. To the extent it really requires universes to come into existence every time there is a quantum collapse, I would pass. How many gazillions of universes have to be created in my little office every time a photon hits a wall? Are these universes comparable to...

I'll dig into the book more. (I'm reading it occasionally and slowly). I suspect it doesn't make the math easier. The comparison to Newtonian and relatavistic physics may be apt here too. In a typical case on earth classical Newtonian physics will get you the answer easier. So, where you are not...

I'll try to find the exact quote. In the Introduction, p. xiii of Fields and their Quanta, Hobson writes: "Chapter 4 discusses wave-particle duality and the meaning of the quantum state. It explains the famous 2-slit experiment that Richard Feynman urged students not to think about because...

When applied to the physical universe, it seems to me the concept requires some sense of continuity of the "thing" considered infinite. For example up until the '60s, we thought our Milky Way Galaxy was "the universe". And people argued that it was "infinite". Then we realized the we inhabit a...

My $.02 for what its worth: The term "observer" has caused so much confusion. The word "observer" implies a conscious, biological entity looking at a result. Art Hobson emphasizes that wave function collapse and measurement are entirely physical, mind-independent processes. For Hobson, a...

My impression is, for practicing physicists, the major difference between ordinary quantum physics and quantum field theory is the relativistic component. But, I think there is a very big difference in terms quantum interpretations. From a big picture perspective, things tend to make "more...

I am curious whether undergrad physics students take courses on the philosophy of science. For example, does your syllabus include reading the seminal book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn. Physics is sort of the cutting edge for these type of issues. Of course, Newton...