Recent content by The thinker

I don't think it is pointless philosophy. Consciousness is a physical process, a real phenomena. Would using a less loaded phrase like 'black box' help? There is a black box which the available evidence suggests exists in only one slice of the block universe at a time. How can this...

Ah, now this is the kind of answer I was looking for. Quite mind boggling!

Yes I suppose so! I figured that as it involved something physical moving (unless you believe in a soul!), then there would be a natural physical answer.

I think you may have misunderstood the question. I am essentially asking how one's awareness can move from one 4-vector to another. This is sort of a psychological question, but at it's root a physics question.

Sorry, I meant that when looking at the 4D me, from the outside as it were, that there is no time. I understand that each point of time can be different in the block universe, it makes perfect sense that each slice is different, and also that my brain causes the me in each time slice to feel...

I understand that it is not a psychological theory, but as you said "at each point along your worldtube you possesses the property that you experience that point as 'now'". What confuses me is that I somehow move from one now to the next. How is that possible if there is no time in this frame...

If each person exists in an unchanging state in the block universe, and the flow of time is an illusion caused by the way memory functions[1] (or by something else, the details are not the point), then how exactly does this sensation of 'now' work? Even if 'now' is a psychological illusion...

I recently came across the paper 'Relation between the psychological and thermodynamic arrows of time' (arXiv). Their argument makes sense to me, however their concept doesn't seem to address what 'now' is. If each person exists in an unchanging state in the block universe, and the flow of...

Hello, I am trying to work out how you derive velocity in terms of spherical coordinates, could anyone point me in the direction of a simple and quite explicit derivation. I keep getting confused! Thanks.

Hello, I'm studying decoherence at the moment, as a result I've also been looking a wavefunction collapse. I was wondering what the definition of a full measurement is and whether they occur outside of the lab? - I've been looking at 'measurement like' interactions, which cause...

Can anyone else offer some more help? -I've been teaching myself dirac notation as part of my project this year. This is the first time I've looked at interaction Hamiltonians.

Oh wait... is it because the e_{j} basis correspond to different alpha's but not i's? Edit: Actually on second thought that doesn't make sense because we are summing over alpha(beta).

Thanks for that. I'll have a bash at that.. although I honestly can't see why you wouldn't sum over j

Homework Statement Write out: H_{SE}(\left|\right\beta,i_{\beta}\rangle\otimes\left|\right e_{j}\rangle) and exp(-iH_{SE}t)(\left|\right\beta,i_{\beta}\rangle\otimes\left|\right e_{j}\rangle) Where...

Thanks for the heads up! I have found one lone position at a single university for an international student. I'm not going to say where though because I don't want any more competition! haha