- #1
Pengwuino
Gold Member
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What is the accuracy of this statement?
"Something strange is going on in physics, something so strange, in fact, that some people who've bothered ot think about the strangenoess now declare that physics is looking more and more like Eastern mysticism. This weirdness is taking place in the branch of physics known as quantum mechanics, which studies subatomic particles, the tiny bits that make up everything in the universe. The notorious weirdness is this. In the quantum realm, particles don't acquire some of their characteristics until they're observed by someone. They seem not to exist in a definite form until scientists measure them. This spooky fact didn't sit well with Einstein, bu it has been confirmd repeatedly in rigorous tests. It has caused some people to speculate that reality is subjective, that we as observers create hte universe ourselves - that the universe is a product of our imagination. This quantum freakiness has prompted some people, even a physicist or two, seriously to ask, "Is a tree really there when no one's looking?" - Theodore Schick, Jr, Lewis Vaughn "How to think about Weird Things"
"Something strange is going on in physics, something so strange, in fact, that some people who've bothered ot think about the strangenoess now declare that physics is looking more and more like Eastern mysticism. This weirdness is taking place in the branch of physics known as quantum mechanics, which studies subatomic particles, the tiny bits that make up everything in the universe. The notorious weirdness is this. In the quantum realm, particles don't acquire some of their characteristics until they're observed by someone. They seem not to exist in a definite form until scientists measure them. This spooky fact didn't sit well with Einstein, bu it has been confirmd repeatedly in rigorous tests. It has caused some people to speculate that reality is subjective, that we as observers create hte universe ourselves - that the universe is a product of our imagination. This quantum freakiness has prompted some people, even a physicist or two, seriously to ask, "Is a tree really there when no one's looking?" - Theodore Schick, Jr, Lewis Vaughn "How to think about Weird Things"