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Consequence's for the wavefunction of a Blind Person?. do they (blind-persons) still collapse?..interact with Physical Systems?
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MalleusScientiarum said:I'm fairly sure that your question makes no sense whatsoever.
Antiphon said:I would add to that that that the observer does not need to be a conscious
entity. A recording device can perform valid measurements even if no
conscous entity ever checks the results.
vanesch said:So how to reconcile this:
1) you can claim that the wavefunction is just a description of our knowledge of the system (like a kind of probability distribution), and of course it changes when we learn things about it ; this explains the collapse into one of its terms. But that is a disturbing viewpoint IMHO, because then there's nothing left that describes "the world out there". We don't have then a theory of the world, but a theory of our knowledge! But knowledge of what ? As we don't have a description anymore of what we're knowing things of, we just "know" and describe that, we don't know things "about" something, because that something lacks totally a decription. Strange, for a physical theory.
2) Unitary quantum theory doesn't apply universally. So that then implies a modification of the theory to tell us what does apply universally, and how it simplifies to unitary QM for microscopic systems. This is very difficult to do !
3) Unitary quantum theory does apply universally, and these macroscopic superpositions do happen but we consciously observe only ONE term. This is where consciousness tries to save us. This is Many Worlds. Also strange, for a physical theory!
My point is 3) until we finally find 2)
My preference of 3) over 1) is that although it is very strange, at least there IS a world out there which is described. I've difficulties letting that go.
2) is still very remote, if ever. QM is more successful than is confortable. I'm hoping somehow for gravity to settle the issue...
Galileo said:I believe Eugene Wigner was the man who believed human conciousness causes a wavefunction to collapse. It seems like a difficult position to defend.
seratend said:How do you differentiate 3) and 1)? By defining an ontological and non local object "consciousness" (or a god)? Aren't you defining, in fine, a bohmian like interpretation of QM with point 3 (i.e. we may view the bohmian path as the consciousness of the particle in fine )?
Physics after all is all about the description of the "reality", therefore it should be independent of such concepts, shouldn't it?
DaTario said:Regarding the OP, Schwinger has said once:
Quantum Mechanics is a symbolic representation of our knowledge about the experimental results on a microscopic scale. Simple, insn't it?
Galileo said:I believe Eugene Wigner was the man who believed human conciousness causes a wavefunction to collapse. It seems like a difficult position to defend.
Galileo said:But a lot of physical processes depend on this collapse of the wavefunction. The point of view you're describing implies these processes do not happen if there is no consiousness to detect it? That's like saying the moon is not there when nobody looks.
My photodetector behind a beamsplitter does not go off after I fired a photon, but is in a superposition of detection/no-detecion until I check whether it really did or didn't go off? That sounds awfully nonphysical and suspicious to me. The wavefunction clearly does not decribe anything real in this view.
The wavefunction collapse is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics which states that when a quantum system is observed or measured, its wavefunction (which describes its possible states) collapses into a single state.
The wavefunction collapse does not affect blind individuals differently from sighted individuals. It is a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics that applies to all quantum systems, regardless of the observer's abilities.
Yes, blind individuals can still observe or measure quantum systems through other senses, such as touch or hearing. The act of observation or measurement does not require sight.
No, there are no specific consequences for the wavefunction collapse in relation to blind individuals. The principle applies to all observers equally.
The wavefunction collapse is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics that helps us understand the behavior of particles at the subatomic level. It allows us to make predictions about the probabilities of different outcomes in quantum systems. However, its implications for our understanding of the universe as a whole are still being explored and debated by scientists.