New Insight Into Schrodingers Cat

[2012taylorj]

One question, that people often wonder is what it would feel like to be in a superposition of dead and alive. However one could make the argument that there would be no sensation, since you would not be alive to experience it(similar to quantum suicide). This might suggest that when not observed  humans could be both dead and alive and not even know it(according to copenhagen interpretation). Please tell me your thoughts on this concept, I am looking for feedback on ideas for mine which feature in my scientifc papers, and I am trying to see how valid the ideas are.

 

[exchemist]

One question, that people often wonder is what it would feel like to be in a superposition of dead and alive. However one could make the argument that there would be no sensation, since you would not be alive to experience it(similar to quantum suicide). This might suggest that when not observed  humans could be both dead and alive and not even know it(according to copenhagen interpretation). Please tell me your thoughts on this concept, I am looking for feedback on ideas for mine which feature in my scientifc papers, and I am trying to see how valid the ideas are.

Bear in mind that Schrödinger's example was invented by him to ridicule the applicability of the Copenhagen interpretation of QM formalisms to macroscopic systems. 

 

Aso bear in mind that "observation" is neither here nor there. What counts is interaction of the system with something that determines the value of its properties.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrödinger%27s_cat

[Moronium]

Bear in mind that Schrödinger's example was invented by him to ridicule the applicability of the Copenhagen interpretation of QM formalisms to macroscopic systems. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrödinger%27s_cat

 

 

True, but then again, so is this (from your wiki source):

 

...since Schrödinger's time, other interpretations of the mathematics of quantum mechanics have been advanced by physicists, some of which regard the "alive and dead" cat superposition as quite real.

 

[A-wal]

True, but then again, so is this (from your wiki source):

...since Schrödinger's time, other interpretations of the mathematics of quantum mechanics have been advanced by physicists, some of which regard the "alive and dead" cat superposition as quite real.

 

That's because they're in completely different universes though. I'm not saying I believe that but the way I understand that interpretation, from the perspective of the observer the cat is alive in one universe and dead in another and it's undecided which universe the observer will branch into until they make the measurement. So you can be both alive and dead in this interpretation of QM, that's the whole point of Schrödinger's cat.

Edited June 20, 2018 by A-wal

[A-wal]

The many worlds interpretation says that the cat is both alive and dead in different universes and that 'collapsing the wave function' is actually just going one way in a fork in the road as the universe branches off in an ungodly large number of equally valid branches every instant. It's the brute force approach, everything that can happen happens.

[Moronium]

The many worlds interpretation says that the cat is both alive and dead in different universes and that 'collapsing the wave function' is actually just going one way in a fork in the road as the universe branches off in an ungodly large number of equally valid branches every instant. It's the brute force approach, everything that can happen happens.

 

Yes, and it's utterly ridiculous, yet quite a few (perhaps most) physicists believe it.  Is there anything they won't believe?

 

This is not physics, it is metaphysics. It's not science, it's faith.  It's not empirical, it's a priori and speculative. The Everett view is called the "many worlds" view, but that is a misnomer.  It's not "many," it's an infinite number of other universes that are required.  

 

This is the kind of thing that makes modern physics look ridiculous.  It's pseudo-science, not science.

Edited June 20, 2018 by Moronium

[sluggo]

The 'cat' example is not about the state of the cat, but what an observer knows about the state. The probability of radioactive decay is the uncertainty. 

Given a coin, when flipped into the air, it is in a H and T superposition until it lands, when it is in a H or T state.