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----------------- 1793 - Quantum Physics of Determinism.
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- Some things just happen at random. With no rhyme nor reason. Randomness seems to be a built in feature of our natural world at its foundation.
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- Radioactive decay of atoms is totally random.
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- Photons striking a mirror reflect or pass through randomly.
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- The theory being that quantum mechanics is “ indeterministic”, it all depends on the statistics of randomness.
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- Einstein came up with the theory in 1905 that light could be both a particle and a wave. The wave function that determines this is in a perfectly deterministic equation, called the Schrodinger Equation. His equation is the “determinism” of a wave function.
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- Heisenberg viewed the wave function as a probabilistic “haze” of potential existences. He concluded that only when you observe a particle does it materialize somewhere. Before observation the wave function was spread over a huge region of space. At observation it collapses into a narrow spike at a single position and becomes a “ particle”. However, we have no laws in physics that govern this collapse. It just happens at random?
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- For Einstein wave collapse into a particle required instantaneous action at a distance. He reasoned that no communications could travel faster than the speed of light. Light speed was a Universal Constant at 186,000 miles per second.
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- He had trouble with “ measurement” being the “ creation” of reality out of the act of observing it.
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- Or, was the wave function collapse not a physical process at all but more simply the acquisition of knowledge inside our brains?
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- What physics was trying to demonstrate was that a probabilistic event through the underlying reality was deterministic. ( mind blowing!).
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- The logic of physics says that indeterministic microphysics can lead to deterministic macrophysics. Quantum randomness indeterminism averages out to reality.
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- A baseball can have atoms behaving randomly yet its flight can be totally deterministic. Gas molecules have random motion that together determine an exact temperature. A “temperature” being the average of a large number of individual vibrating molecules.
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- It appears that the real world is a layer cake of indeterminism and determinism.
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- The Earth’s climate is dictated by laws of motion, daily, seasonally probabilistic events however, long term trends are still predictable. Biology follows the same logic.
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- Human self-determination follows this layer cake logic as well. To truly have “free will” we need indeterminism.
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- Macrodeterminism is your decision. Microdeterminism is not.
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- One gram of Uranium 238 contains 2.5*10^21 atoms. Each atom is identical and indistinguishable. Yet, 12,600 times per second one of these atoms will decay throwing off an alpha particle. No theory in physics can pre-determine which atom will decay when. It is a totally random process yet it is predictable in the macro sense. Probability calculations can determine accurately how long it takes for half of the atoms to decay (the half-life)
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- Casualty means that events can be completely determined by prior states. Is the entire Universe a single determinant system? Is there an unbroken chain of prior occurrences stretching back to the origin of the Universe? Is the future determined completely by preceding events?
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- Mathematical models involving differential equations ( equations measuring the rate of change over time) are not deterministic because they involve randomness. Their results have sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Theory implies that even as small as a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a chain reaction that could lead to a hurricane years later.
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- Chaos Theory tells us that it is impossible to predict real life events. The Schrodinger Equation uniquely predicts the development of the wave function with time. If the wave function is deterministic then Quantum Mechanics is deterministic and that could imply that there is one single wave function for the entire Universe starting at the origin.
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- Our individual atoms are random in motion, yet the enormous mass of atoms that make up our bodies allow us to live and breath. Human decision themselves reduce to the mechanics of atoms in our brains. I have to stop thinking about this. It makes me dizzy.
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- Other reviews available on this weird physics:
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- #1762 - Delving into extreme physics. How do we know that the reality we perceive is true? There is no way to remove the observer from his perception.
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- #1605 - Physics wants a Theory of Everything combining Quantum Mechanics and Relativity.
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- #1546 - Paul Dirac’s physics. Quantum Theory does not work when we push the laws to extremes, high energies , or small distances.
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- #1183 - Mysteries for science students to discover the answers to.
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- #1074 - Physics the way I learned it.
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