Well, anything that can’t be falsified by science methods can’t be verified that way either. Take your pick.
Physics
L&FP, 65f: It’s all tangled up — quantum entanglement (vs how we tend to talk loosely)
Arvin Ash poses a macro scale parallel to entanglement (while using a Stern-Gerlach apparatus): Vid: Ash highlights, of course, that once entangled, particles have superposed wave functions leading to inherent non locality. So, spooky action at a distance overlooks that non locality. And as with the gloves, Alice needs to know her particle is part Read More…
Rob Sheldon responds to Sabine Hossenfelder’s loss of faith in science
Sabine says 40 years of lack of progress, with 40 years of wrong predictions is not normal, and we should not normalize it. (The field is losing graduate students, which means the end is nigh.)
Sabine Hossenfelder has lost faith in science?
Maybe not altogether but Sabine Hossenfelder sure sounds unhappy. She asks in her vid intro: “Why do particle physicists constantly make wrong predictions?
At Big Think: The weirdness of quantum mechanics forces scientists to confront philosophy
Marcelo Gleiser: Due to space, I will only mention one more epistemic interpretation, Quantum Bayesianism, or as it is now called, QBism. As the original name implies, QBism takes the role of an agent as central. It assumes that probabilities in quantum mechanics reflect the current state of the agent’s knowledge or beliefs about the world, as he or she makes bets about what will happen in the future.
L&FP, 65e: Imaging light as a “wavicle” — both wave and particle
. . . using standing waves of light, vid: x Here is a snapshot: By setting up standing waves and using an electron beam to interact with it, a map could be imaged on photon location and waves. As an article explains: Until now [–> c 2015], scientists have only ever been able to capture Read More…
L&FP 65d: Superposition and the wave function
Here Hossenfelder is an instrumentalist, and emphasises that the superposition is an expression of a probability wave thus a prediction of observations not ultimate truth. Bonus, she brings in entanglement and the concept that it discusses correlated states, using radioactive decay as a case. However, all of this can help us address things like alleged Read More…
L&FP, 65: So, you think you understand the double slit experiment? (HT, Q & BA77)
So, here we go: And, the rise of solid state laser pointers makes this sort of exercise so much easier, BUT YOU MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO GET SUCH A BRIGHT SOURCE INTO YOUR EYE AS THIS MAY CAUSE RETINAL BURNS THUS BLIND SPOTS. (I recall, buying and assembling a kit He-Ne laser to have Read More…
At Mind Matters News: Nobelist Roger Penrose talks about his impossible triangle
Penrose attempts a minimalist position when defending the reality of both mathematics and the mind in a world where many believe that only the physical exists.
At Mind Matters News: A physicist rejects the idea that we live in a sim universe
Marcelo Gleiser worries that the claim that we are simulated beings with no free will reduces our ability to tackle the problems humanity faces.
Sabine Hossenfelder on an anomaly that no one seems to be investigating
Is the Standard Model of cosmology wrong?
Is the Galton Board evidence for intelligent design of the universe?
Ken Francis writes: “Proof that God placed order out of chaos in the universe. Each ball has a 50-50 chance of bouncing right or left off of each peg as it traverses the board, but every time the result is a bell curve. More proof of Intelligent Design.”
At Big Think: The 4 fundamental meanings of “nothing” in science
Evidence from cosmological observations, coupled with Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and research into the physics of the singularity out of which the universe began most strongly argues that matter and energy, space and time all came into existence from a true nothingness.
At Astronomy.com: The universe may be more unstable than you think
So, physics researchers have found more fine-tuning: yet another feature of our universe upon which our entire existence is contingent. When combined with the many other fine-tuned parameters of physics necessary for life to exist, we have growing reason to doubt that “luck” is the explanation.
Information and the First Cause
Anton Zeilinger: “In conclusion it may very well be said that information is the irreducible kernel from which everything else flows.”