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quantum mechanics

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. Read More ›

At Mind Matters News: Why free will is philosophically and scientifically sound

Takehome: Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor points out that, though free will may be unpopular with atheist thinkers like biologist Darwinian evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne, science doesn’t refute it. Read More ›

Sabine Hossenfelder: The big problem with quantum theory is chaos

Hossenfelder: "... the chaotic motion of Hyperion tells us that we need the measurement collapse to actually be a physical process. Without it, quantum mechanics just doesn’t correctly describe our observations. But then what is this process? No one knows. And that’s the problem with quantum mechanics." Read More ›

Researchers see one particle on two paths, say it shows quantum physics is right

Researchers: "A single neutron is measured at a specific position—and due to the sophisticated measurement setup, this single measurement proofs already that the particle moved along two different paths at the same time. It is even possible to determine the ratio in which the neutron was distributed between the two paths. Thus, the phenomenon of quantum superposition can be proven without having to resort to statistical arguments." Albert, check your mail. Read More ›

Sabine Hossenfelder on experiments that could prove Einstein wrong

Significantly, no experiment could prove Darwin wrong. But that’s not because he’s right; it’s because Darwinism has become a cultural way of seeing the world and, as such, isn’t usually testable. Read More ›

At Mind Matters News: Theoretical physicist: Quantum theory must be replaced

Sabine Hossenfelder can live with the neutrinos that are inconsistent with the Standard Model of physics but quantum uncertainties are beyond the pale. We might conclude that the universe is a stranger place than we have sometimes been led to suspect and that the amount and type of strangeness each of us can tolerate depends, to some extent, on prior commitments. But it is what it is anyway. Read More ›

FYI: In quantum mechanics, time may flow differently

At Eurekalert: As pointed out by Giulia Rubino, lead-author of the publication, “although time is often treated as a continuously increasing parameter, our study shows that the laws governing its flow in quantum mechanical contexts are much more complex. This may suggest that we need to rethink the way we represent this quantity in all those contexts where quantum laws play a crucial role.” Read More ›

At Mind Matters News: Can quantum physics, neuroscience merge as quantum consciousness?

The problem is, if we assume that “the mind is nothing more than the brain,” there may be nothing we can discover about how it works. Gleiser wishes we could prove that that’s wrong but he can’t. Read More ›

Can only math solve the mystery at the heart of the universe?

Hartnett, quoting: "“This is [a] very embarrassing thing that we don’t have a single quantum field theory we can describe in four dimensions, nonperturbatively,” said Rejzner. “It’s a hard problem, and apparently it needs more than one or two generations of mathematicians and physicists to solve it.”" Read More ›