{"id":254358,"date":"2021-05-20T12:06:32","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T09:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/4-mind-blowing-quantum-physics-concepts-to-drop-at-parties\/"},"modified":"2021-05-20T12:06:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T09:06:32","slug":"4-mind-blowing-quantum-physics-concepts-to-drop-at-parties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/4-mind-blowing-quantum-physics-concepts-to-drop-at-parties\/","title":{"rendered":"#4 mind-blowing quantum physics concepts to drop at parties"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3044ef29651\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3044ef29651\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/4-mind-blowing-quantum-physics-concepts-to-drop-at-parties\/#1_Spooky_action-at-a-distance\" >1. Spooky action-at-a-distance<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/4-mind-blowing-quantum-physics-concepts-to-drop-at-parties\/#2_Loosening_our_grip_on_reality\" >2. Loosening our grip on reality<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/4-mind-blowing-quantum-physics-concepts-to-drop-at-parties\/#3_Back_to_the_future\" >3. Back to the future<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/4-mind-blowing-quantum-physics-concepts-to-drop-at-parties\/#4_No_view_from_Olympus\" >4. No view from Olympus<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#4 mind-blowing quantum physics concepts to drop at parties<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>Imagine opening the weekend paper and looking through the puzzle pages for the Sudoku. You spend your morning working through this logic puzzle, only to realise by the last few squares there\u2019s no consistent way to finish it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI must have made a mistake,\u201d you think. So you try again, this time starting from the corner you couldn\u2019t finish and working back the other way. But the same thing h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ens again. You\u2019re down to the last few squares and find there is no consistent solution.<\/p>\n<p>Working out the basic nature of reality according to quantum mechanics is a little bit like an impossible Sudoku. No matter where we start with quantum theory, we always end up at a conundrum that forces us to rethink the way the world fundamentally works. (This is what makes quantum mechanics so much fun.)<\/p>\n<p>Let me take you on a brief tour, through the eyes of a philosopher, of the world according to quantum mechanics.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Spooky_action-at-a-distance\"><\/span>1. Spooky action-at-a-distance<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>As far as we know, the speed of light (around 300 million meters per second) is the universe\u2019s ultimate speed limit. Albert Einstein famously scoffed at the prospect of physical systems influencing each other faster than a light signal could <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a> between them.<\/p>\n<p>Back in the 1940s, Einstein called this \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/einstein-vs-quantum-mechanics-and-why-hed-be-a-convert-today-27641\">spooky action-at-a-distance<\/a>\u201d. When quantum mechanics had earlier appeared to predict such spooky goings-on, he argued the theory must not yet be finished, and some better theory would tell the true story.<\/p>\n<p>We know today it is very unlikely there is any such better theory. And if we think the world is made up of well-defined, independent pieces of \u201cstuff\u201d, then our world has to be one where spooky action-at-a-distance between these pieces of stuff is allowed.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Loosening_our_grip_on_reality\"><\/span>2. Loosening our grip on reality<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cWhat if the world isn\u2019t made of well-defined, independent pieces of \u2018stuff\u2019?\u201d I hear you say. \u201cThen can we avoid this spooky action?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yes, we can. And many in the quantum physics community think this way, too. But this would be no consolation to Einstein.<\/p>\n<p>Einstein had a long-running debate with his friend Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist, about this very question. Bohr argued we should indeed give up the idea of the stuff of the world being well defined, so we can avoid spooky action-at-a-distance. In Bohr\u2019s view, the world doesn\u2019t have definite properties unless we\u2019re looking at it. When we\u2019re not looking, Bohr thought, the world as we know it isn\u2019t really there.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center zoomable\">\n<p><figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" alt=\"Black and white photo of Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein sitting next to each other looking pensive.\" width=\"600\" height=\"340\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=340&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=340&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=340&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=427&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=427&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=427&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"Black and white photo of Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein sitting next to each other looking pensive.\" width=\"600\" height=\"340\" class=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=340&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=340&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=340&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=427&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=427&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/373214\/original\/file-20201207-17-10adpru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=427&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fneural%2F2021%2F05%2F20%2F4-mind-blowing-quantum-physics-concepts-syndication%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: Physicists Niels Bohr (left) and Albert Einstein famously disagreed about what quantum mechanics meant for the nature of reality. Credit: Paul Ehrenfest.\" data-title=\"Share Physicists Niels Bohr (left) and Albert Einstein famously disagreed about what quantum mechanics meant for the nature of reality. Credit: Paul Ehrenfest. on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share Physicists Niels Bohr (left) and Albert Einstein famously disagreed about what quantum mechanics meant for the nature of reality. Credit: Paul Ehrenfest. on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>Physicists Niels Bohr (left) and Albert Einstein famously disagreed about what quantum mechanics meant for the nature of reality. Credit: Paul Ehrenfest<span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">But Einstein insisted the world has to be made of <\/span><em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">something<\/em><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\"> whether we look at it or not, otherwise, we couldn\u2019t talk to each other about the world, and do <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a>. But Einstein couldn\u2019t have both a well-defined, independent world and no spooky action-at-a-distance \u2026 or could he?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Back_to_the_future\"><\/span>3. Back to the future<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The Bohr-Einstein debate is reasonably familiar fare in the history of quantum mechanics. Less familiar is the foggy corner of this quantum logic puzzle where we can rescue both a well-defined, independent world and no spooky action. But we will need to get weird in other ways.<\/p>\n<p>If doing an experiment to measure a quantum system in the lab could somehow affect what the system was like <em>before<\/em> the measurement, then Einstein could have his cake and eat it too. This hypothesis is called \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Retrocausality\">retrocausality<\/a>\u201d, because the effects of doing the experiment would have to travel <em>backwards in time<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>If you think this is strange, you\u2019re not alone. This is not a very common view in the quantum physics community, but it has its supporters. If you are faced with having to accept spooky action-at-a-distance, or no world-as-we-know-it when we don\u2019t look, retrocausality doesn\u2019t seem like such a weird option after all.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_No_view_from_Olympus\"><\/span>4. No view from Olympus<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Imagine Zeus perched atop Mount Olympus, surveying the world. Imagine he was able to see everything that has happened and will happen, everywhere and for all time. Call this the \u201cGod\u2019s eye view\u201d of the world. It is natural to think there must be some way the world is, even if it can only be known by an all-seeing God.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/a-new-quantum-paradox-throws-the-foundations-of-observed-reality-into-question-144426\">Recent research<\/a> in quantum mechanics suggests a God\u2019s eye view of the world is impossible, even in principle. In certain strange quantum scenarios, different scientists can look carefully at the systems in their labs and make thorough recordings of what they see \u2013 but they will disagree about what happened when they come to compare notes. And there might well be no absolute fact of the matter about who\u2019s correct \u2013 not even Zeus could know!<\/p>\n<p>So next time you encounter an impossible Sudoku, rest assured you\u2019re in good company. The entire quantum physics community, and perhaps even Zeus himself, knows exactly how you feel.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/150175\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\"\/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/150175\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><em>This article by\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/peter-evans-709870\">Peter Evans<\/a>, ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/the-university-of-queensland-805\">The University of Queensland<\/a> is republished from <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/quantum-philosophy-4-ways-physics-will-challenge-your-reality-150175\">original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/4-mind-blowing-quantum-physics-concepts-syndication\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#4 mind-blowing quantum physics concepts to drop at parties&#8221; Imagine opening the weekend paper and looking through the puzzle pages for the Sudoku. You spend your morning working through this logic puzzle, only to realise by the last few squares there\u2019s no consistent way to finish it. \u201cI must have made a mistake,\u201d you think&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":254359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/neural?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/05\/header_image_mind-blowing_quantum_physics_final.jpeg&signature=205d76e2b4b493eed7be16cb7ead93cf","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}