Schrödinger's Cat Now Can Be Alive/Dead In Two Places At Once

[vienna]

The famed Schrödinger's Cat paradox just got even more mind bending:

http://www.livescience.com/54890-sch...wo-places.html

Just goes to show anything is possible in physics...



<O>

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by vienna

Just goes to show anything is possible in physics...

Theoretical physics.

Just look at how much they celebrated the string theory just 15 years ago - and how mercilessly a slwoly growing number of theoreticists shredder it today.

I have started to get some doubts about the value and validity of all this "theorizing unchained". Essence of the scientific method is to form and then test theories. But if you end up with theories that cannot be validated or falsified, cannot be tested, then what use is there? Or you formulate a theory of just all and everything that answers by claiming all imaginable scenarios and outcomes are possible: a theory that predicts just everything, is worthless- for it has zero use to actually predict anything. Its like saying that if you throw two dice, you may get results between 2 and 6, maybe a 7, possibly an 8 or 9, and a chance for 10, 11 or 12. Thats a waste of time.

Too much speculation has been motivated by the corruption of scientific methodology due to career and money desires, or needs to form reputations and show a regular stream of publications. Its not the method of science that is being put into question here. Its how and what it gets used for.

Like a knife: you can use it to conduct surgery to save somebody's life, peel an onion, fight off a wild animal - or slit somebody's throat while he is sleeping. The knife just is what it is, and it is that in a formidable fashion. How it gets brought to use is what decides the usefulness of its excistence.

The history of string theory serves as a warning example for me. Too much speculation and construction of abstract reality instead of discovering pragmatic, observable reality. If nobody listens, the fall of the tree in the forest is sound-less.

[vienna]

Perhaps, but all scientific gain has started with speculation. The problem comes when speculation is more or less accepted as fact. It is further exacerbated when, in the face of substantial, factual, contrary evidence the speculation-as-fact is tenaciously clung to, to the detriment of real progress. Basically, it is sometimes a crap shoot...


<O>


@ the Mod(s) - I seem to have had a case of digital displacement, both technically and physically: would it be possible to change the "Plaxes" in the thread header to "Places"? It would be much appreciated, thanks...



<O>

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by vienna

@ the Mod(s) - I seem to have had a case of digital displacement, both technically and physically: would it be possible to change the "Plaxes" in the thread header to "Places"? It would be much appreciated, thanks...



<O>

Hey. Death and Plaxes. The only certainties in the uncertain universe.

[Sailor Steve]

Fixed, apparently. But was it fixed by me? By Jim? By Jim and me (at the same time)? By Neal? It's Jim's forum, but it's Neal's site. I'm the guy on the spot, but who knows what quantum leaps lurk in the hearts of moderators?

I can now safely say it was me, while still leaving open the option for theoretical diversity in the concept of thread-fixing.

[vienna]

Many Thanks, Steve...

Now, did you fix it in all the parallel universes or just this one, and, if you fixed it, and no one saw your fix, did it really happen?...



<O>

[Sailor Steve]

I was going to, but this tree fell in the forest...

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Fixed, apparently. But was it fixed by me? By Jim? By Jim and me (at the same time)? By Neal? It's Jim's forum, but it's Neal's site. I'm the guy on the spot, but who knows what quantum leaps lurk in the hearts of moderators?

I can now safely say it was me, while still leaving open the option for theoretical diversity in the concept of thread-fixing.

Hey, don't blame me. All I know is I woke up and found myself trapped in a box.

[Onkel Neal]

Better buy more cat food.