qm2 highlights 2001-2005
vzn...@yahoo.com
"qm2", a mailing list dedicated to reexamination of
quantum mechanics, particularly relative to
local hidden variable (LHV) theories & debate.
esp. seeking those in academia & research.
hope to hear from you.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/qm2/
my holiday gift to you:
below Ive included links & highlights from
our dialogue collected over its lifetime. wish this could
be even more thorough.
contents
---
charter
recurring themes
popular science
crank physics
scientific integrity & misconduct
articles
profiles
papers
visual QM
undergrad QM, bell, entanglement, photon experiments
general starting points
new directions
qm computing
favorite books
famous quotes
mailing lists
charter
=======
This is a group of active inquirers into the boundaries
of existing quantum mechanics theory seeking to resolve
its deep mysteries.
Members respect the premiere and established status
of the theory and those who uncovered and built it,
but also intuitively suspect it is not the final
word and perhaps we are on the cusp of a "paradigm shift"
into a new theory.
Special emphasis is on cooperatively exploring and
developing local hidden variable theories that are
consistent with known quantum mechanics, both
theoretical and experimental.
Members are committed to the highest standards of
mathematical and scientific rigor, but also seek the
most elegant simplifications.
Members regularly read scientific papers and books
on the subject, and have high respect for each other
and especially the scientists currently working in the field.
recurring themes
========
- efficiency & other loopholes in bell experiments
- investigation into solitons, oscillons
- nelson, feynes & the derivation of QM from brownian motion,
"stochastic QM"
- active vs passive locality, jarret locality,
also called parameter vs. outcome independence
- do QM axioms/formalism forbid FTL signalling??
- DFT, density functional theory, by kohn
- SED, stochastic electrodynamics by marshall, santos
- CAs, gliders, fredkin-wolfram theory
- is the wavefunction real or not??
- what about the "peaceful coexistence" between QM and general
relativity?
- does QM imply FTL signalling or not? is it impossible?
- decoherence
- photoelectric effect
- collapse of wvfn & measurement problem
popular science
===
nova special, "the elegant universe", full realaudio/quicktime videos
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html
new scientist articles on quantum theory
http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/quantum/
alternate view column by john g. cramer, analog magazine
http://www.npl.washington.edu/AV/av_index.html
scientific american on "spintronics", i.e. QM computing
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0007A735-759A-1CDD-B4A8809EC588EEDF
quantum information science by nielsen
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0005C8BF-1B88-1D9B-815A809EC5880000
interactions between quantum mechanics & gravity
http://www.ananova.com/yournews/story/sm_497419.html
http://www.aip.org/enews/physnews/2002/split/573-1.html
wolfram/fredkin, physics as information flow
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/020819/misc/19cosmos.htm
"god is the machine" by kevin kelly, on the new algorithmic
metaphor in physics and science, wolfam, etc
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.12/holytech.html
aspen institute of physics, for the real hotshots
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/28/science/physical/28ASPE.html
online realaudio of wick book for science series,
good overview
http://www.cuny.tv/series/science/listen.htm
economist on the standard model of physics nearing "theory of
everything"
oct 2000
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=387866
the physics of the web, on small world graphs, by barabasi
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/14/7/09
"most beautiful science experiment" poll, electron double
slit the winner, other runners up
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/15/9/2
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/24/science/24BEAU.html
new plans for a $6-8 billion international supercollider
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/4393180.htm
physicsweb magazine, free online
http://physicsweb.org/toc/world
history of quantum theory & the resistance of the nobel committee
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/15/8/7
is the moon there when nobody looks? reality & the quantum
theory, david mermin, physics today, 1985
http://digitalphysics.org/Publications/Mer85/scan.htm
mysteries of QM, entanglement, etc
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/12/12/19
max planks role in the invention of QM
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/13/12/8
SQUIDs as macroscopic schroedinger cat experiments
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/13/8/3
fundamentals of quantum information theory
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/11/3/9/1
life & times of dirac & his contribution to QM
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/11/2/9
crank physics/humor
---
the seven warning signs of bogus science, by
robert park.
http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i21/21b02001.htm
did einstein cheat? by john farrell. salon magazine.
quotes mainstream physicists on the many crank/crackpot
challenges to special relativity circulating in cyberspace.
important to read for anyone working on alternative theories.
http://dir.salon.com/people/feature/2000/07/06/einstein/index.html
how einsteins relativity is used in GPS calculations & corrections.
by clifford will. shows how the theory is applied & proven
every day.
http://www.physicscentral.com/writers/writers-00-2.html
the john baez crackpot index
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html
are you a quack?? by siegel
http://www.physics.sunysb.edu/~siegel/quack.html
britney spears explains the finite barrier quantum well
http://www.britneyspears.ac/physics/fbarr/fbarr.html
scientific integrity & misconduct
---
the bogdanov brothers & physics "bogosity".. real or a hoax??
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/27894.html
http://chronicle.com/free/2002/11/2002110501n.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/09/arts/09PHYS.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/17/weekinreview/17JOHN.html
the sch"on affair on nanoscale transistors, bell labs
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/09/16/physics/
http://www.physicstoday.org/vol-55/iss-11/p15.html
victor ninov and element 118, livermore-berkeley labs
http://www.aip.org/pt/vol-55/iss-9/p15.html
articles
======
richard gill survey on pro-realist dissident positions
http://www.math.uu.nl/people/gill/Preprints/vaxjo.pdf
travis norsen on bell's thm.. excellent online material, 5 parts
http://www.objectivescience.com/articles/tn_bell_1.htm
http://www.objectivescience.com/articles/tn_bell_2.htm
http://www.objectivescience.com/articles/tn_bell_3.htm
http://www.objectivescience.com/articles/tn_bell_4.htm
http://www.objectivescience.com/articles/tn_bell_5.htm
norsen's innovative undergraduate research seminar syllabus
http://www.phys.washington.edu/~norsen/qmi.htm
eric dennis of caltech on lewis little & bohm theories
http://www.objectivescience.com/articles/ed1_quantum_dissidents.htm
http://www.objectivescience.com/articles/ed2_quantum_dissidents.htm
quantum measurement FAQ by paul budnik.. nice online
summary of some of the debate..
http://www.mtnmath.com/faq/meas-qm.html
kevin browns essays on physics
http://www.mathpages.com/home/iphysics.htm
projection postulate of qm & the measurement problem, summary
http://mathpages.com/home/kmath446.htm
measurement in quantum theory, stanford encyclopedia of philosophy
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qt-measurement/index.html
quantum entanglement & bells thm
http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath521/kmath521.htm
michael hall & marcel reginatto derive schroedinger eqn from
new formulation of heisenberg uncertainty eqn
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992209
"QM and the copenhagen interpretation".
nice summary lecture of the EPR paradox by eugen merzbacher, author
of a definitive book on QM, from 2000.
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/ashp/nml/copenhagen/Merzbacher.htm
a brief review of elementary quantum chemistry by david sherrill
http://vergil.chemistry.gatech.edu/notes/quantrev/quantrev.html
physics in crisis? by sidney nagel
http://www.aip.org/web2/aiphome/pt/vol-55/iss-9/p55.html
visualizing quantum decoherence, by scott johnson, animated
web page
http://www.geocities.com/scjphysicist/decoh.html
profiles
---
paul davies, famous QM popularizer
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/15/9/7
john bell, by whitaker
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/11/12/8
stephen wolfram is an interesting character &
coming up with some cool stuff
http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinterview.jsp?id=ns230516
http://www.forbes.com/asap/2000/1127/162.html
more on the fredkin-wolfram theme from a popular magazine
with excellent writing
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/unifiedtheory.htm
weinberg on wolfram
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/15762
american spectator carver mead interview
http://www.spectator.org/AmericanSpectatorArticles/carver.htm
discover magazine on david deutsch
http://www.discover.com/sept_01/featsecret.html
roger penrose
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Penrose.html
great contributions to QM by nonphysicists: Balmer (Swiss
schoolteacher)
and Rydberg's advancement of the hydrogen atom spectrum equations
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Balmer.html
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Rydberg.html
papers
---
Determinism beneath Quantum Mechanics
Author: Gerard 't Hooft (Spinoza
Contrary to common belief, it is not difficult to construct
deterministic
models where stochastic behavior is correctly described by quantum
mechanical amplitudes, in precise accordance with the
Copenhagen-Bohr-Bohm
doctrine.
http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0212095
What's wrong with Einstein's 1927 hidden-variable interpretation
of quantum mechanics? Authors: Peter Holland
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0010091
don howard, "who invented the copenhagen
interpretation? a study in mythology"
http://www.nd.edu/~dhoward1/Copenhagen%20Myth%20A.pdf
Toward an architecture for quantum programming
Authors: S. Bettelli, L. Serafini, T. Calarco
http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=1682086
sci paper
http://arxiv.org/abs/cs/0103009
NMR molecular 1024 bit photography/storage milestone by khitrin et al
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0208136
shor's algorithm in 7qubit quantum computer
"Experimental realization of Shor's quantum
factoring algorithm using nuclear magnetic
resonance"
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0112176/
Quantum mechanics from a Heisenberg-type equality
Authors: Michael J. W. Hall, Marcel Reginatto
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0201084/
experimental violation of a bells inequality with
efficient detection; rowe,
kielpinski,meyer,sackett,itano,monroe,wineland.
nature vol 409,p791(feb 2001)
http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/general/pdf/1400.pdf
Kielpinski, David et al, "Recent Results in Trapped-Ion Quantum
Computing",
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0102086
Schrodinger equation from an exact uncertainty principle, 18pp
Authors: Michael J. W. Hall, Marcel Reginatto
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0102069/
collapse models, by pearle, wavefunction collapse as a dynamical
physical process
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9901077/
"a LHV model of QM correlation exploiting the
detection loopholee" by N Gisin & B Gisin
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9905018/
D.F. Styer, "Common misconceptions in quantum mechanics", Am. J.
Phys., v.64, p.31 (1996).
http://www.oberlin.edu/physics/dstyer/TeachQM/misconnzz.pdf
deutsch has looked at the LHV situation in QM in
this controversial paper, "information flow in
entangled quantum systems". I think this is a very
important analysis proposing "locally inaccessable information".
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/quant-ph/9906007
hess & phillipp on a possible loophole in the
bell experiments based on timing, summary, published
in proc. nat. acad. sci. makes
bell loophole theories more respectable.
http://www.nature.com/nsu/011129/011129-15.html
http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0103028
rebuttal by Gill et al., PNAS v.99, p14632 (2002).
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/99/23/14632.pdf
violation of bells inequalities with a local
theory of photons, by suppes et al
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9606020/
decoherence & the appearance of the classical
world in QM theory, 2nd ed, introduction to the theory
of decoherence, basic concepts & interpretation,
by Zeh
http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9506020
100 years of the quantum, by tegmark & wheeler
http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0101077
http://www.sciam.com/2001/0201issue/0201quicksummary.html
"clearing up mysteries, the original goal" by jaynes
http://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/articles/cmystery.pdf
photons, schmotons. by john baez, sci.reseach.physics
moderator. extremely advanced mathematical treatment between QM
and QFT.
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/photon/
density functional theory by kieron burke, large free 115p book
http://dft.rutgers.edu/kieron/beta/
where did the laws of physics come from? by victor stenger.
on how almost all physical laws originate from considerations
of mathematical invariance.
http://arXiv.org/abs/physics/0207047
the original infamous schroedinger cat paper of 1935, translated
http://www.tu-harburg.de/rzt/rzt/it/QM/cat.html
THE UNREASONABLE EFFECTIVENSS
OF MATHEMATICS IN THE NATURAL
SCIENCES by Eugene Wigner
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Wigner/Wigner.html
visual QM
=====
Scott C Johnson and Thomas D Gutierrez, "Visualising the phonon
wave function", Am. J. Phys, 70(3) 227-237 (2002)
http://www.geocities.com/scjphysicist/johnsonpaper.zip
online quantum mechanics tutorial/animations/visualization done on
supercomputers by micheilsen and de raedt
http://rugth30.phys.rug.nl/quantummechanics/
visual quantum mechanics by thaller and a review
http://www.kfunigraz.ac.at/imawww/vqm/index.html
http://www.mathphysics.com/harrell/pub/thaller.html
a java simulation of spin entangled particles.
by mcintyre at oregon state university.
http://www.physics.orst.edu/paradigm5/spins/
an NSF project for visual
QM.. to be incorporated into undergrad and HIGH SCHOOL
curriculums .. online interactive software
undergrad QM, bell, entanglement, photon experiments
---
Entangled photons, nonlocality and Bell inequalities in the
undergraduate laboratory
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0205171/
Entangled photon apparatus for the undergraduate laboratory
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0205172/
published in these papers
Dehlinger and Mitchell, "Entangled photons, nonlocality, and Bell
inequalities in the undergraduate laboratory", ibid. p.903.
Dehlinger and Mitchell,"Entangled photon apparatus for the
undergraduate laboratory", Am. J. Phys, v.70, p.898 (2002).
holbrow undergraduate QM & bell experiments
http://departments.colgate.edu/physics/research/Photon/photon_quantum_mechanics.htm
very difficult magneto-optical atom trapping successfully accomplished
by an undergraduate senior at reed college
weihs bell experiment including raw data for one orientation
http://www.quantum.univie.ac.at/research/bellexp/
A Zoology of Bell inequalities resistant to detector inefficiency
by Serge Massar, Stefano Pironio, Jeremie Roland, Bernard Gisin
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0205130/
general starting points
===
physics FAQ & related FAQs by scott chase
http://www.weburbia.com/physics/faq.html
quantum computation web site
about.com, quantum theory starting point
http://physics.about.com/cs/quantumphysics/index.htm?terms=quantum
http://physics.about.com/msubquantum.htm
eric weisstein, quantum mechanics entry on physicsworld.
technical & mathematical angle. encyclopedia entry style.
schroedinger equation, full standard derivations of particle in
a well, simple harmonic oscillator, etcetera. absolutely outstanding
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/QuantumMechanics.html
NSF site, "the particle adventure", high traffic, educational, artistic
http://particleadventure.org/particleadventure/index.html
quantum computing software by wallace
http://www.dcs.ex.ac.uk/~jwallace/simtable.htm
new directions
---
using the entire world as a particle detector via
datamining of seismology data, with "strange nuggets"
apparently successfully detected
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/matter.html
promising marriage of quantum mechanics and game theory
http://physicsweb.org/article/world/15/10/7
possibility that einsteins relativity may be adjusted based
on new supersensitive observations, according to Magueijo
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/31/science/physical/31LIGH.html
california institute of physics, investigating SED-like
alternative theories involving ZPF etcetera
http://www.calphysics.org/aboutcipa.html
trevor marshall, Phd, founder of stochastic electrodynamics
theory. "QM is not science"
http://homepages.tesco.net/~trevor.marshall/antiqm.html
summer 2001 conference on SED, list of participants
& lecture titles
http://www.bu.edu/simulation/conferences.html
Gerard Westendorp, electric circuit analogs of fields.
converting the periodic circuit elements to cells gives
a CA dynamics for various physical laws. see also wick
page 32 for a CA type model of the schroeding wavefn.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~westy31/Electric.html
fredkin's theory on digital physics, expanded
nice AMS article on solitons by Terng and Uhlenbeck
with all the equations
http://www.ams.org/notices/200001/200001-toc.html
reductionistic particle physicists are being challenged by solid
state physicists for the definitive metaphor of reality.
on laughlin (nobel prize winner) & pines' shot across the
bow of particle & reductionistic physics
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/04/science/physical/04SQUA.html
the theory of everything, by laughlin, proc. nat. acad. sci, vol 97 #1
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/97/1/28.pdf
the middle way, by laughlin, PNAS, vol 97 #1
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/97/1/32.pdf
oscillons-- dating to experiments by faraday. a remarkable
model for particle physics
http://www.aip.org/physnews/graphics/html/oscillons.html
mathematical analysis of oscillons by crawford & riecke
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/patt-sol/9804005/
quantum computing
====
a physics free introduction to the quantum computation
model
stephen a fenner, computational complexity column
http://arxiv.org/abs/cs.CC/0304008
quantum computing and communications
paul e black, richard kuhn, carl williams
http://hissa.nist.gov/~black/Papers/quantumCom.html
adrian barenco, quantum physics and computers
http://eve.physics.ox.ac.uk/NewWeb/Publications/oldftp.htm
introduction to qm computing for non-physicists
eleanor rieffel
http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9809016
>From Cbits to Qbits: Teaching computer scientists quantum mechanics
by david mermin
http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0207118
temple of quantum computing, by riley t. perry
http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~chillers/TOQCv1_0.pdf
favorite books
=====
reflections on relativity.. amazing 500 page book..
http://www.mathpages.com/rr/rrtoc.htm
my favorite books on the subject. we had some
commentary on wick's book.
david wick, the infamous boundary. by a mathematician
who delves deeply into the history of the debate.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0387947264/
jim baggott, the meaning of quantum theory. undergraduate
level, very accessable. covers mathematics & philosophy of the theory.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/019855575X/
greenstein & zajonc, the quantum challenge.
undergraduate, very accessable, coverage of many
cutting edge experiments and theory.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0763702161/
what is qm? physics adventure.. perhaps the worlds
most basic intro to qm... cartoons.. for very
talented high schoolers
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0964350416/
introducing quantum theory, a comic book format
on the history.. excellent artwork & summary
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1874166374/
and yet it moves: strange systems & subtle questions
in physics by mark silverman
http://www.trincoll.edu/~silverma/Books/ayim.html
famous quotes
---
``all things are numbers.''
--pythagoras
``the laws of nature are written in the language of mathematics.''
--galileo
"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum
theory has not understood it." --bohr
"There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum
mechanical
description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find
out how
Nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about Nature." --bohr
``The map is not the territory.''
--alfred korzybski
"I think it is safe to say that no one understands
quantum mechanics. Do not keep saying to yourself, if
you can possibly avoid it, 'But how can it be like that?'
because you will go 'down the drain' into a blind
alley from which nobody has yet escaped.
Nobody knows how it can be like that." --Richard Feynman
"Young man, in mathematics you don't understand
things, you just get used to them."
--John von Neumann
"Niels Bohr brainwashed a whole generation of theorists
into thinking that the job (interpreting quantum
theory) was done 50 years ago."
--Murray Gell-Mann
"...to myself I seem to have been only like a boy
playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and
then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier
shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all
undiscovered before me."
--Isaac Newton
"The difference between science and religion is that the
former wishes to get rid of mysteries whereas
the latter worships them."
--Sidney Hook
"Physics is not a religion. If it were, we'd have
a much easier time raising money."
--Leon Lederman
"If all this damned quantum jumping were really here
to stay then I should be sorry I ever
got involved with quantum theory!" --schroedinger
"Physicists use the wave theory on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays,
and the particle theory on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays."
--W.H.Bragg
"God doesnt play dice with the universe." --Einstein
"This theory reminds me of the system of delusions of
an exceedingly intelligent paranoiac, concocted of
incoherent elements of thought. ... If correct,
it signifies the end of physics as a science."
--Einstein
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
--Einstein
"I have little patience with scientists who take a board
of wood, look for its thinnest part
and drill a great number of holes where drilling is easy." --Einstein
"I have become an obstinate heretic in the eyes of my colleagues."
--Einstein
``As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality,
they are not certain, and as far as they are
certain, they do not refer to reality.'' --Einstein
``No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that
created it.'' --Einstein
``I cannot seriously believe in [QM] because it cannot
be reconciled with the idea that physics should represent
a reality in time and space, free from spooky actions at
a distance.'' --Einstein
``The soothing philosophy--or religion?--of Heisenberg-Bohr
is so cleverly concocted that for the present it offers
the believers a soft resting pillow from which
they are not easily chased away. Let us therefore let them
rest. ... The religion does damned little for me.'' --Einstein
``I would not like to be driven into abandoning strict causality
without a great deal more opposition than has been
shown so far. The idea that an electron... _by its own
free decision_ chooses the moment and the
direction in which it wants to eject is intolerable to me.
If that is so, I'd rather be a cobbler or a clerk in a gambling
casino than a physicist.'' --Einstein
``The more success the quantum theory has, the sillier it looks.''
--Einstein
``We often discussed his notions on objective reality.
I recall that during one walk Einstein suddenly stopped,
turned to me and aked whether I really believed that
the moon exists only when I look at it.'' --Pascual Jordan
``One should no more rack one's brain about the problem of
whether something one cannot know anything about exists
all the same, than about the ancient question of how
many angels are able to sit on the point of a needle.
But it seems to me that Einsteins questions are ultimately
always of this kind.'' --Pauli
``A great many people think they are thinking when they
are merely rearranging their prejudices.'' --William James
``This statistical interpretation is now universally accepted as
the best possible interpretation for quantum mechanics, even
though many people are unhappy with it. People had got used
to the determinism of the last century, where the present
determines the future completely, and they now have to get used
to a different situation in which the present only gives one
information of a statistical nature about the future.
A good many people find this unpleasant; Einstein has always
objected to it. The way he expressed it was: "The good God does
not play with dice". Schroedinger also did not like the statistical
interpretation and tried for many years to find an interpretation
involving determinism for his waves. But it was not successful
as a general method. I must say that I also do not like indeterminism.
I have to accept it because it is certainly the best that we can do
with our present knowledge. One can always hope that there will
be future developments which will lead to a drastically different
theory from the present quantum mechanics and for which
there may be a partial return of determinism. However, so long
as one keeps to the present formalism, one has to have this
indeterminism.'' --P.A.M. Dirac
``He believed that basically physics should be of a deterministic
character. And I think it might turn out that ultimately Einstein
will prove to be right, because the present form of quantum mechanics
should not be considered as the final form. There are great
difficulties. It is the best we can do up till now. I think that
it is quite likely that at some future time we may get an improved
quantum mechanics in which there will be a return to determinism and
which will, therefore, justify the Einstein point of view. We would
have to pay for it in some way which we cannot yet guess at.''
--P.A.M.Dirac
`` ... arguments on which the currently accepted interpretation of
physics
is based are not as decisive as they appear to be, but on the contrary,
contain many significant loopholes.'' --De Broglie
``Quantum mechanics is magic.'' --Daniel Greenberger
"The theory of quanta can be likened to medicine that cures
the disease but kills the patient."
--Hendrick Kramers
"Nothing is more interesting to the true theorist
than a fact which directly contradicts a
theory generally accepted up to that time,
for this is his particular work."
--Max Planck
"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its
opponents and making them see the light, but rather
because its opponents eventually die, and a new
generation grows up that is familiar with it."
--Max Plank
``Two dangers constantly threaten the world: order and disorder.''
--Paul Valery
``I feel that Einstein's intellectual superiority
over Bohr, in this instance [debate over QM
completeness], was enormous, a vast gulf between
the man who saw clearly what was
needed, and the obscurantist.'' --John Bell
``The wavefunction is not an observable but is not ... unobservable!''
--P. Bush
``the rather wraithlike wavefunction seems an appropriate
vehicle to be the carrier of the veiled potentiality of
quantum reality.''
--j.c.polkinghorne
``We have always had a a great deal of difficulty understanding
the world view that QM represents. At least I do, because I'm an
old enough man that I haven't got to the point that this stuff is
obvious to me. Okay, I still get nervous with it... You know
how it always is, every new idea, it takes a generation or two
until it becomes obvious that theres no real problem. I cannot
define the real problem, therefore I suspect there's no real problem,
but I'm not sure there's no real problem.''
--Richard Feynman
``Yes! Physics has given up. We do not know how to predict what
would happen in a given circumstance, and we believe now that it is
impossible--that the only thing that can be predicted is the
probability
of different events. It must be recognized that this is a retrenchment
in our earlier ideal of understanding nature. It may be a backward
step, but no one has seen a way to avoid it.'' --Richard Feynman
``One can even set up quite ridiculous cases.
A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following
device...''
--schroedinger
``it is pretty clear why present qm theory
not only does not use--it does not even dare to
mention-- the notion of a "real physical situation".
defenders of the theory say that this notion is
philosophically naive, a throwback to outmoded
ways of thinking, and that recognition of this
constitutes deep new wisdom about the nature
of human knowledge. I say that it constitutes
a violent irrationality, that somewhere in this
theory the distinction between reality and our knowledge
of reality has become lost, and the result has more
the character of medieval necromancy than science.''
--jaynes
``but surely the animal knows whether or not it is alive,
without requiring human intervention to help it to that
conclusion? perhaps we should conclude, therefore, that
cat consciousness is as effective at determinating quantum
outcomes as is human consciousness. where then do we
stop? can worms also collapse the wavefunction?''
--j.c.polkinghorne
``what exactly qualifies some physical systems to play
the role of `measurer'? was the wavefunction of the world
waiting to jump for thousands of millions of years until a
single-celled living creature appeared? or did it have
to wait a little longer, for some better-qualified system..
wth a Phd?''
--bell
``Bell's thoerem is the most profound discovery of science.''
--Henry Stapp
``Anybody who's not bothered by Bell's theorem has to
have rocks in his head.''
--"anonymous distinguished princeton physicist"
``Who ordered that??''
--I.I.Rabi on discovery of the muon
``I know what I'M talking about. Do YOU know what YOU are talking
about??''
--Per Bak
mailing lists
---
bell & bohm, by eric dennis
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bell_bohm/
QM from GR, by david strayhorn
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/qm_from_gr/
lewis little TEWLIP
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TEWLIP/
theory of everything mailing list, wei dai
http://www.eskimo.com/~weidai/everything.html
digital physics by plamen petrov
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digitalphysics/
digital philosophy by fredkin