AG: Physicists Are Just Proto-Philosophers

Physicists do say these things about quantum mechanics — a highly-mathematical description of fundamental reality at the bottom of which is the uncertainty principle in which the act of measuring one piece of reality  screws up other measurements.  The upshot is, the whole of reality isn’t measureable all at once.  The more you think about […]

Abstruse Goose: Many Damn Worlds

Roughly — very roughly — the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics says that any given measurement of reality depends on the observer doing the measuring.  And if no observer measures a reality, that reality just sort of disappears or collapses or something. The many-worlds interpretation says wait! maybe the unobserved measurement really just goes off […]

Abstruse Goose: Moment of Clarity 2

If you remember from our last episode,  Abstruse Goose:  Moment of Clarity 1, our plucky hero has had a moment of clarity about quantum mechanics.  The clarity was brief and, sadly, it passed.   He tried again months later and this time, he hung onto his moment long enough to begin fretting about quantum spin.  The […]

Abstruse Goose: Moment of Clarity 1

You doubtless remember quantum mechanics: the deeply incomprehensible chain of reasoning about how particles are also waves; and the waves aren’t physical but waves of probability; and any given thing about which you’re certain means you’re uncertain about something else.  And so on, far into the night.  The worst thing about it is, apparently it’s […]

Talking Universe Blues, Part 2

“What can we do about high school physics textbooks?” The question, I admit, stumped me. Not in the way that a question about whether gravity exists in other universes would stump me. That question I wouldn’t be able to answer because there isn’t an answer; the existence of other universes is speculative. This question, however, […]