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A Boost For Quantum Reality

Posted by Soulskill on from the superposition-of-super-positions dept.

Eponymous Hero sends this excerpt from Nature: "The philosophical status of the wavefunction — the entity that determines the probability of different outcomes of measurements on quantum-mechanical particles — would seem to be an unlikely subject for emotional debate. Yet online discussion of a paper claiming to show mathematically that the wavefunction is real has ranged from ardently star-struck to downright vitriolic since the article was first released as a preprint in November 2011. ... [The authors] say that the mathematics leaves no doubt that the wavefunction is not just a statistical tool, but rather, a real, objective state of a quantum system."

7 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. well, actually... by notgm · · Score: 5, Funny

    it is, and it isn't.

    1. Re:well, actually... by jd · · Score: 3, Funny

      If you apply fuzzy logic, then it uniformly half-is.

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  2. Hegel was half-right by For+a+Free+Internet · · Score: 0, Funny

    Marx and Engels rescued the revolutionary, materialist core from the idealistic mysticism of Hegel's dialectic! Communism is our last best hope! Smash U.S. imperialism! Forge a revolutionary Leninist-Trotskyist workers party! Pizza!

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  3. Elephants! by Black+Parrot · · Score: 5, Funny

    the mathematics leaves no doubt that the wavefunction is not just a statistical tool, but rather, a real, objective state of a quantum system.

    If that's the case, I would suppose that wavefunctions have wavefunctions.

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    1. Re:Elephants! by snowsmann · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's turtles all the way down!

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      timeo Danaos, et dona ferentis
  4. Re:Heh by johanatan · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not if it's running on the 'cloud'. Come on man, get with the times.

  5. Re:If the internet has taught us anything by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Funny

    You take that back, you scruffy-lookin' nerfherder!

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