I definitely agree it’s unintuitive to the layman. We never have to deal with large scale wave interactions, on the classical physics level. I disagree, however, that we can’t understand it. It does make sense, it just doesn’t map to our default particle mindset.
I disagree that it breaks the laws of physics though. It just shows some flaws in our methodology. E.g. the speed of light isn’t a limit on fundamental speed, but of information. It just happens that the only time we can have transmission without information is via decoherence.
QM is definitely incomplete. We know the what, but not the why. That applies to most of physics however. Newtonian physics is the same. We know what happens, but not why. It’s just that Newtonian physics is intuitive to our savannah running brain, while QM requires more mental work.
gandalf_der_12te@feddit.de 6 months ago
Actually, I think it’s time to reveal, that to some people QM is actually pretty intuitive.
It’s just that the masses and the news media don’t understand it, so they assume that nobody does. The particle worldview is deeply ingrained into many people’s brains, because it’s deeply useful to them on a day-to-day basis. If you loosen that requirement, then there’s literally nothing standing in your way to accept a wave-worldview.
bouh@lemmy.world 6 months ago
What about the Copenhagen interpretation debate? What about the non-locality?
These are academic debates, not people ones. Saying that quantum mechanic is intuitive is arrogant at best. You may have a perfect understanding of the current theory and how to use it, and you maybe comfortable using it everyday, but then you should be aware of the limits shouldn’t you?
Otherwise it’s like alchemy.
gandalf_der_12te@feddit.de 6 months ago
Yeah ok, I get your input. The point is, that most of the arguments, that say that QM is “unintuitive”, boil down to the fact that some people are simply unwilling to accept that the world is “not made of particles”.
Some people adhere to this worldview like to a religion. You cannot argue with religion. Therefore, for most people, there is little hope to come to terms with QM. However, I am saying, that if you “give up” on a particle worldview, then QM isn’t so super weird as lots of people always make it seam.
Yeah, there’s some strange issues going on. But I’m saying, that a lot of these aren’t so mad to think about if you give up on your particle worldview. Coherence, for example, boils down to a system which isn’t simply described by “that atom goes there and this atom goes here”. It’s different, but consistent. It still reveals a consistent model with a measurable outcome. Just that this model is like taking public transport instead of riding your own car. Sometimes, you gotta mix things up to see the bigger picture.
bouh@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I get what you’re saying, but I can’t help but think quantum physics is a weird beast. Somehow it is the opposite of relativity that’s purely geometric, although in 4d.
To go in your direction, I think the probabilistic nature it the biggest weird thing of quantum mechanic. And you can absolutely admit it and live with it, but for many people, that will be a tough thing to do, and they’ll rather think that our knowledge is too limited to understand the reality of things. And it’s hard to blame them for that.
IMO we lack some good sci-fi to explore and familiarise these things.