If, as quantum mechanics says, observing the world tends to change it, how is it that we can agree on anything at all? Why doesnt each person leave a slightly different version of the world for the next person to find?
Because, say the researchers, certain special states of a system are promoted above others by a quantum form of natural selection, which they call quantum darwinism. Information about these states proliferates and gets imprinted on the environment. So observers coming along and looking at the environment in order to get a picture of the world tend to see the same preferred states.
If it wasnt for quantum darwinism, the researchers suggest in Physical Review Letters1, the world would be very unpredictable: different people might see very different versions of it. Life itself would then be hard to conduct, because we would not be able to obtain reliable information about our surroundings... it would typically conflict with what others were experiencing.
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041220/full/041220-12.html
Popular Posts
-
... or, Decemberween. Whatever. http://www.homestarrunner.com/xmas04.html
-
"The fish was delish and it made quite a dish." http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail120.html
-
Very dry, dull book with some basic financial info like ROI and cash flow. Not a lot here.
-
After a year of hell, I've been given a reprieve. I've spent the last year dealing with contracts, negotiation, budgeting, and confl...
-
It's been almost exaclty three years since I've updated this blog. In that three years, I've achieved a lot -- I've gone aft...
-
Humanclock.com runs on a Radio Shack 2.4mhz TRS-80 Model 100 portable computer, using a stripped-down version of the Apache webserver softwa...
-
C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wa...
-
Robots are being let loose in a colony of machines in an attempt to find out whether they can learn from their experiences. The scientists b...
-
I had the pleasure to attend the IBM Think conference in wet and chilly San Fran from Feb 11-14th of this year. The event overall was ...
-
Not a bad audio book, but I expected more. Big ideas: Build a high performance, high-trust culture; Identify desired results and un...
