Autzoo.1587
net.misc
utzoo!henry
Tue Apr 20 17:58:45 1982
psi vs relativity vs quantum mechanics
I am not a physicist either, but my impression was that quantum
mechanics has been integrated quite satisfactorily with *special*
relativity, which is the theory of interest when discussing the
light-speed limit. General relativity is another matter, and in fact
general relativity is believed to be inconsistent with quantum mechanics,
but general relativity is basically a theory of gravity and does not
bear on the issues under discussion.
As for the problem of wave functions collapsing instantaneously, I
don't believe this represents a problem at all. The wave function
cannot be sensed directly; only the location of the electron can
be sensed. Any discussion must stick to what is observable -- the
wave function is not, and hence is out of the picture. I strongly
suspect the problem disappears if you stick to stating the problem
in terms of where the electron is found to be -- it cannot be found
to be everywhere at once, and hence there is no instantaneous change
involved. The wave function is not an "event".
Special relativity does not state that "nothing" can go faster than
light (I am under the impression that things like phase velocity in
microwave theory are routinely > c); it states that nothing that
can carry *information* can go faster than light, because this would
lead to effect-before-cause paradoxes when observing from a suitable
frame of reference.
I think close review of quantum-mechanics textbooks would be in order
before further discussion of the matter; English is just too slippery
a medium for discussing quantum mechanics and relativity, which are
both notorious for strange and counterintuitive effects.
Contentions that telepathy is faster than light are mostly cases of
people falling prey to the powerful delusion (the basis of much magic)
that "the map is the territory". Sorry, it isn't. "You can go to sleep
and in 1/5 of a second be dreaming that you are on Alpha Centauri III."
True, but you aren't really there, or NASA's budget could be much smaller.
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