Quantum Mechanics And Experiences You Never Have (Unless You Are Drunk)

By Adam Frank

So yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a seminar on The Measurement Problem in Quantum Mechanics at the University of Rochester. After an hour and half of delightful discussions on all the ways to interpret the weirdness of quantum physics I get in my car to drive home and WHAM, there is NPR's Joe Palca telling me all about ... quantum mechanics. It seems there was no way of getting away from the most important issue in foundational science (if you ask me) that day.

At the core of the problem with interpreting quantum physics (or at least one core) is what people call the measurement problem. Since it's Saturday and I really should deal the mess I call a yard, I won't bend your ear much on this today. Suffice it to say here is one simple way to put the measurement problem...

Left to their own devices the dynamical equations of quantum mechanics predict things we would not understand if they happened right infront of our face. Quantum mechanics is famous for allowing objects (sub-atomic particles) to be in two places at the same time or to have two "logically" opposite properties at the ...