Quantum Theory Fails Reality Check

[ComradeRed]

From Scientific American (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleId=055C1A23-E7F2-99DF-31B2170DBBCA09A9&chanId=sa013&modsrc=most_popular):

Reality just got a one-two punch. A new experiment has tried to suss out which of two counterintuitive ingredients is more basic to quantum theory, only to find that they go hand in hand.

Einstein was famously bugged by what are now well-established facts of quantum theory: the randomness of a particle's choices and the possibility of instantaneous linkages between far-flung light or matter. Experimenters now conclude that Einstein cannot even pick his poison, because allowing for instant links kills any simple notion of reality, too.

This is related to stuff that I've been working on so this is really exciting for me.

[mikelepore]

I hate it when they use the word "reality" in that context. A lot of science paperback writers are running around saying things like: there's uncertainty in location and momentum, therefore there's no such thing as reality - or - remote events are entangled, therefore there's no such thing as reality. They're so desperate to identify some "philosophical implications" before they actually have any to mention, that they talk nonsense.

[RevMARKSman]

What exactly does this mean again? 'Cause when I read the thread title I thought quantum theory had been once-and-for-all debunked, but what I got from the article was that people got an unexpected result. So do we ditch quantum theory or not?

[ComradeRed]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23, 2007 08:20 am
What exactly does this mean again? 'Cause when I read the thread title I thought quantum theory had been once-and-for-all debunked, but what I got from the article was that people got an unexpected result. So do we ditch quantum theory or not?
The short answer is: sort of but not really. If anything the experiment results tells us that IF Einstein was right, THEN this indicates that the current quantum mechanic formalism is not the final one (it is insufficiently local).

What this means is that things happen "instantaneously". Like the butterfly effect, except worse because of "quantum superposition".

I'm working with Relational Quantum Mechanics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational+Quantum+Mechanics), more specifically trying to put it in the language of topos logic to make quantum mechanics local.

So at the very least IF Einstein was right in his assessment of locality, THEN quantum mechanics is not (as it stands now) a final theory.

[redcannon]

well, this is by no means a bad thing. can you imagine if Newtonian physics was final? besides, quantum physics has contributed a lot to the scientific community, but there are always more questions to be answered