Physics and philosophy

How does science work? And what's all this about quantum mechanics?

Moderators: AMod, iMod

Post Reply
User avatar
accelafine
Posts: 5042
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2023 10:16 pm

Physics and philosophy

Post by accelafine »

Two sides of the same coin? One and the same?

Fascinating discussion with physicist Frank Wilczek.

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/phys ... k-wilczek/
Impenitent
Posts: 5774
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:04 pm

Re: Physics and philosophy

Post by Impenitent »

nice article, thanks for posting

-Imp
User avatar
accelafine
Posts: 5042
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2023 10:16 pm

Re: Physics and philosophy

Post by accelafine »

Impenitent wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2024 11:53 pm nice article, thanks for posting

-Imp
You are welcome.
Age
Posts: 27841
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 8:17 am

Re: Physics and philosophy

Post by Age »

The reasons why human beings, in the days when this was being written, had not yet found the answers that they were looking for and seeking is being portrayed here in this article, as well.
socrattus
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2024 5:52 am

Re: Physics and philosophy

Post by socrattus »

Thanks for post.
‘Physicists Have Always Been Philosophers’: In Conversation With Frank Wilczek
The Nobel Prize-winning physicist discusses free will, time travel,
and the relationship between innovation and scientific discovery.
/2020. Valencia, Spain. By: Adolfo Plasencia/
-----
Adolfo Plasencia: . . . the physicist Ignacio Cirac, a pioneer in the field of quantum computing, . . .
he said that quantum physics in a way takes into account free will.
Frank Wilczek: We are not advanced enough in quantum mechanics to make models
where we can identify something we’d begin to recognize as consciousness.
AP: “So physicists are now getting into philosophy too?”
FW: “To me, a philosopher who doesn’t know quantum mechanics is like a swimmer
with his or her hands tied behind their back.”
AP: Let’s move into what I’ll call the “weird ideas” questions — the subject of Schrödinger’s cat.
FW: when you observe (the subject of Schrödinger’s cat) you find out what’s called
“collapse of the wave function.” . You fix possibility. . . . (probabilities)
AP: So you believe that quantum superposition is part of human logic …
FW: “You have to sort of take yourself outside the realm of common sense and think about
some things differently, because if you did apply ‘common sense’ you would get the wrong answer.”
AP: All right, let’s move on to the next issue: time travel.
Why does time travel only work in science fiction, and therefore in the imagination,
and not in our everyday reality?
FW: Well, this is a very complex question. Since you can’t actually reverse
[in the reality in which we live] the direction of time . . . It doesn’t seem that the direction
of time forwards and backwards is experienced in the same way in our lives.
------
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/phys ... k-wilczek/
------
"Nobody understands quantum mechanics and that's a problem". /Sean Carroll/
''Quantum mechanics makes absolutely no sense'' /Roger Penrose/
User avatar
accelafine
Posts: 5042
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2023 10:16 pm

Re: Physics and philosophy

Post by accelafine »

Yet Feynman was about as philosophical as they come.

Btw, ornithology is useful to birds.
User avatar
Cerveny
Posts: 850
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:35 pm
Location: Czech Republic
Contact:

Re: Physics and philosophy

Post by Cerveny »

socrattus wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2024 11:48 am
"Nobody understands quantum mechanics and that's a problem". /Sean Carroll/
…nobody understands physical space, nobody understands time, and that's an even bigger problem… At least QM somehow works…
User avatar
bahman
Posts: 9284
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2016 3:52 pm

Re: Physics and philosophy

Post by bahman »

accelafine wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2024 9:11 pm Two sides of the same coin? One and the same?

Fascinating discussion with physicist Frank Wilczek.

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/phys ... k-wilczek/
No, that is not correct. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that explains what is underlying reality regardless of how reality functions. How reality functions is the subject of study of physics.
User avatar
accelafine
Posts: 5042
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2023 10:16 pm

Re: Physics and philosophy

Post by accelafine »

I suppose that ends that then. The wise one has spoken :|
socrattus
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2024 5:52 am

Re: Physics and philosophy

Post by socrattus »

17 September 2024. Our reality seems to be compatible with a quantum multiverse
Even though the strange behaviour we observe in the quantum realm isn’t part of our daily lives,
simulations suggest it is likely our reality could be one of the many worlds in a quantum multiverse
/By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan/
----.
Could we live in a quantum multiverse without ever noticing its oddness? A simulation suggests
that the answer may be “yes” surprisingly often.
“We live in a quantum world, as far as the experiments we do can tell.
So then why do I end up having all these [non-quantum] classical experiences?” says Joseph Schindler
at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain. He and his colleagues explored this question
and found that even in the multiverse, if the microscopic world is quantum the emergence…
---.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/24 ... -live-in-a
Flannel Jesus
Posts: 4302
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2022 7:09 pm

Re: Physics and philosophy

Post by Flannel Jesus »

But there seems to be a very good hypothesis that I think scientists are in fact adopting, and it is that the phenomena of mental life, including free will, can be derived from the physical embodiment of mind in matter. So what we call “emergent” phenomena are qualitatively different behaviors that can be very difficult to see in the basic laws but can emerge in large systems with many components that have a rich structure. So, for example, when neurobiologists study the nervous system, when they study the brain, they adopt the working hypothesis that thought, memory — all mental phenomena — have a physical basis, have a physical correlate.
I think so too
Post Reply