the same cat exists or not depending on whether or not it's being observed.
Just imagine a black box (the same as in the S-cat example) that completely isolates the cat from the outside world. That's all. The cat has only one state - "not exists". Please notice that no animals were hurt during the expiriment.
I have faith that the world is not a solipsist fantasy.
Are you sure that solipsism is the only conclusion to be drawn from my post? I would say that observers can't be said to be independent of that which is observed but surely that is not the same as the accepted definition of solipsism because the subject and object when the subject is not an observer is nevertheless not independent of the object since independent existence cannot be found. The subject when not observing will still not be independent of the object that may in due course be observed.
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zt09
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Thu 9 Jun, 2011 10:21 am
@DrewDad,
Solipsism is the idea that only one observer (myself) is sure to exist. I do not claim that there is the only observer dependant reality. I just say that reality is observer dependant.
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DrewDad
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Thu 9 Jun, 2011 10:27 am
Both of you seem to be proposing that only the part of the universe you're observing can be "proven" to exist. Seems like solipsistic B.S. to me.
Let’s not forget that what 'maxdoncona' said many posts ago: “Actually it was the opposite. Schroedinger's cat was not invented to explain anything. It was invented to show the apparent absurdity of the implications of the mathematics behind Quantum mechanics. It is an obvious paradox.” is historically correct.
Observing, influencing, interacting, knowing - whatever you call it. Gravitation is a kind of interaction too. So each particle or combination of particles including human bodies may be regarded as an observer with its unique reality.
Observing, influencing, interacting, knowing - whatever you call it. Gravitation is a kind of interaction too. So each particle or combination of particles including human bodies may be regarded as an observer with its unique reality.
No, it's all the same reality with each observer having a unique perspective (or frame of reference).
Ok. And if each observer occupies its own frame of reference and sees things from its own unique perspective then how can one know for sure there is a reality out there that
Quote:
exists independent of whether it is being observed or not
Schroedinger's cat was not invented to explain anything. It was invented to show the apparent absurdity of the implications of the mathematics behind Quantum mechanics. It is an obvious paradox.
I agree with maxdoncona that 'Schroedinger's cat' is a paradox if I use this common definition: a figure of speech in which a statement appears to contradict itself e.g. a cat that is both alive and dead at the same time. The result of the thought experiment is more likely to be faulty mathematics based on unprovable axioms i.e. axioms are not self-evident truths in any sort of rational system, they are unprovable assumptions.
We aren't debating if a given state is 1 or 0 or both at the same time but if a cat can be both alive and dead at the same time...I think it's more likely to be faulty mathematics.
