WTF is the Many Worlds Theory?

[Codeine]

And why are they discussing it in the Science Forum?

[beam me up scottie]

1. sigh...

I see people are still calling scientists "fundamentalists" and using that forum to denigrate all things scientific.

Here's a good site about MWI:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-manyworlds/

[Codeine]

2. I rue the day

that the woo-woos discovered the term "quantum physics." It's become their catch-all phrase that they can apply to anything in order to imbue whatever idiocy they're on about with a veneer of scientific validity.

My approach is much more straightforward - I don't pretend to understand it so I'm going to refrain from discussing it! I'm fairly certain that a person silly enough to refer to scientists as "Fundamentalists" knows about as much as I do - which is roughly somewhere between Jack and Shit.

[beam me up scottie]

3. I'm with you.

If I don't know the subject, I lurk and learn.

Unless, as in this case, I see woo woos start maligning science or scientists.

At that point, you can pretty much write off the whole conversation.

You do realize that using the word "quantum" is part of the Woo Woo Credo, don't you?

10. Use the word quantum in a sentence, despite not knowing what it means. For a more impressive effect, use it with the name of your favorite superstition - "quantum dowsing" sure sounds mighty serious.

[WoodrowFan]

4. I LIKE tthat!

Toss in Quantum... hummm

I'm drank so much last night I have a quantum hangover!

That chilidog gave me so much gas I'm quantum farting!

That CT is so wacko he needs a quantun tinfoil hat!!



I LIKE!!!!

[Dead_Parrot]

5. Quantum Hangover:

The room only spins when you're looking.

[WoodrowFan]

6. your either hung over or youre not

but only the cat in that damn box knows.

[salvorhardin]

7. and the cat's not talking

'cause Schrödinger shot him!

[PinkUnicorn]

8. Schrodinger's Quantum Fridge

Quantum mechanics for the layman...

[onager]

9. How about this simple explanation?

From Cecil Adams of "The Straight Dope:"

Schroedinger, Erwin! Professor of physics!
Wrote daring equations! Confounded his critics!
(Not bad, eh? Don't worry. This part of the verse
Starts off pretty good, but it gets a lot worse.)

Win saw that the theory that Newton'd invented
By Einstein's discov'ries had been badly dented.
What now? wailed his colleagues. Said Erwin, "Don't panic,
No grease monkey I, but a quantum mechanic.

Consider electrons. Now, these teeny articles
Are sometimes like waves, and then sometimes like particles.
If that's not confusing, the nuclear dance
Of electrons and suchlike is governed by chance!

No sweat, though--my theory permits us to judge
Where some of 'em is and the rest of 'em was."
Not everyone bought this. It threatened to wreck
The comforting linkage of cause and effect.

E'en Einstein had doubts, and so Schroedinger tried
To tell him what quantum mechanics implied.
Said Win to Al, "Brother, suppose we've a cat,
And inside a tube we have put that cat at--

Along with a solitaire deck and some Fritos,
A bottle of Night Train, a couple mosquitoes
(Or something else rhyming) and, oh, if you got 'em,
One vial prussic acid, one decaying ottom

Or atom--whatever--but when it emits,
A trigger device blasts the vial into bits
Which snuffs our poor kitty. The odds of this crime
Are 50 to 50 per hour each time.

The cylinder's sealed. The hour's passed away. Is
Our pussy still purring--or pushing up daisies?
Now, you'd say the cat either lives or it don't
But quantum mechanics is stubborn and won't.

Statistically speaking, the cat (goes the joke),
Is half a cat breathing and half a cat croaked.
To some this may seem a ridiculous split,
But quantum mechanics must answer, "Tough sh!t!

We may not know much, but one thing's fo' sho':
There's things in the cosmos that we cannot know.
Shine light on electrons--you'll cause them to swerve.
The act of observing disturbs the observed--

Which ruins your test. But then if there's no testing
To see if a particle's moving or resting
Why try to conjecture? Pure useless endeavor!
We know probability--certainty, never.'

The effect of this notion? I very much fear
'Twill make doubtful all things that were formerly clear.
Till soon the cat doctors will say in reports,
"We've just flipped a coin and we've learned he's a corpse."'

So saith Herr Erwin. Quoth Albert, "You're nuts.
God doesn't play dice with the universe, putz.
I'll prove it!" he said, and the Lord knows he tried--
In vain--until fin'ly he more or less died.

Win spoke at the funeral: "Listen, dear friends,
Sweet Al was my buddy. I must make amends.
Though he doubted my theory, I'll say of this saint:
Ten-to-one he's in heaven--but five bucks says he ain't."

[onager]

10. Here's a guy who can help you...

Just do a Google on "Victor Stenger." He's a working quantum physicist who participated in the experiments that discovered the quark, neutrino, and other little subatomic buggers.

He cannot be bullshitted about quantum physics. And since he also has a PhD in philosophy, he's pretty much unbullshittable in that line, too.

I've heard Stenger lecture. He has Richard Feynmann's ability for making the horribly complex easily explainable to the rest of us dummies.

He's amazing. He can tell you exactly what Deepak Chopra and other woo-woo's are TRYING to say, then make a few drawings on a whiteboard and explain exactly why they are full of crap...to a quantum level, of course.

And boy, does Stenger HATE what woo-woos have done to quantum physics! He has written several books on the subject, like "Quantum Quackery."

He's also a very strong atheist. One of his latest books says that science has already proved the non-existence of god(s).