For example. In Figure 3, from prior knowledge, I would suppose if you counted individual photons, they’d ALL end up in detectors 1 and 2 (none would be absorbed by obstacle) - this goes to explain what in fact happens when we think a particle “knows” where it’s going to end up. Please correct me if I’m wrong here.
You are. If you were to put a detector 3 there instead of an absorber, it would go off half the time, and detectors 1 and 2 would each go off a quarter of the time.
Are you implying that the presence of a detector instead of an obstacle changes what the other detectors detect, or not?
The text is unclear here:
Detector 1 goes off half the time and Detector 2 goes off half the time.
Does “half the time” mean “half the time that any detector goes off”, or “half the time you shoot a photon”? I would expect that, with the obstacle in place, half the time you shoot a photon no detector would go off, because the first mirror would deflect it into an obstacle. Seeing no detector go off is distinct and observable, so I don’t see any way it could be eliminated as a possibility like the other case described here where two possible timelines that lead to the same world interfere and cancel out. So I would assume Eliezer means “half the time that any detector goes off”. If so, I’d like to see the text updated to be more clear about this.
It means “half the time that any detector goes off”, assuming that the block is a bog-standard lump of wood and not a magical construct like the measurement tool.
You are. If you were to put a detector 3 there instead of an absorber, it would go off half the time, and detectors 1 and 2 would each go off a quarter of the time.
Are you implying that the presence of a detector instead of an obstacle changes what the other detectors detect, or not?
The text is unclear here:
Does “half the time” mean “half the time that any detector goes off”, or “half the time you shoot a photon”? I would expect that, with the obstacle in place, half the time you shoot a photon no detector would go off, because the first mirror would deflect it into an obstacle. Seeing no detector go off is distinct and observable, so I don’t see any way it could be eliminated as a possibility like the other case described here where two possible timelines that lead to the same world interfere and cancel out. So I would assume Eliezer means “half the time that any detector goes off”. If so, I’d like to see the text updated to be more clear about this.
It means “half the time that any detector goes off”, assuming that the block is a bog-standard lump of wood and not a magical construct like the measurement tool.