This dilemma feels forced. I see where you’re coming from, and I do feel that a waveform disappearing spontaneously is a massive, unwarranted detail, but I don’t see how this sets up a contradiction.
The further a scientific prediction feels from our intuitive human experience, the harder it is to internalise. Physicists wanted an explanation for why we only see one world. They postulated that the waveform collapses into the world we see. And fair enough, it’s not difficult, on the face of it, to feel that that must be true, even if it isn’t. But how is that any different from saying the Sun goes round the Earth, because that’s what we ‘see’? The former is no more ‘science’ than the latter—it’s just wearing a flashier lab coat. Learnt that reading this blog.
Eliezer, you’ve spent so much time showing us that only experiment is admissible in science. Well then collapse is not science as you would define the term, right? Sure, you can demonstrate that our single world is there. But if our (consistently verified) theory predicts extra worlds as well, saying ‘they must disappear, since we only see one’ is adding a Cosmological Constant (Quantum Constant?). Collapse now sets the ‘Anthropocentrism, Not Science!’ warning light off in my head, for this reason. Hence I don’t feel your dilemma.
Am I getting this wrong somewhere?
P.S. Dave—dangerous attitude. It’s impossible to know whether or not your theory will or won’t make a prediction at some point. Better to work out what’s correct and bear it in mind as you go than consign it to the dustbin of irrelevance if it doesnt prove itself right away.
This dilemma feels forced. I see where you’re coming from, and I do feel that a waveform disappearing spontaneously is a massive, unwarranted detail, but I don’t see how this sets up a contradiction.
The further a scientific prediction feels from our intuitive human experience, the harder it is to internalise. Physicists wanted an explanation for why we only see one world. They postulated that the waveform collapses into the world we see. And fair enough, it’s not difficult, on the face of it, to feel that that must be true, even if it isn’t. But how is that any different from saying the Sun goes round the Earth, because that’s what we ‘see’? The former is no more ‘science’ than the latter—it’s just wearing a flashier lab coat. Learnt that reading this blog.
Eliezer, you’ve spent so much time showing us that only experiment is admissible in science. Well then collapse is not science as you would define the term, right? Sure, you can demonstrate that our single world is there. But if our (consistently verified) theory predicts extra worlds as well, saying ‘they must disappear, since we only see one’ is adding a Cosmological Constant (Quantum Constant?). Collapse now sets the ‘Anthropocentrism, Not Science!’ warning light off in my head, for this reason. Hence I don’t feel your dilemma.
Am I getting this wrong somewhere?
P.S. Dave—dangerous attitude. It’s impossible to know whether or not your theory will or won’t make a prediction at some point. Better to work out what’s correct and bear it in mind as you go than consign it to the dustbin of irrelevance if it doesnt prove itself right away.