Quantum Weirdness
 

You can explain almost anything with quantum theory. They call it Quantum Weirdness when you explain something that obviously can't be true using quantum physics. Now I'm no physisist so I can't back up this stuff with real scientific proofs, but here are some anecdotes from what I understand of it.

A tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well according to quatum theory, nothing exists until it is observed. In this case, two distinct possibilities exist: sound and no sound. If no one is around to observe whether the tree makes a sound or not, then both cases are said to exist at the same time. However, since the sound would dampen out within a seconds, the sound would never be observed. So for the rest of eternity, the tree both made a sound and was silent in the same instant.

Stick a cat in a box with string that is hooked to a device. If the string is pulled, poisonous gas is released that will kill the cat (poor kitty :( ). Leave the room. When you reenter the room, the cat will be either alive or dead. Until you reenter the room, the cat is said to be both alive and dead.

Pretty strange stuff isn't it? Now you know why they call it Quantum Weirdness.

Until they are observed, Quantum particles are everywhere and everywhen at once. This is why quantum computing would be so powerful, because essentially, you could have the quantum particles doing calculations everywhere at once.

Actually, the experiment was Schrodinger's Cat, and the theroy was that there was acid set above the cat in a box. There was a 50/50 chance that the acid would miss and the cat would be saved, or the acid would hit and kill the cat. Until the event was observed, even after the trap was triggered, the cat was both alive and dead until they opened the box and discovered which way the acid had went. The basis is that you need a level of uncertainty that can or cannot happen, so there must be an alternative to what actually happens.

Of course, I'm sure the cat didn't really care for the specifics of the experiment... Definitly one of the more sadistic experiments in quantum physics...

but what counts as an observer? i think the current model is heavily biased twoards humans. wouldn't any other creature count as an observer, for certainly the cat can observe his own fate. and how do we know that the trees dont count as observers to quantum phenomenon, they certainly respond to outside stimulous.

I've posted this many, many times, but still it remains funny.

http://www.angryflower.com/schrod.gif

But, if no one is around to hear the tree fall, the tree in fact does not make a sound. The impact simply vibrates air particles around it. Without anyone's ears and brain to convert these vibrations into sound, there is no sound.

cant insects hear? they're all over the place in forrests.

Well, I'm talking about if absolutely nothing living was around.

then that forrest would exist in a vacuum and therefor wouldn't make any sound anyway, so yeah i guess.

Bah, I mean...you know what I mean. And just because everything's dead doesn't mean it's in a vacuum. It could fall in a forest that's been pesticided like nuts.