helene_t Posted June 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 My preferential interpretation is that as the size of the superimposed system increases, the time that you can remain superimposed decreases. This time is so small at macroscopic scales as to be unnoticeable. I think that quantum computers may shed some light on this phenomenon. If they reach a limit at which they cannot further increase the size of a quantum computer in a superimposed state then the consciousness interpretation may be proven false. This is interesting. Would you say that Schoedinger's Cat would, given its complexity, only stays in its undetermined (=superimposed?) state for a short time, even if it is not observed? (In the classical interpretation it may be a relevant question if the cat is conscious, but that could be avoided by replacing "cat" with "grandfather clock" or some such). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrTodd13 Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Yes. For Schroedinger's cat, the mass of the Geiger counter itself is probably sufficiently large to cause the wavefunction to collapse. The cat would never be alive and dead simultaneously. It wouldn't matter if a conscious observer were anywhere nearby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slothy Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 As cats are rather horrible clingy creatures who never piss in the litter-tray provided, could not we speed up the simulation so they all perish simultaneously? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted June 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 As cats are rather horrible clingy creatures who never piss in the litter-tray provided, could not we speed up the simulation so they all perish simultaneously? There is currently a bug in my software which makes the cat's probability of being alive explode to several hundred percents after a few iterations, which seems realistic given that my laptop bag is full of cat hairs. So you may prefer some other plan, say reformatting my harddisk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al_U_Card Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 But at the quantum level, the cat is irrelevent (which may help to explain their aloofness....) as it is the consciousness (awareness of intention) of each particle that impinges on the wave functions of the others, causing them to condense into one state or the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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