Re: Fermi "Paradox"

From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Thu Aug 07 2003 - 01:46:23 MDT

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    Jeff Davis wrote:

    > Extropes,
    >
    > I've got a question.
    >
    > You generate two entangled and undisturbed photons,
    > which head off in different directions toward distant
    > detectors.
    > [...]
    > Can it be determined, at detector number two, whether
    > the wave function has already--presumably at detector
    > number one--been "collapsed", whether the photons have
    > already been "disentangled"?

    Jeff, this question used to confuse the living daylights out of me until I
    encountered many-worlds theory. Now it still confuses the living
    daylights out of me, but I can at least see what the answer is supposed to
    be, and where it's supposed to come from. I think. I'm not going to try
    and explain it because I don't understand it that well yet. Anyway,
    many-worlds theory, which gets rid of that nasty "collapse" business, is
    where I think you should look for an *intuitively visualizable* answer.
    Afterward you should be able to translate your visualization back to
    conventional quantum mechanics, if necessary.

    -- 
    Eliezer S. Yudkowsky                          http://singinst.org/
    Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
    


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