328 Are the Androids Dreaming Yet?
has position, velocity and spin. Why can it not have more hidden information that tells it when to decay? Perhaps particles are composed of sub-particles that cause the weird quantum effects we see.
We have discovered sub-particles — quarks and the like — but more than a hundred years of experimentation have gradually ruled out any form of theory explaining how these random events can be governed by the properties of the particle. The collapse of the wave function just seems to happen randomly.
There is one explanation for quantum mechanics that avoids the measurement problem altogether but it is even stranger than the Copenhagen interpretation: ‘the many worlds’ view. The idea was first put forward by Hugh Everett in 1957, and it claims measurements are never made, there is never a collapse of the wave function, and every wave continues to exist. We just can't see them all. There is a version of me that has seen a live cat and another in a parallel universe that saw a dead one. The two versions of me are also in superposition, just like the cat, so there are an infinity of parallel universes tracking every possible option.
The only measurable consequence of this ‘many worlds’ idea is the existence of enormously enjoyable science fiction plots and much poking of fun between the many worlds camp, and the no-many-worlds camp. The single-worlds proponents point out the whole idea is untestable and just plain odd. For example, each choice we make, every reflection and any quantum process generates a new branch in the Universe. This is a vast amount of information to track and puts us back in a position where moral choices have no consequence. Every decision I make spawns a Universe where I made a different choice.
For a humorous take on this, you can visit a website and buy your own Universe for $2.99. You pose a question based on the throw of a die, let’s say, one to three I go to work today and, four to six, I take a sick day. The website generates a quantum random number using an experimental setup at a laboratory in California. You can make your choice based on this quantum random number in the certain knowledge that another Universe springs into existence where you made the alternate choice, so somewhere you are not taking a sick day after all, and can be found hard at work at your desk.
There is one more explanation for quantum measurement, proposed by Roger Penrose. He proposes gravity comes to the rescue. Once enough particles are involved in the superposition of states, the curvature in space time becomes great enough to force a measurement event. In his view, a measuring instrument is simply an amplifier which brings a
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