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Originally Posted by John Freestone  If the double slit experiment in the OP changes its result depending on whether it's looked at or not, and that is because the quantum state doesn't collapse one way or the other without an observer, just like shrodinger's cat thought experiment (did you get that bit - no-one actually suggested that if you actually did the experiment, the cat would actually be 50% alive - it's a theory, a thought experiment), and the same collapse of the quantum state is required for an atom bomb to go off, then presumably we could arm one and go on holiday, and it would, or wouldn't, or would half go off - which? |
It depends. If you do not like quantum theories dependent on consciousness, you could always go the quantum theories which are not.
For example, there is Hugh Everitt's Many Worlds theory, which tells you effectively that there are alternative dimensions. According to his theory, there would be at least one reality where the bomb went off,and at least one reality where the bomb did not.
Since you are so fearful of the notion of reality depending on consciousness, perhaps you would like to say that reality actually doesn't, and merely exists simultaneously in multiple dimensions, LOL.
Incidentally, Hugh Everett's theory is what sparked off a long-running theme in sci-fi movies & fantasy books, about alternate realities. At the heart of all that, was his very serious theory in quantum physics.
Hugh Everett. He had a relatively brief career as an academic in physics. He spent much more time working for the Pentagon in developing nuclear weapons
Hugh Everett III - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Many-worlds interpretation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia