dv said:
I had not heard of this before. Thanks, SMBC.
>The authors point out that the ability to obtain information about the bomb’s functionality without ever “touching” it, appears to be a paradox. That, they claim, is based on the assumption that there is only a single “real” result. But according to the many-worlds interpretation, each possible state of a particle’s superposition is real. Therefore, the particle does actually interact with the bomb and it does explode, just not in our “world”.
So even if you get out alive, you’ve killed “someone else”.
dv said:
I had not heard of this before. Thanks, SMBC.
… although there is a 50% chance that the bomb will explode in the effort.
ROFL
Tamb said:
dv said:
I had not heard of this before. Thanks, SMBC.
Schrödinger will be pleased.
“the experiment can verify that the bomb works without ever triggering its detonation, although there is a 50% chance that the bomb will explode in the effort. “
If there is a 50% chance that the bomb will explode, in what sense is that not an interaction?
And I expect that the speed of Schrödinger’s rotation in his grave has increased by some substantial but undetermined amount.
dv said:
I had not heard of this before. Thanks, SMBC.
> A photon emitter: it produces a single photon for the purposes of the experiment
Well, there’s your problem.
Tee hee, just kidding, but the construction of a photon emitter that produces one and only one photon cannot by foolproof – it has to fail with finite probability.
> If the bomb is good, when a photon arrives, it will explode and both will be destroyed.
And another problem. A light sensitive bomb that doesn’t emit photons.
> the bomb both explodes and does not explode.
Only if the bomb can be made in such a way its explosion cannot be observed, for the most broad definition of “observed” possible. Eg. The containiner in which it exists does not absorb any photons or debris from the bomb – ever. So we need a container bigger than the universe.
> If the result is 2, the experiment is repeated. If the photon continues to be observed at C and the bomb does not explode, it can eventually be concluded that the bomb is a dud.
And there’s another problem. “Eventually” is infinite.
Sounds Like Source Code (2011)
Seriously Though Sounds Just Like The Martingale Bomb Tester