Oh oh, we are not talking about a pet (no pun intended with the German gentleman's cat) peeve of mine. Quantum mechanics is not intuitive but with good reason: it does not make sense. After much study, continuing study I might add, of the Copenhagen theory, I say without reservation that Q.M. is easily one of the dumbest traps that smart people ever fell into. Heisenberg's uncertainly principle is fine, seems to be correct but it should have been left alone; once applied to anything real or tangible, it makes no sense because it does not apply. Remember, just because we cannot know exactly where something is does NOT mean it is not exactly somewhere. We can easily estimate the next card to appear out of a blind deck but the calculation means absolutely nothing once we actually see the card..... which means it did not mean anything before that either.
I actually recently had my son explain something to me from a class on number theory: if given three blind choices, say, A, B, or C, we choose one at random. Say we choose C. Now A is shown and that is not the right choice. Which leaves us with B and C, and then we are given a chance to stick with the original choice, C, or change our choice. The thinking here (more like mental masturbation IMO) was that since our odds were 33% initially, and the only choice not chosen or shown yet was B, then the statistical thing to do was change our choice to B because it now has a higher chance of being the correct choice. You see the odds increased for B because it was not a previous choice or the known quantity that A is now. What nonsense!!!
Like 'Big Al' said, 'The old one would not play dice with the universe'.
Now this is a quantum oil thread..... which means it has taken on nuclear proportions. I just hope it does not go off topic....
Brian
Of course I play sax...professionally, for some decades. SATB. I replied to your PM a long time ago.
...and I think quantum mechanics is just fine. It is the simplest explanation that fits all of the observed facts. Most folks do not find it very "intuitive".
I taught the stuff. I used to think I *understood* it. Once I began to teach it, it became clear that I did not, in fact, understand it. At all.
But I can write down the Schroedinger Equation and solve the problems...
saxman
