Posted by Robert on 8/15/2001,
11:22 am
205.188.197.168
Zak's comments in italics; mine in bold.
The fact is that on different occasions throughout his life Einstein
made a number of seemingly
self-contradictory statements regarding his views and beliefs on psychic
and mystical topics.
This is just wrong. Einstein NEVER believed in anything of the paranormal.
Notice that no citations
were given.
On several occasions, for example, he expressed a strong interest in research
into ESP and other psychic
phenomena. He even wrote the introduction to Upton Sinclair's Mental Radio.
Einstein and Sinclair were friends, mostly because of their common political
beliefs. Both were
socialists. Sinclair wrote of his wife’s supposed ESP abilities. Einstein
was loyal, if misguided when he
wrote the brief introduction. From Einstein – a Life by Denis Brian, John
Wiley & Son, Inc. 1996, p 216:
“Einstein did it (attended a séance) because he liked Sinclair very
much. …He (Einstein) said that he
wrote the preface to Sinclair’s book on telepathy as a matter of friendship.”
It is very important to remember, in any discussion concerning Einstein
and his views on psychic
phenomena, that Einstein was implacably opposed to Niels Bohr's interpretation
of quantum physics
(which, if true, would contravene his own Theory of Relativity) and spent
the latter half of his life trying to
disprove quantum mechanics, which appeared to imply the existence of some
kind of existential telepathy.
Einstein and Bohr had many arguments about Bohr’s theory, all of which
Bohr won. The parenthetic
comment was just Einstein’s initial reaction. He soon realized that was
not the case at all because no
information was exchanged. Other than the "thought experiments" he threw
at Bohr, Einstein spent the
“latter half” of his life trying to combine gravity and the other forces.
He spent NO time, to my
knowledge, trying to “disprove” quantum mechanics. He did not agree with
it, but it was not a topic he
researched. He was interested in discovering the truth in nature, not in
a mere attempt to discredit a
theory he knew worked so well.
Einstein, who helped to lay the foundations for QM (and who was awarded
the Nobel prize for his
contribution to this field), was never able to accept what he termed the
“schizophrenic” nature of quantum
particles, which he considered “too spooky” to be true.
"It is as if photons are accompanied by ghost waves", he commented.
He could never be convinced that twin particles, if separated, would continue
to interact with each other as
if they were still connected. He believed that this phenomenon could only
be explained "...by assuming that
measuring S1 (the first particle) telepathically changes the real situations
of S2 (the other particle) or by
denying independently real situations as such to things which are spatially
separated from each other".
This is just absurd. Einstein proposed the existence of “hidden variables”
to account for the EPR
paradox. The continual reference to “telepathy” is misleading. Einstein
was not an idiot.
The existence of telepathy, therefore (as in the truly instantaneous
transference of information from one
location to another), was inconsistent with with his own Relativity.
Again, Einstein came to realize that NO information was exchanged and
his opposition was based on his
unswerving belief in determinism, as his oft quoted remark reveals. “I
cannot believe that God plays
dice with the world.”
Whether QM implies a "transference of information" very much depends
on one's definition of
"information". It is certainly possible to transfer information via entangled
particles.
Bell’s Theorem made it clear that NO information was transferred. That
Quantum Mechanics allows
subluminal transfer of information is trivially true.
In any event it was Einstein, not I, who used the term "telepathy" in relation to entanglement.
Einstein’s use of the word “telepathy” was ironic and was used to criticize
Bohr’s resolution of the EPR.
He never used it in relation to “entanglement,” since that term came into
use well after his time.
Look, I don't mean to be rude, but you just don't know what you're talking
about. You've already made an
ass of yourself with your earlier statements, and now, instead of going
away and doing a bit more research
into the subject, you're compounding your folly by making even more nonsensical
statements.
Like many people, you think you understand quantum mechanics, but in fact
- as is abundantly clear from
the silly statements you've made above (and previously) - you do not.
What would he be like if he WERE rude?
While every individual, local measurement on a photon produces a random
outcome, and can therefore
carry no information from one location to another, it is nevertheless possible
to transfer information by
quantum entanglement. The method relies on the sender and the reciever
sharing a pair of entangled
particles, A and B. If the sender, who has a particle that is in an unknown
quantum state (X), carries out a
Bell-state measurement on particles A and X, this will produce one of four
possible outcomes. If this result
is transmitted to the receiver by non-quantum means, the receiver can choose
to either leave his particle
unaltered or rotate it. In either case it ends up a perfect replica of
the original particle X.
Could anyone make sense of this? Gibberish!
My "telepathy" quote is from:Albert Einstein, Autobiographical Notes, Harper and Row
And the citation given here is disingenuous. The ONLY autobiography
Einstein wrote was for the
volume “Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist,” in the series called
The Library of Living Philosophers, edited by Paul Arthur Schilpp. If the
author of these fantasies had
actually read that book, then he would have given the full citation, as
required.
The speed of light never entered into the discussion until "Robert"
introduced it in an attempt to fudge the
issue and squirm out of the corner he'd painted himself into. What I said
was that information can be
transferred via quantum entanglement. I never mentioned the speed of light
or superluminal particles.
Sorry, but I rarely squirm, and it takes a Bernie, Shanks or Askew
to do that – not some squirrelly
cowboy who mixes argument with ad hominems. As for the speed of light,
what was all that crap about
“telepathy” about? And what prompted this nonsense in the first place?
Quantum information can be transmitted by the method I outlined. With
regard to the speed of light, there
is nothing either in quantum physics or in Newtonian physics to prevent
zero-mass particles from travelling
in excess of the speed of light.
Ah, yes, “teleportation.” Admittedly an interesting experiment, although
I suspect, useless in the end,
IMO. And as I said before, Einstein postulated that the speed of light
was the ultimate speed in the
universe. He has been proven correct in thousands of experiments. And since
the photon is the ONLY
zero-mass particle we now are aware of (the projected graviton presumably
would be), your comment is
ditzy.
Enough. I thought it worthwhile to expose this imposter, but I probably
overdid it. If so, I apologize for wasting
your time.
RN