Timeline for Why are measurements considered irreversible?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14 at 13:16 | vote | accept | Davyz2 | ||
| Jun 6 at 13:18 | comment | added | John | Perhaps. But metaphysics or not, if there is anything that I know with certainty that is the fact of my conscious being. Everything else, including the very reality of Universe can be debated. | |
| Jun 6 at 10:05 | comment | added | Davyz2 | That is a metaphysical assumption, as such it can't be part of a scientific theory, consciousness has no physical definition, it's defined by your feelings about the intuitive experiences you have, which is again completely irrelevant for physics, I believe there is no "most basic facts" about the Universe, every fact dictated by intuitive experiences has been proven wrong | |
| Jun 6 at 9:59 | comment | added | John | I disagree here. I realize it is borderline physics what I am talking about here, but I understand this is key thing about consciousness that you really can't unknow anything. It is somewhat circular but in a sense consciousness is what directs the arrow of time: past is what you know already and future is what you are yet to know. Accepting the possibility of unknowing breaks the distinction between past and future which, although it is missing from the equation so of physics, is one of the most basic facts about the Universe (aka 2nd Law of Thermodynamics). | |
| Jun 6 at 9:52 | comment | added | Davyz2 | That is not strictly true, you can "unknow" it in principle, all you need is the knowledge of the quantum state and interaction hamiltonian of the observer + system, the fact you can't do it in practice is irrelevant, I was wondering if measurements are irreversible at a fundamental level. | |
| Jun 4 at 22:18 | answer | added | John Doty | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jun 4 at 20:01 | answer | added | alanf | timeline score: -1 | |
| Jun 4 at 13:55 | answer | added | QuantumBrachistochrone | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jun 4 at 13:41 | answer | added | gandalf61 | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jun 4 at 13:32 | comment | added | John | At the end of a mesurement you $know$ something. The bird is out. It is not the "inner business" of the system anymore. You can't unknow it. So measurement's got be irreversible in principle. What you describe misses this last crucial step when you as a conscious observer interact with the measurement device $D$. At this point the wavefunction collapses and the information is lost. | |
| Jun 4 at 13:30 | history | edited | Qmechanic♦ |
edited tags; edited tags
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| Jun 4 at 13:25 | history | asked | Davyz2 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |