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→Quantum mechanics and God: new section
I added a section about the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. It is very difficult to express them without mathematics and with a minimum of specialized language, but I did my best. --[[User:Quetzalcoatl|Quetzalcoatl]] 23:12, 13 August 2009 (EDT)
I added a section about the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. It is very difficult to express them without mathematics and with a minimum of specialized language, but I did my best. --[[User:Quetzalcoatl|Quetzalcoatl]] 23:12, 13 August 2009 (EDT)
== Quantum mechanics and God ==
It occurred to me during a discussion that God's omniscience has some interesting implications when discussing quantum mechanics. The question being discussed had to do with Calvinism, and with whether God's omniscience invariably leads to predestined salvation.
Schrodinger's thought experiment popped immediately into my mind, and it occurred to me that, if the Copenhagen interpretation is accurate, God's omniscience makes Schrodinger's Cat an impossibility: the superposition of states cannot be unresolved, and the waveform cannot be uncollapsed, because there is an omnipresent observer.
This would actually be in keeping with Schrodinger's views; he did not, after all, believe that it was possible for a cat to be both alive and dead at the same time. Schrodinger's Cat was an effort to point out the absurdity that results from a strict acceptance of the Copenhagen Interpretation. He pointed this out in an exchange with Einstein, saying that one "cannot get around the assumption of reality"--that is, reality must have a definite state, even if that state is (as of yet) undetermined.
It occurs to me that the acceptance of an omniscient observer resolves a great many paradoxes associated with quantum mechanics, and lends credence to the relational interpretation--in which scenario the waveform would appear uncollapsed to us, while God would observe it as collapsed. It would also suggest that objective collapse theory is a misinterpretation; collapse DOES occur irrespective of our observations, but not irrespective of ANY observation. The ENVIRONMENT does not observe the cat; the CREATOR of the environment observes the cat (or the particle)--and, in so doing, collapses the waveform and resolves the superposition.
However, I will admit that my understanding of these issues is a layman's, and not thorough. I know there are other contributors here with a much deeper understanding of quantum mechanics, and perhaps they can correct any misperceptions and misunderstandings in my above scenario.