Probabilistic vs Pilot-Wave view of Quantum Physics | WIRED

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http://www.wired.com/2014/06/the-new-quantum-reality/

Interesting. I’ve always had issues with the probabilistic view, and I like the pilot wave (Bohmian) view. It makes more sense in my head. That doesn’t mean it’s right, of course, but just saying – I find it more elegant and satisfactory. It doesn’t require magic.

It’s important to realise that both views are of the same quantum physics. Feynman said “no one truly understands quantum mechanics”.

I reckon it’s worthwhile putting way more research into the pilot-wave view again, as it may well be able to help resolve other related issues such as the unified theory. Different perspectives often help to do that (and that’s even the case if they’re wrong!)

Also consider this tidbit:

In a groundbreaking experiment, the Paris researchers used the droplet setup to demonstrate single- and double-slit interference. They discovered that when a droplet bounces toward a pair of openings in a damlike barrier, it passes through only one slit or the other, while the pilot wave passes through both. Repeated trials show that the overlapping wavefronts of the pilot wave steer the droplets to certain places and never to locations in between — an apparent replication of the interference pattern in the quantum double-slit experiment that Feynman described as “impossible … to explain in any classical way.” And just as measuring the trajectories of particles seems to “collapse” their simultaneous realities, disturbing the pilot wave in the bouncing-droplet experiment destroys the interference pattern.

10 Scientific Ideas That Scientists Wish You Would Stop Misusing

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http://io9.com/10-scientific-ideas-that-scientists-wish-you-would-stop-1591309822

Many ideas have left the world of science and made their way into everyday language — and unfortunately, they are almost always used incorrectly. We asked a group of scientists to tell us which scientific terms they believe are the most widely misunderstood. Here are ten of them.

Carbon Tax in Canada

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Just in case you thought that Canada is on Abbott’s wavelength – that may be the case in terms of Canada’s current prime minister and some of its actions on the federal level.

But let me show you this, straight from the website of the Ministry of Finance of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is actually very similar to what Australia currently has, with the proceeds from its tax given back to families, pensioners and the clean energy fund, among others.
By the way, the British Columbian government is of Liberal/Conservative flavour.

Source: http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/tbs/tp/climate/carbon_tax.htm

Overview of the revenue-neutral carbon tax

B.C. continues to be a leader in climate action by having a carbon tax.

The revenue-neutral carbon tax was implemented on July 1, 2008, and the final scheduled increase took effect on July 1, 2012.

The initial tax rate was relatively low and has increased gradually to allow families and businesses time to reduce their emissions. The tax is also intentionally broadly based and paid by all those who consume fossil fuels in the province.

The tax puts a price on carbon to

  • encourage individuals, businesses, industry and others to use less fossil fuel and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions;
  • send a consistent price signal;
  • ensure those who produce emissions pay for them; and
  • make clean energy alternatives more attractive.

The carbon tax is revenue neutral, meaning every dollar generated by the tax is returned to British Columbians through reductions in other taxes.

Dolphins In The Blue-2 (Finally!)

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2

 

I started to swim away as fast as I could when I heard a sad, scared and quiet voice, ‘wait,’ I squeaked in relief, I saw that the shadow was only a seal. ‘ Sorry for startling you, I suppose you can’t get to sleep either?’ It asked ‘no, yes, well, lets just say that I can’t sleep easily.’ I replied. The seal seemed to be happier about this and asked ‘what’s your name anyway?’ ‘Apollo and yours?’ I asked ‘Pearl, and do you know what makes you say OI?’ ‘no wha-?’ but I never finished the question because Pearl smacked me playfully on the flipper and raced off ‘OI!’ I squealed. I swam after her trying not to click too loudly and using my echolocation. Pearl was using her excellent hearing and her sensitive whiskers to make sure I didn’t get too close.

In the end I ended up clicking, ‘ok, ok I agree and give up ok? Oh and Pearl, could you come with me to sleep with my pod? I will be pretty lonely without you.’ ‘Sure and… could you introduce me to your friends?’ she asked, ‘sure,’ I replied and with that we swam side by side back to where the pod was. When we got back we swam a quietly as we could back to where I was sleeping before. In moments I fell asleep, surprisingly, probably because of all the rushing around.

The next day came too soon and when I got shaken awake from Flipper I was confused and tired. ‘Wha? Wait, no, give me five more minutes Mum…’ I murmured, ‘wake UP Apollo, you’ve been asleep for half of the day already!’ Clicked Flipper loudly, that was when I squealed, ‘WHAT!? HALF THE DAY!?’ and woke up completely.

 

We had been swimming with the pod for two hours when we felt vibrations in the water. ‘Uhh Mum… what‘s happening? I’m scared’ clicked, ‘that‘s just a boat, don’t worry. Tell you what, how about we go ask Slash if we can do some bow riding?’ She replied ‘Yeah sure, but one question what is bow riding?’ but she never really answered my question because Slash swam over to us and said, ‘did I hear you two talking about bow riding? What a great idea!’ and he clicked without waiting for an answer and called a meeting right then and there.

 

Soon the whole pod were swimming towards the boat ,which ended up to be a cruise boat, all excited of the thought of going bow riding. We got there faster than I thought we would and everyone rushed forwards to the front of the boat and I followed hesitantly not knowing what to do. I soon found out though because everyone was jumping out of the water with the wave and I joined in and found out it was really easy and fun! ‘Wee!’ I squealed for about the hundredth time with Bubs and Flip on either side of me. I slowed down and looked up at the humans and they looked back at me with grins on their faces. ‘Come in, the water’s great!’ I squealed to them, even though I knew they couldn’t understand me.

 

One girl smiled and nodded at me as though she understood me though, she said something to her mum in human language and her mum looked thoughtful. Then they walked up the boat with me following them, the girl was looking at me all the while.

 

We soon reached where they were going and the mum walked over to this person with a hat saying “captain” on it, whatever that means. The mother talked to him and he nodded to her and the girl seemed really happy and ran somewhere else on the boat where I couldn’t see. The girl soon came back wearing something black with polka dots which I assume they use to be like us and swim. She got lowered down a ladder and as soon as the other kids saw what was happening they ran off too.

 

In no time at all there was a lot of kids in the water all trying to keep up with us so we had a bit of fun by going close to them and darting off again. It was so funny to see them swimming really slowly trying to catch us. The girl that first got in seemed to stick as close to me as she could. Somehow she got to me and she looked at my dorsal fin in surprise so I turned around and saw, for the first time, that I had a scar running all the way down it in the shape of an ‘A’.

 

I turned around in the water twice before remembering along time ago, when I was younger, playing with a sharp rock and batted it with my tail and then a lot of pain in my dorsal fin. I squealed loudly in surprise and the girl laughed. I looked closer on her swimsuit thing and saw that it had her name on it, well at least I think it was her name and I read Genevieve in yellow. She smiled at me and started swimming towards me muttering things in her human language.

 

I’m not sure what she said but she seemed to be trying to calm me down. She was coming closer to me so I darted away ready to play, but, Genevieve seemed to get sad so I slowly swam towards her and she smiled again. I dived under her and she squealed with excitement. I came back up again and splashed her. She splashed me back and soon we were having a water fight.

 

Soon mum came and immediately I knew it was time to go. I didn’t want to so I hid behind the human girl. ‘Come on now Apollo it’s time to go,’ she clicked, ‘aww but I was playing with this human…’ I clicked back. ‘Come Apollo, now! No excuses.’ She said, so, of course, I followed her back to the pod but not before I nudged Genevieve a “bye” hug.

 

As I looked at the sunset, I saw the boat disappear into the distance, and, as I settled down to sleep, I wondered if i would ever see the human girl again.