Phillip Goff

You know, normally with a scientific theory, it's kind of obvious what it's saying.

So there are these different interpretations. And what this shows is, again, the importance of philosophy. Because here we have a situation where the equations leave open a number of options. And there's a role for judgment call in which is the most plausible. Yeah. Why is there this situation? You can think of it in a way as a clash between, in a sense, a clash between theory and observation.

So there are these different interpretations. And what this shows is, again, the importance of philosophy. Because here we have a situation where the equations leave open a number of options. And there's a role for judgment call in which is the most plausible. Yeah. Why is there this situation? You can think of it in a way as a clash between, in a sense, a clash between theory and observation.

So there are these different interpretations. And what this shows is, again, the importance of philosophy. Because here we have a situation where the equations leave open a number of options. And there's a role for judgment call in which is the most plausible. Yeah. Why is there this situation? You can think of it in a way as a clash between, in a sense, a clash between theory and observation.

If you take the basic bit of mathematics in quantum mechanics, the Schrodinger equation, On the face of it, it tells this story of this weird world of superpositions, right? Where particles are multiply located. Can you explain that for people who maybe don't know? Nobody knows what a superposition is, but it's...

If you take the basic bit of mathematics in quantum mechanics, the Schrodinger equation, On the face of it, it tells this story of this weird world of superpositions, right? Where particles are multiply located. Can you explain that for people who maybe don't know? Nobody knows what a superposition is, but it's...

If you take the basic bit of mathematics in quantum mechanics, the Schrodinger equation, On the face of it, it tells this story of this weird world of superpositions, right? Where particles are multiply located. Can you explain that for people who maybe don't know? Nobody knows what a superposition is, but it's...

something like a single particle is not just here and not just there, but in some sense in many different locations at the same time. But of course, that's just what the equation seems to suggest. But of course, when we actually observe... a given particle, it's only ever in one particular location.

something like a single particle is not just here and not just there, but in some sense in many different locations at the same time. But of course, that's just what the equation seems to suggest. But of course, when we actually observe... a given particle, it's only ever in one particular location.

something like a single particle is not just here and not just there, but in some sense in many different locations at the same time. But of course, that's just what the equation seems to suggest. But of course, when we actually observe... a given particle, it's only ever in one particular location.

I mean, this is made vivid with the wonderful Schrödinger's cat experiment, thought experiment, which, I don't know if people know, was created by Schrödinger to kind of ridicule quantum mechanics. Even though he was one of the founders, he had some suspicions of it, and it was his way of saying, something not right going on here. So I'm sure...

I mean, this is made vivid with the wonderful Schrödinger's cat experiment, thought experiment, which, I don't know if people know, was created by Schrödinger to kind of ridicule quantum mechanics. Even though he was one of the founders, he had some suspicions of it, and it was his way of saying, something not right going on here. So I'm sure...

I mean, this is made vivid with the wonderful Schrödinger's cat experiment, thought experiment, which, I don't know if people know, was created by Schrödinger to kind of ridicule quantum mechanics. Even though he was one of the founders, he had some suspicions of it, and it was his way of saying, something not right going on here. So I'm sure...

viewers know something of the setup here we we have a randomly decaying isotope so there's like a let's say a 50 percent 50 50 chance it's going to decay in a certain time period and it's connected to a vial of poison and it's in a box with a cat so if the substance decays the poison will come out the cat will die if it doesn't the cat's going to live to fight another day

viewers know something of the setup here we we have a randomly decaying isotope so there's like a let's say a 50 percent 50 50 chance it's going to decay in a certain time period and it's connected to a vial of poison and it's in a box with a cat so if the substance decays the poison will come out the cat will die if it doesn't the cat's going to live to fight another day

viewers know something of the setup here we we have a randomly decaying isotope so there's like a let's say a 50 percent 50 50 chance it's going to decay in a certain time period and it's connected to a vial of poison and it's in a box with a cat so if the substance decays the poison will come out the cat will die if it doesn't the cat's going to live to fight another day

Why are we thinking about this? The point is, if you just took the Schrodinger equation, the basic mathematical bit of quantum mechanics, and applied it to this system, it would tell you that that would evolve into a scenario where the substance is decaying and not decaying, the poison is out and not out, the cat is alive and dead. And yet that's not what we observe, right?

Why are we thinking about this? The point is, if you just took the Schrodinger equation, the basic mathematical bit of quantum mechanics, and applied it to this system, it would tell you that that would evolve into a scenario where the substance is decaying and not decaying, the poison is out and not out, the cat is alive and dead. And yet that's not what we observe, right?

Why are we thinking about this? The point is, if you just took the Schrodinger equation, the basic mathematical bit of quantum mechanics, and applied it to this system, it would tell you that that would evolve into a scenario where the substance is decaying and not decaying, the poison is out and not out, the cat is alive and dead. And yet that's not what we observe, right?

We lift up the lid, the cat's either definitely alive or definitely dead. And so you might think, well, how can this be a good scientific theory if the theory doesn't fit what we observe? That's because there's another bit to quantum mechanics.