Friday Night Lecture: Quantum Mechanics

I had a lovely evening. The lecture on Quantum Mechanics given by Dr. Branning of Trinity College was by far the best of the year. I learned a few very interesting things about quantum mechanical theories.

1. I agree with Bohr when he said, “ Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.”
2. Einstein, whether correct or not about quantum theory, was by far an intellectual superior to the mean physicist even today. The EPR paradox he helped to set up, where he most strongly took his stand against Quantum Mechanics, is also the building block for much of the progress physicists (classical, quantum, and otherwise) have made in trying to debunk both relativity and quantum theories.
3. I was intrigued by and inclined to agree with Dr. Branning’s belief that “theories can only be falsified, but they can never be proven.” I’ve heard this before; I don’t suspect that such a statement is exclusively his, but I do think it’s worth quoting.
4. Einstein and Bohr had good senses of humor.
5. All modern physicists must have a good sense of humor, a vocabulary with many synonyms of the word weird, and a strong conviction that time spent with the universe via a chalkboard (or computer) is time well spent. I also am beginning to see that the most advantaged, prolific, and remembered physicists are those who have some investment in philosophy. There are always the few who can manipulate the mathematics to do terrible, wonderful, and freakish things, but they often don’t have enough sight beyond the paper to understand what it means for the way we live if what they’ve written out is real (or perhaps true is a more appropriate word). I hold my three heroes of physics, based on what little I know—Newton, Einstein, and Bohr—as examples of those who understood what the maths could mean if we someone discovered them to be true.
6. Quantum Mechanics supports (is supported) by the notion of randomness, but it’s not randomness in any way comparable to what most would call “chaos.” Somewhere in the transition from the “quantum world” and the macroscopic world there is a shift from this so-called randomness to predictable, Newtonian, Einsteinian, classical physics—apparent order. I wouldn’t dare yet to even philosophically approach this mystery that most physicists won’t touch, but I do think the actuality of what seems to be a shift hints toward some law(s) at work. Also, the mystifying regularity of the mathematics stemming from Bell’s Theorem seem so utterly not-random. But that’s only my opinion, at this point.
7. I remembered how much I enjoy physics.
8. Every time I think about theoretical physics I subsequently think of Eric and Ryan (though the converse is not always true).

Crew tomorrow: the Ritter Cup. Goodnight.