Literary Discussions

I read somewhere that there are true acausal events on the quantum level , but let me google.http://www.sciencechatforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9228&start=0   Things happen without specific, initiating, causes. Virtual particles appear from nothing and then return back to nothing. They exist for a fleeting instant, but they do exist and their reality is shown via the Casimir effect.

There is much mysterious about the quantum realm. But in this context, I have used a similar argument with the "infinite regress" religious people. We know and see that objects appear from nothing...virtual particles. Thus, at least in principle, this effect has been demonstrated. Now I do not claim that the science of virtual particles is the root cause of the universe. But it shows that one can break the infinite regress.

This is an example of "proof by example," rather than "real" proof.

Look up Bell's inequality and the Aspect experiments. Then let's talk hidden variables.

The thing about quantum is that the equations underlying it are completely deterministic. But which probability is actually manifested is not.

If you're a genius, quantum probably confuses you even more. Anyone not confused by quantum mechanics, doesn't understand it.

In essence, the world in which our senses are accustomed is governed by large numbers of particles, all simultaneously governed by QM. Our understanding of causality stems from the interplay of these large numbers of particles. In a vague and not very accurate sense, you can consider the behavior of a single water molecule and the Pacific Ocean. When you look at the first, you're not likely to predict a typhoon.

it depends on what you mean with cause, a lot of the problems regarding interpretating QM comes from the fact that QM only talks to us with probabilities.

If one accepts that a roll of a die in which a six turns up has a cause in that someone rolled it, I think one must accept that radioactive decay also has a cause. In both cases a specific outcome cannot be predicted, but rather just the distribution of many outcomes, so they don't really have a cause because nothing forces the die to end on a six any particular time.

And as in the case of the die, there is something that sets things moving in the case of radioactive decay, namely that the nucleus will transition to a lower energy state.