FCPHA: Big Table in the Back

[Allie 0]

Poker is dumb. It's a dumb game, dumb "sport", dumb hobby, dumb pastime, dumb activity, dumb pursuit. People who play poker are dumb. The dumbest of the dumb.

[David_Nicoson 1]

[rocksquid 50]

good evening folks.

[jeff_536 3]

Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger (August 12, 1887 – January 4, 1961) was an Austrian physicist who achieved fame for his contributions to quantum mechanics, especially the Schrödinger equation, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1933. In 1935, he proposed the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment.Schrödinger's cat is a seemingly paradoxical thought experiment devised by Erwin Schrödinger that attempts to illustrate the incompleteness of an early interpretation of quantum mechanics when going from subatomic to macroscopic systems. Schrödinger proposed his "cat" after debates with Albert Einstein over the Copenhagen interpretation, which Schrödinger defended, stating in essence that if a scenario existed where a cat could be so isolated from external interference (decoherence), the state of the cat can only be known as a superposition (combination) of possible rest states (eigenstates), because finding out (measuring the state) cannot be done without the observer interfering with the experiment — the measurement system (the observer) is entangled with the experiment.The thought experiment serves to illustrate the strangeness of quantum mechanics and the mathematics necessary to describe quantum states. The idea of a particle existing in a superposition of possible states, while a fact of quantum mechanics, is a concept that does not scale to a large systems (like cats), which are not indeterminably probabilistic in nature. Philosophically, these positions which emphasise either probability or determined outcomes are called (respectively) positivism and determinism.Schrödinger wrote: One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small, that perhaps in the course of the hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts. It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing reality. In itself it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks. According to quantum theory, after an hour the cat is in a quantum superposition of coexisting alive and dead states. Yet when we look in the box we only see one of the states, not a mixture of them.The experiment must be shielded from the environment to prevent quantum decoherence from inducing wavefunction collapse.The above text is a translation of two paragraphs from within a much larger original article, which appeared in the German magazine Naturwissenschaften ("Natural Sciences") in 1935: E. Schrödinger: "Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik" ("The present situation in quantum mechanics"), Naturwissenschaften, 48, 807, 49, 823, 50, 844 (November 1935). It was intended as a discussion of the EPR article published by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen in the same year. Apart from introducing the cat, Schrödinger also coined the term "entanglement" (German: Verschränkung) in his article.In posing this Schrödinger asked the question: when does a quantum system stop existing as a mixture of states and become one or the other? (More technically, when does the actual quantum state stop being a linear combination of states, each of which resemble different classical states, and instead begin to have a unique classical description?) If the cat survives, it remembers only being alive. But explanations of the EPR experiments that are consistent with standard microscopic quantum mechanics require that macroscopic objects, such as cats and notebooks, do not always have unique classical descriptions. The purpose of the thought experiment is to illustrate this apparent paradox: our intuition says that no observer can be in a mixture of states, yet it seems cats can be such a mixture. Are cats required to be observers, or does their existence in a single well-defined classical state require another external observer? Each alternative seemed absurd to Albert Einstein, who was impressed by the ability of the thought experiment to highlight these issues; in a letter to Schrödinger dated 1950 he wrote: You are the only contemporary physicist, besides Laue, who sees that one cannot get around the assumption of reality—if only one is honest. Most of them simply do not see what sort of risky game they are playing with reality—reality as something independent of what is experimentally established. Their interpretation is, however, refuted most elegantly by your system of radioactive atom + amplifier + charge of gun powder + cat in a box, in which the psi-function of the system contains both the cat alive and blown to bits. Nobody really doubts that the presence or absence of the cat is something independent of the act of observation.But perhaps it was inevitable that Einstein would be impressed with Schrödinger's cat—Einstein had previously suggested to Schrödinger a similar paradox involving an unstable keg of gunpowder, instead of a cat. Schrödinger had taken the next step of applying quantum mechanics to an entity that may or may not be conscious, to further illustrate the putative incompleteness of quantum mechanics.

[babyangel 0]

does SAM know what's he getting into when we invade your country?

Probably not, but he frequently asks me who said something funny when I laugh out loud on the thread. He doesn't think we're as funny as I do though.

That will do just fine.

If you're happy, I'm happy.One more episode of the Hills and then into the tub with me!!!

[Pupsta 0]

way to know your audience, dave

[rocksquid 50]

I'm out. peace.cards live, pots monsters.

[SAM_Hard8 50]

OMBT

[booyaga 0]

Stan, I gave you a gift on facebook, I think you'll really like it!

I HAVE A FACEBOOK FRIEND!!!! YAAAAYYYYYand yes....i loooooooooooove it......i'm only gonna use it when i dream 'bout you

[booyaga 0]

this video that i got 'bout counting cards in blackjack makes it look sooooooooooooooo much easier than it actually is....+1 -1 my ass......i found out today it's harder than i thought when i was at a +16.......i had 18 while the dealer was showin' a 7 and i was tellin' the dealer to hit me, and he looked at me like i was some kinda dumb polack.....i said whoopsie, thought it was 16, and the dealer said, "yah...everyone mistakes a 10 and an 8 as 16" i won that handWHO'S THE DUMB POLACK NOW SUCKA?!?!

[RonBurgundy 0]

you all are fascinating. i really want to make it to one of the get togethers as soon as possible, so if its happening, fill me in. its too easy to stay around a small number of people at college and i have to get used to being able to leave on a whim now that im away from home.hallelujah holla back,jim

[Nikki_N 17]

you all are fascinating. i really want to make it to one of the get togethers as soon as possible, so if its happening, fill me in. its too easy to stay around a small number of people at college and i have to get used to being able to leave on a whim now that im away from home.hallelujah holla back,jim

Toronto in March?

[Nikki_N 17]

When Dave is all smart and clever like this, it gets me hot.

[Nikki_N 17]

Have I mentioned that I am NOT a fan of morning? Ugh. There should be a law that prohibits employers from making people go to work before 10 am unless of course it's a business that is open 24 hrs/day.

[Nikki_N 17]

I see you, Brad. Why aren't we in bed? I think Lance finally hit the hay.

[RonBurgundy 0]

still going strong. drunk naps this weekend have officially ****ed my sleep schedule to the point of no return.added bonus: i get to rediscover the magic of breakfast

[Nikki_N 17]

still going strong. drunk naps this weekend have officially ****ed my sleep schedule to the point of no return.added bonus: i get to rediscover the magic of breakfast

I just had apple cinnamon oatmeal. I don't know if you've read this bit, but apparently, French toast served to a girl will guarantee you brain. Try it and let me know if it works for you.

[RonBurgundy 0]

my deal closer is a little movie i like to call purple rain, but ill try french toast as well

[Painter567 0]

I see you, Brad. Why aren't we in bed? I think Lance finally hit the hay.

Sux. Ya, I may go back after I drop Sky off.....I have a light morning.

[Pupsta 0]

I see you, Brad. Why aren't we in bed? I think Lance finally hit the hay.

bzzt, wrong answer. just enjoying the last porntime i'll have for a long time since my friend will be living in my living room, which doubles as computer room. i have to leave in 2 hours to drive to bullhead city, az to pick him up.

[Allie 0]

Happy Birthday Shaver!!!!

[Pupsta 0]

happy birthday shaver!

[SAM_Hard8 50]

I just had apple cinnamon oatmeal. I don't know if you've read this bit, but apparently, French toast served to a girl will guarantee you brain. Try it and let me know if it works for you.

I have served frnch toast many times and it has never resulted in brain.

[SAM_Hard8 50]

Happy Birthday Shaver!!!!

Happy birthday shaver!

[booyaga 0]

happy birthday shaver!