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The "classical" form of quantum mechanics (no hidden variables or "pilot waves") maintains that a state exists as a superposition of all possibilities until the act of measuring that state causes the associated wavefunction to collapse. The collapse of the wavefunction then follows the probabilities for each possible state (for example, ...
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The key characteristic of a quantum superposition is that all superposed states are equally real (or potentially real) at the physical level. This is quite different from a classical probability, which assumes that one state is real and the probability reflects our ignorance of the true state of affairs. That, basically, is it.
We know this to be true ...
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One example of a four-step process was Einstein's formulation of special relativity. According to Einstein and the historians who have studied his work, his hypothesis formulation step was not motivated by, say, collecting a sheaf of celestial observations but by a thought experiment. You might consider this to be a four-and-a-half step process ;-) but it ...
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I recently answered a similar question on physics.SE here. What is special about the probabilities of quantum mechanics is that the randomness cannot be explained by a theory of nature that is both local and realist, while classical probabilities can. Quoting myself:
A "local hidden variable" theory is basically the classical idea of how the world ...
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What is important here, is that you have already specified a 'basis'. In this case, the two states of the cat being alive or dead form such a basis. In quantum mechanics, a measurement is determined by specifying a basis (ignoring so-called POVM's here). The possible measurement outcomes that can be obtained are exactly the states in the basis, and the ...
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In practical terms, objects in our experience exist in our mind in a single state. If you think that the expression "existing in multiple states" is simple, you are just repeating the phrase, following the trend, passing the test, but not understanding the huge epistemological problem that lies beneath: it is impossible for our reason to represent ...
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Your answer is related to Consciousness view of superposition.
H. D. Zeh, The Problem of Conscious Observation in Quantum Mechanical Description
The problems of formulating a process of observation within quantum theory arise because of quantum nonlocality (quantum correlations or \entanglement" as part of the generic state), which in turn may be ...
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Impossibility, like nothingness, is an intensive and, especially for metaphysics, highly significant notion of philosophy. Sensu stricto, it is not a mathematical notion. In the context of probability theory, impossibility is defined, if at all, by zero probability (not vice versa) on pedagogical reasons. A simple illustrative example is choosing a number ...
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