Quantum Mechanics Explained
It’s Saturday morning and weekends are little more lax regarding work discipline, such as it is. When not behind, I use them for more creative endeavors and thinking.
So why not write a scientific article?
One of my favorite people I follow is the German Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder. She is a physicist, really down-to-earth, and I’ve never seen her use her academic title. If you don’t know Germans, that may not impress you. But let me assure you — she is grounded, brilliant and impressive.
She has a unique ability to describe science and technology in an easy understood way - while being seriously funny. And she does it using first principles looking at problems from multiple neutral angles. Even on topics like AGW.
You can find her here: YouTube: @SabineHossenfelder, X: @skdb
Let’s get back to my morning. Sabine was comparing how different AIs explain Bell’s theorem:
Bell’s theorem demonstrates that quantum mechanics predicts correlations between distant particles that cannot be explained by local hidden variables, implying nonlocality in quantum systems.
But not just that. As one of the relatively few who truly have some understanding of quantum mechanics, she was testing whether AIs grasp the underlying math. It seems some might.
I never have understood QM. In fact it has only provoked headaches, as it really is inexplicable. At least to me. But after reading Sabine’s comments and the AI answers I had an epiphany. This is why I wrote this. I may finally understand. At least I have a theory (yeah, yeah I know, hypothesis at best).
Scrap CERN: Bell’s Theorem Proves We Need a Cosmic Object Browser
By Pierre A. Larsen (somehow not a doctor - but a scientific hypothesis is a good start)
Attention: Not peer reviewed (yet)
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I’m through with CERN’s particle-crashing circus. Quantum mechanics has blown my mind until just recently, revealing the universe as a humongous program - in today’s parlance: an app. Particles don’t fully exist until you look at them. Their properties, like spin or position, stay undefined until measurement, when they instantiate like code hitting a compile/run button. Entangled particles? They’re like two pointers to one quantum object, syncing instantly across unimaginable distances such as the cosmos. Bell’s theorem seals the deal, proving this weirdness is real. Forget colliders. We need an object browser to surf the universe’s source code, not blow it apart.
Quantum mechanics has blown my mind until just recently, revealing the universe as a humongous program — in today’s parlance: an app.
Bell’s Theorem: The Proof in the Code
Bell’s theorem is the smoking gun that the universe isn’t some predictable machine. Back in the 1960s, John Bell tested whether particles have preset properties, like a hidden script, or if quantum mechanics’ spooky randomness holds up. His math showed that if reality follows local rules (no faster-than-light connections, everything pre-decided), measurements of entangled particles should follow strict patterns. Experiments, like those with photons, smashed those patterns. When you measure one entangled particle, its twin instantly aligns, no matter the distance, defying any local script. This proves particles don’t have fixed states until instantiated and entangled pairs act like one cosmic object, bound by quantum code.
The Object Browser Vision
Imagine a tool to debug this reality. Particles live in superposition, a haze of possibilities, until observation locks them in. An object browser would let you view their wavefunction, all potential states, without triggering a collapse. For entangled particles, those freaky twins sharing one quantum state, it would map their connection, showing how measuring one instantiates both, whether across a lab or a galaxy. It’s like inspecting two variables tied to the same memory slot in God’s cosmic program.
Why CERN’s Left Behind
CERN’s colliders are like smashing a computer to read its code: crude and wasteful. Bell’s theorem already proved the universe runs on quantum weirdness, not local determinism. An object browser would let us explore this directly:
- Visualize superpositions as glowing probability clouds.
- Track entanglement to see how paired particles sync, as Bell’s experiments confirmed.
- Debug causality to watch state changes ripple instantly, no collisions needed.
- Simulate quantum outcomes without disturbing the system.
Building the Browser
It’s no simple task, like hacking reality’s API. Quantum computers manipulate qubits in superposition, so we’re halfway there. Add cutting-edge sensors for non-invasive quantum scans, perhaps using weak measurements, and an AI to render the data in a sleek interface. If God coded the universe in an object-oriented language, with particles as objects and entanglement as shared references, our browser must access the classes (quantum states) and methods (physical laws). Bell’s theorem killed the idea of a hidden rulebook, so we’d embrace the universe’s probabilistic, non-local nature.
Einstein’s Spooky (double entendre - get it?) Nod
Einstein hated this “spooky action at a distance” and bet on a hidden, local reality. Bell’s theorem and decades of experiments proved him wrong: quantum mechanics rules. An object browser could let us poke the universe’s code to hunt for deeper answers. If none exist, it would confirm reality’s wild randomness, and Einstein would salute the cosmic coder.
The Big Picture
Ditch the billion-euro smashers. Bell’s theorem proves particles instantiate on observation and entangled pairs share a quantum core. A cosmic object browser would let us surf the quantum codebase, exploring how the universe compiles reality. God’s the ultimate dev, and it’s time to stop breaking atoms and start browsing the program that runs existence.
As a newly minted theoretical physicist I now leave this task in the hands of lesser experimental physicists and - God forbid - engineers.
