Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis
Fantasy concept of a black cute cat on the background of the beautiful starry sky of the night
Cat in front of starry sky

Shocked by Schrödinger’s Cat

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What is quantum mechanics? Well, weird. Very weird. The great quantum mechanics pioneer Niels Bohr said: “If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet.” How did the study of quantum mechanics come to be? Robert J. Marks discusses quantum mechanics with Dr. Enrique Blair.

Show Notes

  • 00:41 | Introducing Dr. Enrique Blair, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Baylor University
  • 01:16 | The experience of living on a submarine
  • 02:55 | What is quantum mechanics?
  • 03:46 | Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect
  • 04:40 | Assumption of quantized light — photons
  • 04:56 | Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics
  • 06:48 | John Polkinghorne on contradictions
  • 07:41 | Young’s double slit experiment
  • 08:38 | Planck’s explanation of black-body radiation
  • 09:25 | Wave-particle duality
  • 11:38 | Observation of photons
  • 13:02 | Quantum superposition
  • 13:57 | The theory of quantum mechanics (Schrödinger and Heisenberg)
  • 15:39 | What is a wave function?
  • 17:24 | Using quantum mechanics to generate truly random numbers
  • 18:55 | Measurement changes the wave function
  • 19:37 | Many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics
  • 20:57 | Transforming wave functions with operators
  • 21:37 | Schrödinger’s cat
  • 24:28 | Why do we never see superpositions?
  • 25:51 | Quantum decoherence

Additional Resources


Shocked by Schrödinger’s Cat