Questioning Existence

This is a very interesting question. I heard about a physics question that physicists asked themselves at one point relating to quantum theory. That question is: If you can't see the moon (it's a new moon or on the other side of the Earth), does it exist? The answer they said was no, it does not exist at least according to quantum theory. Why quantum theory? It is impossible to know the exact location of any one particle. Physicists use lab equipment to find, lets say a Proton. They will never know exactly where the Proton is, but they will get a percentage of how close they are to the Proton. The funny thing is, they never get to 100% as the Proton is more like a haze rather than a particle. So (this is gonna sound weird), we can never know the "exact" (quantum level) position of anything, including the moon. So, that being said, is existance a mere illusion or just one big cruel joke?

dream431ca

[QUOTE="dream431ca"]

This is a very interesting question. I heard about a physics question that physicists asked themselves at one point relating to quantum theory. That question is: If you can't see the moon (it's a new moon or on the other side of the Earth), does it exist? The answer they said was no, it does not exist at least according to quantum theory. Why quantum theory? It is impossible to know the exact location of any one particle. Physicists use lab equipment to find, lets say a Proton. They will never know exactly where the Proton is, but they will get a percentage of how close they are to the Proton. The funny thing is, they never get to 100% as the Proton is more like a haze rather than a particle. So (this is gonna sound weird), we can never know the "exact" (quantum level) position of anything, including the moon. So, that being said, is existance a mere illusion or just one big cruel joke?

xaos

How is it wrong? It hasn't been disproven. Remember, I was relating to quantum physics, so if you don't have an understanding on how quantum physics works, it would drive you insane. It drove Einstine insane. He refused to believe it.

[QUOTE="xaos"][QUOTE="dream431ca"]

This is a very interesting question. I heard about a physics question that physicists asked themselves at one point relating to quantum theory. That question is: If you can't see the moon (it's a new moon or on the other side of the Earth), does it exist? The answer they said was no, it does not exist at least according to quantum theory. Why quantum theory? It is impossible to know the exact location of any one particle. Physicists use lab equipment to find, lets say a Proton. They will never know exactly where the Proton is, but they will get a percentage of how close they are to the Proton. The funny thing is, they never get to 100% as the Proton is more like a haze rather than a particle. So (this is gonna sound weird), we can never know the "exact" (quantum level) position of anything, including the moon. So, that being said, is existance a mere illusion or just one big cruel joke?

dream431ca

How is it wrong? It hasn't been disproven. Remember, I was relating to quantum physics, so if you don't have an understanding on how quantum physics works, it would drive you insane. It drove Einstine insane. He refused to believe it.

No credible scientist I've met, including the professors of the several particle/quantum physics courses I took in college, says that the moon does not exist when it is not being seen. That is a common "New Age-y" spin on the uncertainty principle, which has the less sexy property of being a physical analogue of the observer effect. There are probability clouds for quantum scale which collapse on being observed, and there are some very counterintuitive phenomena that result from this (the double slit experiment immediately leaping to mind). My tone was harsher than it should have been because of my annoyance with pseudoscience, and I should have acknowledged that the latter half of your post was more or less in line with our understanding of the quantum realm, though uncertainty has less to do with a probability cloud than the fact that any particle, such as a photon that can be used to determine the position of a quantum scale particle will impart momentum to that particle and change its position and velocity.xaos

Do you think you understand quantum mechanics?

There are a lot of things I don't know including whether I exist or not based on who or who isn't around to see me.

Do you think you understand quantum mechanics?

LikeHaterade

can we plz not get into religion again..... I mean really its gettin annoying

sure. Even if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it...it still emits waves that are interpreted as sounds to our ears...and if something exists and nobody knows about it then it still takes up space and has mass...so it fits the definition of existence.

[QUOTE="cee1gee"][QUOTE="CommonFable"]

can we plz not get into religion again..... I mean really its gettin annoying

dave123321

God has not been proven to exist, since there is no matter or space taken up by that alleged matter.

What about animals we haven't yet discovered?

They exist even though we don't know about them.

If no one knows you existed, do you actually exist?

im gonna say no, if no one knows you exist then your non existent, how can someone exist if no one can think of them or ever thought of them

cee1gee

Yup, you'd exist.

If no one knows you existed, do you actually exist?

im gonna say no, if no one knows you exist then your non existent, how can someone exist if no one can think of them or ever thought of them

cee1gee

i just read your statement again, and found it gets even more idiotic every time i read it, i just cant comprehend how you could believe in such flawed logic.

this is the same type of question such as if a tree falls in a forest does it make a sound. Of course it does. If you are flesh and blood you exist. Those things that are unknown to humantiy still exist, they are just unknown.