Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I'd be wary of it, I haven't read the whole thing but it seems suspicious, least of which is that he comes off as if he fully understands QM.

I only know so much about QM, but I do know that no one fully understands it, and that in attempting to sound deep, the author of this paper misattributed a classic Zen koan to Douglas Hofstadter.




That paper has been reviewed at one time or another by at least a dozen card-carrying physicists, including Jeff Kimble and John Preskill at Caltech (who are the ones who actually helped me figure all this stuff out). Reactions range from, "Oh my God, what a revelation!" to "Duh. Everybody already knows that." But I have yet to encounter anyone who knows what they're doing who thinks it's wrong.


http://lesswrong.com/lw/r6/an_intuitive_explanation_of_quant...

"There's a widespread belief that quantum mechanics is supposed to be confusing. This is not a good frame of mind for either a teacher or a student. Complicated math can be difficult but it is never, ever allowed to be confusing."


I certainly can't attest to its correctness, but I found it insightful and thought-provoking.

As to the misattribution, the paper reads:

The best I can offer as an answer to that question is a Zen koan from Douglas Hofstadter:

It seems to me he is describing Hofstadter as the conduit and not the origin.


I got it from GEB. Hofstadter doesn't attribute it, so I just assumed it was original with him. (And frankly I'd be surprised if you found any references to Zen Master Zeno prior to GEB.)


It is not original to Hofstadter; it comes from the Mumonkan: http://www.ibiblio.org/zen/gateless-gate/29.html . Of course the original doesn't call the sixth patriarch "Zeno"; it leaves him unnamed. (The sixth patriarch actually appears to have been called Huineng: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateless_Gate#Case_29:_Huin... .)


In the first QM lecture we were told that one cannot understand quantum mechanics, but can get used to it.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: