This is the third book in the series that included 'The Theory of Nothing' the "The Universe Revealed.' My purpose in this new book is to more fully explain how science is actually done and how science fits into our culture along with religion and p...
This idea is freaky because it proposes some very strange things about quantum particles.
As you might know, quantum theory theorizes that particles can sometimes act like waves. A lot of quantum physics is based on probability because of Heisenberg's uncertainty theory.
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Pilot Wave theory is wild because it's a hidden variable theory. This goes back a way in history and states that the state of a physical system is by its nature incomplete. The reason is simple. All quantum states are probabilistic, meaning that they cannot be known precisely at any given moment.
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Another thing that's different with this theory is that it's realistic, meaning that a quantum state is independent of an observer. Quantum theory is non realistic. Pilot Wave theory is both realistic and has determinism.
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Determinism means that for any event there are exact conditions that could not cause any other event. Both realism and determinism oppose quantum theory.
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What the Pilot Wave theory says is that particles ride on a field wave. This could be the way that space-time works. One could imagine a particle riding on its wave to be like a small oil bubble floating on water.
One thing that this theory gets right is the fact that particles can act like waves. Since the Pilot Wave theory proposes that a particle is guided by an associated wave, its position is determined by the wave and thus is the reason it exhibits wavelike properties.
Quantum theory tells us that everything can be known about a given quantum state. Pilot Wave theory says that not everything can be known because there are hidden variables in a quantum state that quantum theory will not reveal.
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What's important about this? Well, it appears that this theory makes the EM Drive possible because it's able to tap into the vacuum energy of the universe. Vacuum energy has to do with a background quantum function known as zero point energy, and this energy is everywhere. Talk about a free lunch!
My take on this idea is that it's not complete. It needs more work, but it appears to be making a comeback, especially with the discovery of how to make an EM Drive.
