Chen Muwu's brain was racing, but in the end he couldn't figure out what animal the British and Germans hated the most.
There is no other choice but to hire veteran actors.
It's just pitiful that the most famous cat in the world was locked in the same black box by different people for two consecutive lives.
"Dr. Einstein, could I change things a little bit about this thought experiment you just proposed?"
"Of course, no problem, Dr. Chen, please help yourself."
After getting permission, Chen Muwu first erased the dotted line Hemisphere B, then picked up the chalk and drew a line on the hemispheric screen, dividing the screen into two.
"Dr. Einstein, I plan to use your ideas to continue speaking.
"I want to use a plane that passes through the center of the sphere and is perpendicular to the first screen to evenly divide this hemispherical screen into two small screens 1 and 2.
"So now, the probability of this photon reaching each part is one-half?"
"That's right."
"Okay, then I will continue to transform this screen. I hired a talented electrician with extremely exquisite skills to help me transform Screen 1 into a circuit switch.
"As long as a photon hits screen 1, the switch of the circuit will be turned off.
"The other side of the circuit is actually an electromagnet with extremely strong magnetic force. The magnetic force generated by the electromagnet can levitate a large-mass horn anvil in the air.
"And directly under the claw anvil is a well-sealed glass bottle filled with highly toxic hydrocyanic acid vapor, and inside the glass bottle, there is a cat.
"If a photon hits this screen 1, the circuit controlling the electromagnet will break, and then the electromagnet will lose its magnetic force. Then the claw anvil will fall from the air, smashing the glass bottle placed below, and the glass bottle will The highly toxic substances released after being crushed will poison the cat to death.
"After completing this transformation, I put all the experimental devices except the photon source switch into a sealed and light-tight box.
"Now comes the exciting moment to start the experiment. I stood outside this sealed box, started the photon source, and let it emit a photon towards the small hole.
"You just agreed that this photon will hit screen 1 with half the probability. At the same time, after a series of very fast chain reactions, the cat will be poisoned to death.
"However, due to the existence of the other half of the probability, when the photon hits screen 2, the cat will be alive and kicking without any impact.
"But all this happened in this sealed box. If you don't open the box, you won't know whether the cat is dead or alive.
"In other words, to me outside the box, the cat is in a superposition of death or life."
"Only when I open the box and observe the state inside the box, and the cat's wave function collapses, can I specifically become a living cat or a dead cat."
Chen Muwu abandoned the device that triggered the Geiger counter by atomic decay at that time, but directly improved it on the basis of Einstein's thought experiment and introduced the unlucky cat.
Just as Einstein was about to speak, Chen Muwu, who had predicted his prediction, interrupted him.
However, after listening to Chen Muwu's explanation that cats are in a superposition state of death or life, Einstein felt that his statement was really absurd.
Chen Muwu saw Einstein frown again, his throat moved, and he was about to speak.
"Dr. Einstein, I know you are very anxious now and want to know whether the cat in the black box is dead or alive. But please don't be anxious yet.
“I haven’t finished this thought experiment yet, there is another part.
"In the experiment just now, I also have a very anxious friend Albert. He also does not agree with my statement. He believes that the cat in the box is either alive or dead. It is impossible to be in a superposition of death or life. in the state.
"So this anxious Albert hoped that I could do this experiment again, but what was different from the first experiment was that he put on an isolation suit, a gas mask and plenty of oxygen, and followed the cat They were locked together in that black box that was isolated from the outside world.
"After everything was ready, I stayed outside the black box and started the photon source again, letting it fire another photon toward the hole.
“Because this time, I also stayed outside the black box, so I still didn’t know whether the cat in the box was dead or alive.
“For me, the cat in the box is still in a superposition of death or life.
"But the difference is that Albert is already in the box. As long as the device is activated, he will be able to know whether the cat in the box is dead or alive as soon as the device is activated, and he will not let the cat In a superposition state.
"If there is a phone line connecting him and me, then Albert can call me immediately through the phone, 'Chen, that cat is still alive!' or 'Chen, unfortunately. , that cat is dead.'
"The only difference between Albert and me is whether we were observing the cat in the box.
"His consciousness affected the wave function of the system, but mine did not."
After saying these words, Chen Muwu finally ended his eloquent eloquence and returned to the elegant and easy-going state of a humble gentleman as gentle as jade.
Seeing him like this, Einstein on the other side of the podium understood that it seemed that Chen Muwu had finished explaining the thought experiment he designed, and now it was his turn.
"Dr. Chen, what you're talking about is very novel. I feel like my brain's reaction speed can barely keep up with your speaking speed.
"Now, I don't want to discuss with you whether the collapse of the wave function is right or wrong. I don't want to debate whether the poor cat is dead or alive. I also don't want to discuss whether consciousness determines the collapse of the wave function. Not a kind of idealism.
"I forced my brain to think along your train of thought, but I discovered such a problem.
"That's why I think there seems to be another paradox in your thought experiment.
“You said whether it is realized or not is the only determining factor in whether the wave function collapses.
"Perhaps you are the final observer of the entire system. The moment you realize the result, the wave function of the entire system finally collapses.
“But don’t forget, Albert, like you, is a conscious person, and his consciousness can also affect the cat’s wave function.
"Now the question is, when did the wave function of this poor cat collapse? Was it the moment Albert realized it, or was it when he told you the news and then you realized it? Moment?
"If it's the latter, then as conscious people, why do you two have different statuses?
"Could it be that you are more advanced? To you, Albert is just like the previous photographic plates and telescopes. Is he just an unconscious measuring tool?"
Wonderful.
Some people in the audience applauded after Einstein finished speaking. Even Chen Muwu could hardly help himself and wanted to clap a few times along.
Unexpectedly, Einstein reacted so quickly to the flaw he deliberately left and continued to penetrate deeper into his trap.
"Dr. Einstein, your point of view is very sharp. This is indeed the imprecision in this thought experiment.
“Then I want to make a correction to it now.
“I might as well cut that damn phone cord, there’s no instant connection between me and Albert now.
"So after I triggered the switch of the photon source, I still didn't know whether the cat in the box was alive or dead unless I opened the box.
“But for Albert in the box, as long as he kept staring at the cat intently, he would know the cat’s life and death before I even opened the box.
"Then there will be a problem. For Albert, the cat can only be in the living state and the dead state; but for me, the cat is still in the superposition state of death or life.
"Only when I open the box do I know whether the cat is alive or dead.
"If my observations and Albert's observations are consistent, then of course there is no problem.
"But if Albert's and I's observations are inconsistent, could it be said that the cat could die suddenly or come back to life?
“It’s impossible even to think about it!
"To this end, I can also give a new explanation, a new possibility.
“That is, human consciousness is equivalent, and there is no priority for who is more noble than whom.
“At the moment Albert in the box observed, it was not the wave function of the cat that collapsed, the entire universe was divided into two, the living cat universe and the dead cat universe.
“In the universe of living cats, after I open the box, the cat will definitely be a living cat, and in the universe of dead cats, the cat will definitely be a dead cat.
"In other words, with every observation, our universe is split again.
“If these schematic diagrams of the universe are drawn in four-dimensional space-time, then they are all independent of each other and parallel to the time axis.
"So, I call them parallel universes."
First, observation will cause the wave function to collapse, then only human consciousness will cause the wave function to collapse, and finally, human observation behavior will cause the universe to split into several parallel universes.
The three completely different explanations given by Chen Muwu are more and more outrageous each time.
The audience, including Einstein, felt that they were not on a roller coaster, but that they were swooping along the radius of the earth and reaching the deepest part of hell.
Some people even doubted whether Chen Muwu had taken the wrong medicine, while others thought that Chen Muwu's brain had been over-exploited. Although he had come up with many genius-like physics inventions and discoveries in more than two years, they also had doubts about him. It caused a huge backlash and made him become so crazy.
The discussion in the venue became louder and louder, but basically no one could understand it, and no one could agree with Chen Muwu's views.
The entire Royal Society was even more shocked than when the Holy See first heard about the "heliocentric theory".
Einstein standing aside always wanted to say something, but this time after organizing the conversation for a long time, he found that he could not say anything.
In the original plan for the award ceremony, a very sufficient fifteen minutes were reserved for Einstein to deliver his acceptance speech.
But being fucked like this by two people lasted more than an hour.
The moderator of the meeting, who was also supposed to be Einstein's English translator, had no time to intervene in the debate between the two people.
After listening to what the two people were talking about, he gradually woke up from his shock.
The host believes that if this is allowed to continue, then the entire morning may be wasted on these too vague questions.
They can no longer let them regard the award ceremony as a stage for farce. They must take action.
"Dr. Einstein, Dr. Chen, because our time at this award ceremony is limited, we really cannot allow the two of you to have further academic discussions.
"Dr. Einstein, please take your certificate and medal.
"Dr. Chen, please step down and take a rest.
"Everyone, let's take a five-minute break. After that, the awards ceremony will continue."
The host very considerately left a few minutes of rest time for everyone, hoping to help everyone get out of their shock, doubt, anger and other emotions.
Einstein, who was completely sleepy, walked back to his seat from the stage like a zombie.
But Chen Muwu's return journey was extremely difficult.
Questions were thrown at him one after another from the seats on both sides of the aisle, and some even simply blocked his way.
At this time, no one among the most gentlemanly people in the most gentlemanly country in the world thinks about whether they should maintain their gentlemanly behavior.
The only one who was smiling, polite, and acting like a gentleman might be Chen Muwu, but he was also the culprit who drove these gentlemen crazy.
Seeing that if Chen Muwu was asked to return to his seat, it would probably take more time than the five-minute break. The host simply stayed the course and invited the blocked Chen Muwu back to the backstage.
He was going to go on stage to receive the award anyway, so he might as well just wait backstage.
…
After the riot, the awards ceremony finally returned to normal.
Several more medals were awarded, and it was the turn of the Hughes Medal won by Chen Muwu.
The award speech given by the Royal Society of the United Kingdom this time was much more generous than that of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
They no longer praised openly and secretly, but directly stated all the achievements Chen Muwu had made in physics in the past two or three years.
"Because of his series of outstanding contributions in optics, statistical mechanics, atomic physics, etc., the Royal Society decided after research to award the 1925 Hughes Medal to Dr. Chen Muwu.
"Dr. Chen, please come to the stage to receive the award now."
Chen Muwu walked out from the backstage and took his medal and certificate from the host.
"Dr. Chen, do you have anything else to add to your acceptance speech?"
The subtext of the host's words is, if you win the award, get off the stage immediately and don't cause any more trouble.
But Chen Muwu didn't.
"Okay, since you said that, let me say a few more words."
The host wished he could have his mouth slapped twice. Why is his mouth so mean?
It seems that now Chen Muwu was reluctant to talk anymore, but he couldn't refuse because of his invitation.
“Thank you to the Royal Society for admitting me as a member and awarding me this year’s Hughes Medal.
"I have taken up a lot of everyone's time just now because of Dr. Einstein's invitation (his subtext is "Don't blame me, blame Einstein if you want to"), so I just want to say a few words now. , and please don’t worry, I will never talk about that cat again this time.”
After hearing the promise in the second half of Chen Muwu's sentence, at least half of the people in the venue either spoke or silently recited in their hearts, and they all said in unison: "Thank God..."
"I will tell you something relatively easy now. Even if some of you here may not have read the second paper I published, I believe that everyone has more or less learned about time travel in newspapers. After all, at this time two years ago, time travel was the most discussed topic on the streets at that time.
“As for the direction of time travel, I think time travel back to the past is more fascinating.
“Because in the past, everyone has regrets to one degree or another, and it would be great if we could go back to the past to make up for it.
"Now, I ask everyone to consider this thing. Suppose that one day in the future, humans really develop the technology of time travel.
“There was a man named John Smith who became a time traveler.
"After he experienced the changes that this new technology brought to people's lives, one day he suddenly thought that if he could go back a few decades and kill his grandmother who had not met his grandfather at that time, then... He will no longer have his own mother.
"And without my mother, I shouldn't have myself anymore.
“But it was he who killed his unmarried grandmother.
“If there is no John Smith, then he cannot go back in time and kill his grandmother.
"Or is it that the moment he kills his grandmother, John Smith will disappear at the same time, leaving only the body of his grandmother and the knife that killed her?"
Chen Muwu raised another philosophical problem that violates the relationship between cause and effect.
The audience in the audience began to chatter again, but after listening to Chen Muwu's explanation, Einstein once again inspired fighting spirit.
He simply stood up from the front row without raising his hand and said: "Dr. Chen, what you brought up violates the law of cause and effect. Does that mean that time travel can at least go back to the past?" What about travel, which is something that cannot exist?”
"Dr. Einstein, before today, I could indeed understand it as you do."
Although it is said that fishermen will never be in the air force, Chen Muwu felt a little embarrassed every time it was this big fish that took the bait.
"But, maybe we can also think about it from another angle. What if parallel universes exist?
“The moment John Smith began his time travel back in time, he had already left the universe A he was in before, and instead opened a new parallel universe B.
"In Universe B, he killed his grandmother who had not yet met his grandfather, so in Universe B, there will be no more person named John Smith in the future.
"But for John Smith from universe A, all this is no problem at all. He is the grandson of his grandmother in universe A and is not affected by the disappearance of his grandmother in universe B.
"So he will not disappear at all, but will continue to exist at the murder scene intact, waiting for Officer Lestrade to finally arrest him after being instructed by Holmes or George Chen."
"Absurd! Ridiculous! Dr. Chen, your theory of parallel universes is so absurd! According to you, measurement will cause the states of various branches to coexist, which means that the universe will continue to divide during multiple measurements. However, we Now no observer can feel the coexistence of the various branch states."
"Dr. Einstein, your rhetoric is just like the people who opposed Copernicus' heliocentric theory.
"Like you, they think that people on the earth cannot feel the movement of the earth, so Copernicus' statement that the earth moves around the sun is completely nonsense.
“After that, Galileo explained from the point of view of inertia why people on the earth do not feel that the earth is moving.
“It is the beauty of a successful theory that the theory itself explains the apparent contradiction between its predictions and experience.
"Time is limited, so my acceptance speech ends here. I would like to thank the Royal Society again for awarding me this Hughes Medal."
After Chen Muwu finished speaking, he bowed and left the stage. The host responded quickly this time. He directly invited Chen Muwu into the backstage, without giving him another chance to have a passionate collision with the audience.
This time the reaction from the audience was even more intense.
Why did Chen Muwu talk about time and space travel for a long time, but in the end he switched to parallel universes!
Taking advantage of the commotion in the audience, Chen Muwu slipped directly backstage to his room. After packing his luggage, he left the Royal Society and went straight to King's Cross Station.
He bought a ticket for the nearest train to Cambridgeshire.
Even though he was already sitting in the first-class carriage, Chen Muwu was still very excited.
At the award ceremony, he talked about the various interpretations of quantum mechanics that would be developed over the next few decades.
Even a hundred years later, no one can tell which one is correct.
In this day and age, he is even more popular.
Chen Muwu's remarks cannot be said to be like "one stone stirs up a thousand waves", it is simply like "one big Ivan evaporates tens of thousands of tons of water vapor".
The locomotive blew its whistle, and the carriage slowly moved forward.
It's really exciting to show off and run away.
(End of chapter)
