Quantum Bits and Schrodinger

Quantum theory establishes some concepts that are apparently difficult to express in everyday language. One of the apparently difficult ones is the concept of Complimentarity.

Schrodinger once suggested that the complimentary aspect of quantum theory was absurd insofar as it implied that, prior to observation, a metaphorical cat (in a box) was both alive and dead at the same time.

However I think Schrodinger was wrong in this respect. It appears to me that quantum theory does not suggest the cat is both alive and dead at the same time. On the contrary, it appears to me that the theory is suggesting the cat is alive or dead (at the same time).

In other words - the theory speaks in exactly the same way in which we would normally speak about an unobserved cat.

The real problem is that we can't adequately describe the classical concept of an unobserved cat. How do we make a valid classical statement such as: the cat is dead before we know whether that statement is correct, ie. before we know whether the cat is dead. And even more distressingly - how do we make such a statement without our statement being just one example of two equally possible statements?

In other words how can we not make a quantum theoretcial statement? We can't. The quantum theoretical approach is actually the default method of articulation.

Quantum computation.

In classical computation a bit can be a one (1) or a zero (0) - but not at the same time. This is the limitation of classical computation. It is alien to the way in which we normally think and speak about the unknown state of things. It is this aspect of classical computation which is fundamentally flawed.

Unlike in classical computation, in quantum computation a bit (called a qbit) can be a one or zero at the same time. And it is this capacity of qbits to mirror the way in which we actually think and speak about the unknown state of things that makes quantum computation potentially very powerful.









Carl Looper