TV is full of people doing something without "any good reason to do it other than the coolness factor." That phrase might describe the whole entertainment sector of the economy.

I wonder what the first presidential election will be like when candidates are from the facebook generation. Companies like google, facebook, maybe snapchat will have dirt on all the candidates. Google alone will have every search the candidates ever did. Viable candidates will be only those people who are uncommonly boring, or influential enough to squelch the dirt, or trade it for favors. Imagine the power google wields... in part because they gave away their operation system, which doubles as an information vacuum.

I guess law enforcement will just have to keep hiding their own law breaking from defense attorneys.

Bell's inequality proved quantum states are not determined before observation.

That article at slate did not address the possibility of the universe being such an isolated system. It seemed to be an angry rant by a physicist who was mad at other scientists for not sharing his views on the material world and consciousness.

My impression of the thought experiment was that it was actually asking the listener to consider questions like "if the universe is isolated, are we in superposition right now?" and "what is the relationship between consciousness and superposition?" At any rate, it has been fascinating to watch the moderation of your "simple resolution" post bounce between extremes.

At what physical size within an isolated system is the detector (be it a photon, an atom, a molecule, a geiger counter, a cat, or an experimenter opening a box) no longer allowed by physical laws be in a quantum superposition?

Since google maps already has a traffic layer that shows me the congestion along my route (and 2 alternate routes), why would one need or want a flying traffic drone?

interesting. posting to fix moderation error.

Their premise is the current case is not bad enough for opposition, and only some hypothetical future case is bad enough for opposition. It's a form of strawman argument.

they are going to start hacking michael hayden.

someone ought to place a reward for leaking it. Maybe we need a kickstarter for whistleblowers.