[Haskell-cafe] Intergalactic Telefunctors

[Svein Ove Aas]

2009/2/15 Gregg Reynolds <dev at mobileink.com>:
>
> The metaphor is action-at-a-distance.  Quantum entanglement is a vivid way
> of conveying it since it is so strange, but true.  Obviously one is not
> expected to understand quantum entanglement, only the idea of two things
> linked "invisibly" across a boundary.
>
This is unrelated to haskell, but it's so common a misconception that
I have to debunk it.

What actually happens, if you run through the math, is that when you
entangle two particles it affects the entangled property such that,
when you later start spreading information about the entangled state -
the universe is effectively divided in whatever the possible results
are, MWI style, but once the information contacts the related
entangled information from the other particle, inconsistent results
cancel out and you get a big fat zero for a wavefunction. Consistent
results reinforce, so it's still unitary as a whole.

See, it all adds up to normality. Pay no attention to the bazillion
timelines being continually destroyed behind the scenes, please;
anyhow, you can never actually *observe* inconsistency, so if your
notion of "self" is flexible enough you can just claim you continue
along the consistent timeline.