[Haskell-cafe] Intergalactic Telefunctors

[Svein Ove Aas]

On Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 7:54 PM, Svein Ove Aas <svein.ove at aas.no> wrote:
> 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.
>
Oh yeah. The crucial point is, this view has no spooky action at a
distance involved. The speed of light limit is maintained - nice and
elegant, really.