Uncertainty and entanglement

A recent paper proposes a radically interesting idea – use entanglement to get over uncertainty. Physics enthusiasts know that the Heisenberg's uncertainty principle states that it is impossible to measure the position and other properties such as momentum of a quantum particle precisely at the same time. Although the mathematics is hairy, the intuition is clear – measurement of either position or momentum, will require a disturbance (such as a photon) and in that process uncertainty will be introduced in one or the other measurement. Quantum entanglement, on the other hand, is the state in which two or more quantum particles are linked such that information travels instantaneously to the other regardless of distance – challenging the theory of relativity. The paper suggests the use of the entangled twin with quantum memory to store the results of the measurements, possibly getting over the limits of the uncertainty principle.

The established frameworks, now nearly 100 years old with no replacement in sight, have many holes in them. It is only theoretical physics and thought experiments have any hope of advancing knowledge. God, with an enormous sense of humor, has made it interesting in many dimensions – the further one digs, the more complex it gets. The keepers of the ever expanding particle zoo, with big machines are akin to a group of people with an excavator trying to dig a hole to the center of the earth to fully understand it.

Data is no substitute for imagination. We lack thoughts, not experiments.