Note: In Part I, I said that you may rationally conclude that I’m not the person to learn quantum mechanics from, given my lack of expertise in the subject. But upon finishing this article, I think that this is wrong. Working with ChatGPT has allowed me to create detailed visualizations that put nearly all of the figures found in previous scientific papers, books, and explainers to shame. I’m far from the most knowledgeable person in the world about the topic, but thanks to the tools available to me and my willingness to make full use of them, I’m in the process of completing a remarkable set of articles on it. So if you’re interested in quantum mechanics, I’m now much more confident than I was before that you should be following along with this series. Stop worrying about machines “taking your job” and think more about the limitless beauty of what we can now create for the first time.
Einstein was uncomfortable with quantum mechanics, a fact that has come down to us in his famous quote that “God does not play dice” with the universe. But, according to his fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics wasn't what bothered Einstein the most. Rather, it was the suggestion that physical properties do not have an objective existence independent of measurement. It’s one thing to believe that an electron might be found in a positive or negative state with some degree of randomness; it’s another to say that it takes a specific state only when we measure it. Even more disturbing was the concept of nonlocality. As Einstein wrote in March 1947,
I cannot seriously believe in [the quantum theory] because it cannot be reconciled with the idea that physics should represent a reality in time and space, free from spooky actions at a distance.
Previously, we learned that measurement influences the state of particles, or at least the impact they have on the physical reality we observe. A particle that has one feature, which might be called hardness for pedagogical purposes, cannot be said to have a definite state in terms of another feature, color, at the same time. Rather, an electron that has one definite value of one feature is in superposition with regard to the other.