Jesse Berezovsky
@jesseberezovsky.bsky.social
Physics professor @ CWRU. Experimental quantum materials, magnetism, and applications of stat mech to music theory and composition.
Arghh. It is nearing the one year anniversary of the opening of the help ticket with our IT department to resolve this SSL issue.
December 12, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Arghh. It is nearing the one year anniversary of the opening of the help ticket with our IT department to resolve this SSL issue.
But who am I? How far back in the branching are the atoms that make up me all representing variations of the same person and not different people?
December 12, 2025 at 2:51 PM
But who am I? How far back in the branching are the atoms that make up me all representing variations of the same person and not different people?
And I think it is an issue with many interpretations that the presentation can find some rug under which to sweep the weirdness. See, for example, Bohmian mechanics.
December 12, 2025 at 2:48 PM
And I think it is an issue with many interpretations that the presentation can find some rug under which to sweep the weirdness. See, for example, Bohmian mechanics.
Yes, not exactly the usual ship of Theseus. More like if you built a new ship out of the same materials, and if the same materials could be used to make multiple ships simultaneously.
December 12, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Yes, not exactly the usual ship of Theseus. More like if you built a new ship out of the same materials, and if the same materials could be used to make multiple ships simultaneously.
That probably could have been phrased more accurately like “when branching has resulted in worlds of equal amplitude, there are two versions of you perceiving the happy outcome and one perceiving the sad outcome.”
December 12, 2025 at 2:42 PM
That probably could have been phrased more accurately like “when branching has resulted in worlds of equal amplitude, there are two versions of you perceiving the happy outcome and one perceiving the sad outcome.”
Whether one considers all these variations to be the same cat is a ship of Theseus problem. I have, incidentally, written down some of my thoughts on the subject here: jablab.case.edu/catland
Welcome to Catland! — Catland 1.0 documentation
This is a work in progress. We’ll start with the basics, and (hopefully) build up to a coherent picture of how familiar classical reality emerges from the quantum world.
jablab.case.edu
December 12, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Whether one considers all these variations to be the same cat is a ship of Theseus problem. I have, incidentally, written down some of my thoughts on the subject here: jablab.case.edu/catland
Probably not infinite. The branching process seems to be a nontrivial sort of unitary evolution - it doesn’t happen all the time. But I might say that there exist many variations on the cat, some of which are alive and some dead (for example having died at different times).
December 12, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Probably not infinite. The branching process seems to be a nontrivial sort of unitary evolution - it doesn’t happen all the time. But I might say that there exist many variations on the cat, some of which are alive and some dead (for example having died at different times).
As someone who finds the Everettian view compelling, I don’t think I’d have a problem with saying that, if I had to express the structure of a rather complicated wave function in just a few words.
December 12, 2025 at 1:11 PM
As someone who finds the Everettian view compelling, I don’t think I’d have a problem with saying that, if I had to express the structure of a rather complicated wave function in just a few words.
I agree, with the exception of the temperature controlled butter bell I just built. I need to track my butter temp. Also, please don’t hack my butter. The security is probably quite weak actually.
jablab.case.edu/butterbell.h...
jablab.case.edu/butterbell.h...
ButterBell Labs
jablab.case.edu
December 4, 2025 at 12:10 PM
I agree, with the exception of the temperature controlled butter bell I just built. I need to track my butter temp. Also, please don’t hack my butter. The security is probably quite weak actually.
jablab.case.edu/butterbell.h...
jablab.case.edu/butterbell.h...
Someone should make one of those magnetic poetry things to come up with new Hall effects: spin, orbital, quantum, anomalous, inverse in any order.
November 30, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Someone should make one of those magnetic poetry things to come up with new Hall effects: spin, orbital, quantum, anomalous, inverse in any order.
Here’s the link by the way, if anyone wants to track my butter temperature. More fun to follow than the stock market. jablab.case.edu/butterbell.h...
ButterBell Labs
jablab.case.edu
November 29, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Here’s the link by the way, if anyone wants to track my butter temperature. More fun to follow than the stock market. jablab.case.edu/butterbell.h...
And when measured, returns one of those stocks at random, yielding an investment strategy that probably still beats most professional fund managers.
November 24, 2025 at 11:36 PM
And when measured, returns one of those stocks at random, yielding an investment strategy that probably still beats most professional fund managers.
As I like to tell students, the 2nd law of thermodynamics is not really a law. More like a strongly worded suggestion.
November 24, 2025 at 12:06 PM
As I like to tell students, the 2nd law of thermodynamics is not really a law. More like a strongly worded suggestion.
In fact, I was inspired by Something Deeply Hidden, where you print an example of a random number from a QRNG: the demo queries a QRNG via wifi, deciding which way to send the first ball.
November 18, 2025 at 7:37 PM
In fact, I was inspired by Something Deeply Hidden, where you print an example of a random number from a QRNG: the demo queries a QRNG via wifi, deciding which way to send the first ball.
Just last week I got to show my quantum mechanics class my quantum measurement demo. It illustrates amplification and decoherence going from a few-particle wave function to a macroscopic pointer, which we conclude must be pointing both ways in different parts of the wave function.
Quantum measurement demo is complete. A particle starting on the right side of the box launches a cascade of increasingly large particles down the right track. Vice versa on the left. But what if we start a particle in a quantum superposition of left and right? (1/5) ⚛️🧪
November 18, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Just last week I got to show my quantum mechanics class my quantum measurement demo. It illustrates amplification and decoherence going from a few-particle wave function to a macroscopic pointer, which we conclude must be pointing both ways in different parts of the wave function.
And undoubtedly those planks have length l, width w, and height hbar.
November 11, 2025 at 10:36 PM
And undoubtedly those planks have length l, width w, and height hbar.
As you say, to be fair, this is extremely confusing. It’s unclear to me what they’re even trying to show. Just reformulating equations without “i” or variables that stand for c-numbers? Or trying to avoid equations with quantities that *could* be recast as c-numbers?
November 8, 2025 at 1:57 PM
As you say, to be fair, this is extremely confusing. It’s unclear to me what they’re even trying to show. Just reformulating equations without “i” or variables that stand for c-numbers? Or trying to avoid equations with quantities that *could* be recast as c-numbers?
I agree, and in case people don’t know it is quite easy to claim your unclaimed funds, and then do whatever you want with them, such as anything other than building a new Browns stadium.
unclaimedfunds.ohio.gov
unclaimedfunds.ohio.gov
OH Unclaimed Property
unclaimedfunds.ohio.gov
November 1, 2025 at 11:54 AM
I agree, and in case people don’t know it is quite easy to claim your unclaimed funds, and then do whatever you want with them, such as anything other than building a new Browns stadium.
unclaimedfunds.ohio.gov
unclaimedfunds.ohio.gov
Seems they didn’t include the correct answer for how the number of representatives is determined: Every state gets one, and the remainder up to 435 is divided up by population. Thereby overrepresenting small states even in the house.
October 30, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Seems they didn’t include the correct answer for how the number of representatives is determined: Every state gets one, and the remainder up to 435 is divided up by population. Thereby overrepresenting small states even in the house.