From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Sat May 11 2002 - 09:18:35 MDT
"Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:
>
> scerir wrote:
> >
> > Shih et al. performed a different experiment, this way.
> >
> >
> > |> >
> > | source of | >
> > <---|<------ two entangled ------->| > >
> > | ph.1 photons ph.2 | >
> > |> >
> > D S
> >
> > ph.1 = photon 1
> > ph.2 = photon 2
> > D = a double slit
> > S = a screen
> >
> > Photon(s) 1 just passes through a double slit D, that's all.
> > Photon(s) 2 reaches the screen S where *it* (which did not
> > cross a double-slit!) draw a weird interference pattern.
> > If you remove the D from the first beam, the interference
> > pattern on S vanishes.
>
> I don't get it. Is there a good reason why this is not an interstellar
> ansible in fee simple? Put the source at the midpoint of Centauri and
> Earth, put D on Earth, put S on Centauri. Switch D on and off and S goes
> from patterned to unpatterned. Dot dot dash dot...
This is exactly what I had asked on the list last year. The retort was
that being relativistically distant, you have no idea what the pattern
is to discern it from random noise. While I understand that this would
preclude us from tapping into signals from other civilizations we have
not previously contacted, since we don't know what their 'pattern' is,
it should not preclude us from setting up our own system by sending the
pattern by other means to establish an ansible link.
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