Does the Coperhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics disprove an omniscient God?

I belong to the Hidden Variables school of thought when it comes to quantum mechanics.

The nonliving world is still deterministic, even if we don't understand the principles that govern the behaviour of particles on very small scales. Probability is only a representation of the inherent inability to know specific information about the state of a system as described by the HUP, due to the finite speed of light.

But, that's an interesting observation.

What a bunch of horse dung! Really! How does Heisenberg uncertainty principle (which roughly states that once you pinpoint an electron as to where it is you can no longer tell where it is going and if you know where it is going you cannot tell where it is.) have anything to do with the universe being undetermined and random? The uncertainty is not that it's random or undetermined the uncertainty is that you cannot know the where it is and where it is going at the same time, but those are both quantities that can be had at separate times. How can you logically jump from electrons to the universe? If what you say is true and electrons are random and therefore the universe is then that randomness becomes a pattern and nothing in the universe should make any sense. Like the improbability drive on Zaphod's spaceship in The Hitchhikers Guide if things are truly random then whales should be appearing in mid air and crashing to the earth. Also your Schrodinger equation This is a quantum theory of how a photon (light waves) can function as a particle and a as a wave at the same time. along with this theory you have over a dozen more that are contradictory to Schrodinger's and yet answer the same problem. So how does that disprove there is a God? It doesn't explain where the photons came from in the first place, it doesn't explain the existence of self, will, morals, supernatural, etc. Really throwing up this vomit is really poor. Just because most Christians don't know quantum physics, and if you posted this you obviously don't either.

Well it's hard to say because God is a philosophical thing. What is the nature of its interactions? You can't answer that using science because you can't measure it or build a model of it, or anything. We have no idea how "it" interacts. You could rule out perhaps some kinds of interactions though.

I understand the severity of what you are suggesting to God but I still think the fact that God is not bound to our universe leaves things far too open ended to make a conclusion that he cannot exist. There's always the possibility that below the surface there are more fundamental complexities involved and for some technical reason or another, God's omniscience doesn't cause wave function collapses.

That is all given this interpretation is correct (I don't know much about the arguments for and against the many interpretations of quantum physics).

No.

I know, weird answer coming from an atheist. Hear me out.

It would actually be a great reason FOR God being omniscient. What better way to know everything than to run the experiment a zillion times, changing only one variable at a time?

Think Everett's Many Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.

Strictly speaking though, God would have to observe in a way which doesn't disturb the experiment. Sending Jesus, therefore, would be a HUGE disruption.

Either God chose to disrupt, or Jesus WASN'T the child of God, or we're just an unlucky universe that caught the disruption.

The killer of the question you pose is, the only way to REALLY answer this question is to ask - by what mechanism does God observe anything? How do God's eyes work?

If Jews / Christians / Mormons / other believers in God could answer this question, we'd be on our way to a seriously working hypothesis.

Oh. And finally: the instantaneous collapse of every quantum waveform in the MULTIVERSE... would just mean that ALL the parallel universes BAR one would collapse. That last one would be the "collapsed", "SELECTED" universe.

... unless, of course, God EXISTS WITHIN the 11- or 23-dimensioned universe(s)... in which case he'd collapse along with the other universes too.

If you get the chance, hit the bookstore or library. Look for an author named Greg Egan. He wrote a novel called "Quarantine". Worked on principles KINDA along these lines. Way cool book.

(This is one of the most entertaining questions I've ever seen here. Nicely done. I have starred this as "interesting" because it gosh-darn-xkcd well IS.)

=== @Jeff W.: WHY can't we use Physics to resolve matters of faith? We actually COULD. Most times you make a claim about God, it's something that we usually could check for ourselves.

If God created the universe; if you believe that as a matter of faith; and we observe the universe with Physics, then the observations will confirm or deny something you take as a matter of faith.

If we could observe Jesus walking on water, we could observe HOW he did it and analyse it according to principles of fluid mechanics or materials physics.

===

@ VERITAS: particles do NOT "cease to exist and reappear". The point of Quantum Mechanics is that you can't say "look, that particle is there!". All you can say is that "there's a something-percent chance the particle is in this region". It's called Uncertainty. And the killer is that any observation we humans could make (like shining a torch on it to have a look) would actually disturb the particle (the light would actually bump the particle) and move it... wrecking our observation.

The closest working theory we have to the thing you're suggesting: the creation of matter/energy... would be the separation of "quantum vacuum" into particles and antiparticles, as occur supposedly around a Black Hole. In that case, you're basically claiming that God is a Black Hole.

Which would be kinda depressing to theists - everything goes in, nothing comes out and it's nothing but the massive energy and violence that rips up things in the nearby space which manages to survive after th- hey, wait a minute, this is sounding better and better... :-)

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@Whole Armor of God: I'm trying to not be rude, but you are SO wrong on SO many counts.

a) Asker didn't say "eliminate". Asker assumed that we DON'T KNOW whether or not there IS a god. It's more about trying to PROVE the answer one way or another. There's a BIG difference.

b) Time travel actually would help a LOT. It would help determine if we had free will. We could see Jesus's supposed Sermon on the Mount or the parting of the Red Sea. Or whether the Earth was created 6000 or 4.5 billion years ago. And, for that matter, HOW.

c) Atheists, if you'll actually listen to what I'm saying here, have evidence that says there IS no God as you say there is.

=== @Alexis:

Apologies, but it's not really to do with the finite speed of light. It's more to do with the ENERGY in light (which is a function of its FREQUENCY (yes, which is related to the speed of light, I know)).

Actually, if the speed of light was infinite then we wouldn't be able to perceive ANYTHING... light would be so energetic it'd destroy everything in its path. Well, except for other light (energy), I suppose.

Uncertainty is... well, see what I wrote above in reply to Veritas.

=== @Olie:

If God has an effect in the physical world, he becomes perceivable as a physical cause. If God was completely imperceptible physically, leaving no trace, it would mean that God effectively had no existence in our Universe. At all.

Bluntly, if any being had omniscience, they would have a steadily decreasing headache.

At the point of origin, there would be infinite ^ infinite number of truths that would be known at once. Not only would it know the current status, but all potential outcomes of all potential actions.

At the point of completion there would be no outcomes and it could think clearly for a moment.

In between it would both know everything, and not know how it'd react. It could know all possible actions, and be pretty much paralyzed until the action took place. It might not even understand how to change events in it's 'favor'.

So it doesn't disprove that God, just kinda makes him sad and ineffective.

Yes, It does disprove any omni present being as ones particles could not be considered matter or energy at such point and is impossible recreate. The only possible way for this to work is to have a particle present in atoms themselves but we have already disected atoms enough where it is false.

Just because a human purposes a theory that that would eliminate God?

No not hardly.

Just as some one purposes that time travel is possible would not disprove God either.

Man's follow to assume God does not exist with all the evidence staring them in the face. Sort of like a person can not see the forest because of all the trees.

No, Quantum Physics is the study of the physical aspects of the world around us. God is a spirit not bound by physical bonds.

Quite the contrary, if you look at quantum physics, the idea is that some particles appear within the atom to cease to exist and then reappear. This is actually a confirmation that GOD is continuing his creative process. He essentially creates the particles continually, and without Him, we would all cease, because the process would cease.

Your question is really a veiled but empty challenge to deists. Even if the Copenhagen Interpertation pointed to a godless universe, it wouldn't matter. You can't use physics to resolve matters of faith. But I think you know that.