Thought experiments Thought experiments In philosophy, the brain in a vat is any of a variety of thought experiments intended to draw out certain features of our ideas of knowledge, reality, truth, mind, and meaning. It is drawn from the idea, common to many science fiction stories, that a mad scientist might remove a person's brain from their body to suspension in a vat of life-sustaining liquid, and connect its neurons by wires to a supercomputer which would provide it with electrical impulses identical to those the brain normally receives. According to such stories, the computer would then be simulating a virtual reality (including appropriate responses to the brain's own output) and the person with the "disembodied" brain would continue to have perfectly normal conscious experiences without these being related to objects or events in the real world. ...more on Wikipedia about "Brain in a vat"
The Brownian ratchet is a thought experiment about an apparent perpetual motion machine postulated by Richard Feynman in a physics lecture at the California Institute of Technology on May 11, 1962 as an illustration of the laws of thermodynamics. ...more on Wikipedia about "Brownian ratchet"
Isaac Newton's rotating bucket argument is aimed at showing that there is a meaningful difference between what he calls 'true motion' and 'relative motion'. Motion under the influence of a force is true motion, motion without the presence of a force is relative motion. ...more on Wikipedia about "Bucket argument"
The Chinese room argument is a thought experiment designed by John Searle (1980 ** ) as a counterargument to the stronger claims made by strong artificial intelligence ( AI, also functionalism). ...more on Wikipedia about "Chinese room"
(Coherence (philosophical gambling strategy)) In a thought experiment proposed by the Italian probabilist Bruno de Finetti in order to justify Bayesian probability, an array of wagers is coherent precisely if it does not expose the wagerer to certain loss if his opponent is prudent. ...more on Wikipedia about "Coherence (philosophical gambling strategy)"
In physics, the Elitzur-Vaidman bomb-testing problem is a thought-experiment in quantum mechanics, first proposed by Avshalom Elitzur and Lev Vaidman in 1993. It employs quantum superposition in order to construct a mechanism for ascertaining whether a measurement has taken place. ...more on Wikipedia about "Elitzur-Vaidman bomb-testing problem"
In quantum mechanics, the EPR paradox (Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen) is a thought experiment that demonstrates that the result of a measurement performed on one part of a quantum system can have an instantaneous effect on the result of a measurement performed on another part, regardless of the distance separating the two parts. This runs counter to the intuition of special relativity, which states that information cannot be transmitted faster than the speed of light. "EPR" stands for Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen, who introduced the thought experiment in a 1935 paper to argue that quantum mechanics is not a complete physical theory. It is sometimes referred to as the EPRB paradox for David Bohm, who converted the original thought experiment into something closer to being experimentally testable. ...more on Wikipedia about "EPR paradox"
(Galileo's ship)
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, translated by Stillman Drake, University of California Press, 1953, pp. 186 - 187 (Second Day).
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Heisenberg's microscope exists only as a thought experiment, one that was proposed by Werner Heisenberg, criticized by his mentor Neils Bohr, and subsequently served as the nucleus of some commonly held ideas, and misunderstandings, about Quantum Mechanics
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The infinite monkey theorem states that, due to the nature of infinity, a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard will almost surely eventually type every book in France's Bibliothèque nationale de France ( National Library). Note that almost surely is being used in a precise mathematical sense here (see almost surely). In the restatement of the theorem most popular among English speakers, the monkeys eventually type out the collected works of William Shakespeare. ...more on Wikipedia about "Infinite monkey theorem"
In physics, interaction-free measurement is a type of measurement in quantum mechanics that detects the position or state of an object without an interaction occurring between it and the measuring device. Examples include the Renninger negative-result experiment, the Elitzur-Vaidman bomb-testing problem, and certain double-cavity optical systems. ...more on Wikipedia about "Interaction-free measurement"
The ladder paradox or (barn-pole paradox) is a thought experiment in special relativity. If a long ladder travels horizontally at almost the speed of light, it will undergo a length contraction and will therefore fit into a garage which is shorter than the ladder's length at rest. On the other hand, from the point of view of the ladder, it is the garage which is moving and its length will be contracted. The garage will therefore need to be larger than the length at rest of the ladder in order to contain it. ...more on Wikipedia about "Ladder paradox"
A Martian scientist or Martian researcher is a hypothetical Martian frequently used in thought experiments as an outside observer of conditions on Earth. ...more on Wikipedia about "Martian scientist"
Mary's room is a philosophical thought experiment proposed by Frank Jackson in his article "Epiphenomenal Qualia" ( 1982) and extended in "What Mary didn't know" ( 1986). The debate that emerged following its publication recently became the subject of an editted volume -- There's Something About Mary (2004) -- which includes replies from such philosophical luminaries as Daniel Dennett, David Lewis, and Paul Churchland. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mary's room"
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Maxwell's demon is a character in an 1867 thought experiment by the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, meant to raise questions about the second law of thermodynamics. This law forbids (among other things) two bodies of equal temperature, brought in contact with each other and isolated from the rest of the Universe, from evolving to a state in which one of the two has a significantly higher temperature than the other. The second law is also expressed as the assertion that entropy never decreases. ...more on Wikipedia about "Maxwell's demon"
Newcomb's Paradox, also referred to as Newcomb's Problem, is a thought experiment involving a game between two players, one of whom purports to be able to predict the future. Whether the problem is actually a paradox is disputed. ...more on Wikipedia about "Newcomb's paradox"
Pascal's Wager (also known as Pascal's Gambit) is Blaise Pascal's application of decision theory to the belief in God. It is one of three ' wagers' which appear in his Pensées, a collection of notes for an unfinished treatise on Christian apologetics. Pascal argues that it is always a better "bet" to believe in God, because the expected value to be gained from believing in God is always greater than the expected value resulting from non-belief. Note that this is not an argument for the existence of God, but rather one for the belief in God. Pascal specifically aimed the argument at such persons who were not convinced by traditional arguments for the existence of God. With his wager he sought to demonstrate that believing in God is more advantageous than not believing, and hoped that this would convert those who rejected previous theological arguments. The incompleteness of his argument is the origin of the term Pascal's Flaw. ...more on Wikipedia about "Pascal's Wager"
The ping-pong ball conundrum is a thought experiment that illustrates the mathematical concepts of infinity and cardinality. The thought experiment can be stated in such a way: ...more on Wikipedia about "Ping-pong ball conundrum"
In quantum mechanics, quantum suicide is a thought experiment which was independently proposed in 1987 by Hans Moravec and in 1988 by Bruno Marchal, and further developed by Max Tegmark in 1998, that attempts to distinguish between the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics and the Everett many-worlds interpretation by means of a variation of the Schrödinger's cat experiment. The experiment essentially involves looking at the Schrödinger's cat experiment from the point of view of the cat. ...more on Wikipedia about "Quantum suicide"
In quantum mechanics, the Renninger negative-result experiment is a thought experiment that illustrates some of the difficulties of understanding the nature of wave function collapse and measurement in quantum mechanics. The statement is that a particle need not be detected in order for a quantum measurement to occur, and that the lack of a particle detection can also constitute a measurement. The thought experiment was first posed in 1953 by Mauritius Renninger . It can be understood to be a refinement of the paradox presented in the Mott problem. ...more on Wikipedia about "Renninger negative-result experiment"
Schrödinger's cat is a seemingly paradoxical thought experiment devised by Erwin Schrödinger that attempts to illustrate the incompleteness of an early interpretation of quantum mechanics when going from subatomic to macroscopic systems. The experiment proposes: ...more on Wikipedia about "Schrödinger's cat"
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It was not long before science-fiction writers picked up this evocative concept, often using it in a humorous vein. Several have taken the thought experiment a step further, pointing out or extra complications which might arise should the experiment actually be performed. For example, in his novel American Gods, Neil Gaiman has a character observe, "if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead." Likewise, Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies adds the issue of a third possible state, in the case of Greebo, "Bloody Furious". Douglas Adams describes an attempt to enact the experiment in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. By using clairvoyance to see inside the box, it was found that the cat was neither alive nor dead, but missing, and Dirk's services were employed in order to recover it. ...more on Wikipedia about "Schrödinger's cat in fiction"
Swamp man is the subject of a philosophical thought experiment introduced by Donald Davidson, in his 1987 paper "Knowing One's Own Mind". The experiment runs as follows: ...more on Wikipedia about "Swamp man"
"The Monkey and the Hunter" is a thought experiment often used to illustrate the effect of gravity on projectile motion. ...more on Wikipedia about "The Monkey and the Hunter"
In philosophy, physics, and other fields, a thought experiment (from the German term Gedankenexperiment, coined by Ernst Mach) is an attempt to solve a problem by using an analogy. These experiments are used to understand something practical through comparison with a hypothetical example. Thought experiments design a hypothetical situation in which our intuitive response is contrary to our actual responses in a similar real situation. Thought experiments create dissonance with the known and accepted, which with time have led to the reformulation or precision of theories. ...more on Wikipedia about "Thought experiment"
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