Ep 176: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 9 ”Quantum Computers” Part 2
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The Butterfly's Wings and the Smallest Amount of Light
Quantum theory says there is a smallest disturbance possible in the real world. A supernova going off somewhere in another galaxy can have serious physical effects on planet orbiting star that's having gone off. The photons are so energetic, they can just split apart molecules of gas in your atmosphere. Maybe the photons of light are so energetic that when they strike the atmosphere here, they can ionize some of the molecules of air. That's called ionizing the atom. So a photon can have that much energy, ionizing radiation, so to speak. It can just have so much energy, it causes a real physical effect of removing the electron from the atom.
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