Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> Warp wrote:
> >   So when the electron hits the sensitive film *after* it has passed the
> > slits, it goes back to the past and changes it so that it goes through
> > only one of the slits after all?

> No. It either interferes with itself or not. You're assuming the only 
> way it can interfere with itself is to go through both slits. There's no 
> evidence that's the case, and much evidence that it isn't.

  So why does it interfere with itself when there are two slits but not
when there is only one? If it was just one regular physical macroscopical
particle it wouldn't matter how many slits there are: If it goes through
one of them, it just goes through one of them, that's it. It doesn't even
"know" that there are other slits.
  However, when there are two slits, the electron passes through and starts
interfering with itself, as if it has passed through both and changed
direction in different ways.

  How else can this be explained? How does the electron "know" that there's
another slit so that it "knows" to start interfering with itself, other than
actually going through the other slit as well?

  (I believe this has something to do with wave-particle duality: In the
double-slit experiment the wave nature of the electron shows up: The wave
goes through both slits and starts interfering with itself.)

> >   So you are saying that, even though the only possible explanation for
> > interference patterns is that the electron passed through both slits,
> > there's still no evidence of that?

> Yes. What makes you think that the only *possible* explanation is that 
> the electron passed through both slits?

  What is the other explanation?

> >   If there's "no evidence", what do you call the interference pattern?
> > "Non-evidence"?

> Interference.

  The interference can be explained with the electron passing through both
slits at the same time. Ergo the interference is evidence of that happening.
(Note that "evidence" is not the same thing as "proof".)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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