The occasional writing update, with bonus LOLEmmy:
(Photo credit: Kate)
Introduction
Current Revision: 1
Total Words: 422 (dialogue only)
Chapter 1: Particle-Wave Duality
Current Revision: 5a
Total Words: 5,279
Chapter 2: The Uncertainty Principle
Current Revision: 7
Total Words: 4,499
Chapter 3: The Copenhagen Interpretation
Current Revision: 2
Total Words: 4,801
Chapter 4: The Many-Worlds Interpretation
Current Revision: 3
Total Words: 4869
Chapter 4 has been far and away the most difficult bit to write, which is why the dog is so exhausted. This is what I get for setting myself the goal of writing a reasonable layman-level discussion of decoherence, rather than just madly waving my hands and moving on to other things.
It’s also the subject matter where I’m most out of my depth, so I’ve been calling in outside help. An earlier revision was sent to Michael Nielsen for comments, and he made some really helpful suggestions, and the just-finished version 3 will be sent off tomorrow to another expert for further commentary. I appear to have avoided saying anything actively stupid so far, which is nice, but probably just dumb luck.
The total text thus far comes in just shy of 20,000 words (19,870, but who’s counting?), which would be half of my contractual obligation. Of course, probably 2,000 of those words are “really,” which is the worst of my writing tics, so I’m sure these will be edited down somewhat…
Bonus out-of-context dog dialogue: “I don’t know. It’s awfully Zen. ‘What is the pattern of one photon interfering?'”