Max Tegmark
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199560561
- eISBN:
- 9780191721380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560561.003.0023
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
This chapter discusses Everett's many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics in the context of other physics disputes and other proposed kinds of parallel universes. It finds that only a small ...
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This chapter discusses Everett's many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics in the context of other physics disputes and other proposed kinds of parallel universes. It finds that only a small fraction of the usual objections to Everett's theory are specific to quantum mechanics, and that all of the most controversial issues crop up also in settings that have nothing to do with quantum mechanics.Less
This chapter discusses Everett's many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics in the context of other physics disputes and other proposed kinds of parallel universes. It finds that only a small fraction of the usual objections to Everett's theory are specific to quantum mechanics, and that all of the most controversial issues crop up also in settings that have nothing to do with quantum mechanics.
Antony Valentini
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199560561
- eISBN:
- 9780191721380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560561.003.0019
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
This chapter replies to claims that the pilot-wave theory of de Broglie and Bohm is really a many-worlds theory with a superfluous configuration appended to one of the worlds. Assuming that ...
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This chapter replies to claims that the pilot-wave theory of de Broglie and Bohm is really a many-worlds theory with a superfluous configuration appended to one of the worlds. Assuming that pilot-wave theory does contain an ontological pilot wave (a complex-valued field in configuration space), the chapter shows that such claims arise from not interpreting pilot-wave theory on its own terms. Specifically, the theory has its own (‘subquantum’) theory of measurement, and in general describes a ‘non-equilibrium’ state that violates the Born rule. Furthermore, in realistic models of the classical limit, one does not obtain localised pieces of an ontological pilot wave following alternative macroscopic trajectories: from a de Broglie–Bohm viewpoint, alternative trajectories are merely mathematical and not ontological. Thus, from the perspective of pilot-wave theory itself, many worlds is an illusion. It is further argued that, even leaving pilot-wave theory aside, the theory of many worlds is rooted in the intrinsically unlikely assumption that quantum measurements should be modelled on classical measurements, and is therefore unlikely to be true.Less
This chapter replies to claims that the pilot-wave theory of de Broglie and Bohm is really a many-worlds theory with a superfluous configuration appended to one of the worlds. Assuming that pilot-wave theory does contain an ontological pilot wave (a complex-valued field in configuration space), the chapter shows that such claims arise from not interpreting pilot-wave theory on its own terms. Specifically, the theory has its own (‘subquantum’) theory of measurement, and in general describes a ‘non-equilibrium’ state that violates the Born rule. Furthermore, in realistic models of the classical limit, one does not obtain localised pieces of an ontological pilot wave following alternative macroscopic trajectories: from a de Broglie–Bohm viewpoint, alternative trajectories are merely mathematical and not ontological. Thus, from the perspective of pilot-wave theory itself, many worlds is an illusion. It is further argued that, even leaving pilot-wave theory aside, the theory of many worlds is rooted in the intrinsically unlikely assumption that quantum measurements should be modelled on classical measurements, and is therefore unlikely to be true.
David Deutsch
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199560561
- eISBN:
- 9780191721380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560561.003.0022
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
A collection of classical universes — even if they interact — is still classical. For instance, it doesn't have entanglement; its elements don't have phases to their amplitudes; it doesn't have ...
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A collection of classical universes — even if they interact — is still classical. For instance, it doesn't have entanglement; its elements don't have phases to their amplitudes; it doesn't have continuous motion of discrete observables. The multiverse is not classical: it consists of much more than universes. Research into what is there in addition has already been fruitful and promises to be more so. Progress in understanding the quantum world more deeply through such research is also the key to resolving the long-running scandal of the slow take-up of Everett's theory by physicists and philosophers.Less
A collection of classical universes — even if they interact — is still classical. For instance, it doesn't have entanglement; its elements don't have phases to their amplitudes; it doesn't have continuous motion of discrete observables. The multiverse is not classical: it consists of much more than universes. Research into what is there in addition has already been fruitful and promises to be more so. Progress in understanding the quantum world more deeply through such research is also the key to resolving the long-running scandal of the slow take-up of Everett's theory by physicists and philosophers.
