Do you see any technical or conceptual challenges which the MWI has yet to address or do you think it is a well-defined interpretation with no open questions?
What’s your model for why people are not satisfied with the MWI? The obvious ones are 1) dislike for a many worlds ontology and 2) ignorance of the arguments. Do you think there are other valid reasons?
Do you see any technical or conceptual challenges which the MWI has yet to address or do you think it is a well-defined interpretation with no open questions?
There are remaining open questions concerning quantum mechanics, certainly, but I don’t really see any remaining open questions concerning the Everett interpretation.
What’s your model for why people are not satisfied with the MWI? The obvious ones are 1) dislike for a many worlds ontology and 2) ignorance of the arguments. Do you think there are other valid reasons?
“Valid” is a strong word, but other reasons I’ve seen include classical prejudice, historical prejudice, dogmatic falsificationism, etc. Honestly, though, as I mention in the paper, my sense is that most big name physicists that you might have heard of (Hawking, Feynman, Gell-Mann, etc.) have expressed support for Everett, so it’s really only more of a problem among your average physicist that probably just doesn’t pay that much attention to interpretations of quantum mechanics.
There are remaining open questions concerning quantum mechanics, certainly, but I don’t really see any remaining open questions concerning the Everett interpretation.
“Valid” is a strong word, but other reasons I’ve seen include classical prejudice, historical prejudice, dogmatic falsificationism, etc.
Thanks for answering. I didn’t find a better word but I think you understood me right.
So you basically think that the case is settled. I don’t agree with this opinion.
I’m not convinced of the validity of the derivations of the Born rule (see IV.C.2 of this for some critcism in the literature). I also see valid philosophical reasons for preferring other interpretations (like quantum bayesianism aka QBism).
I don’t have a strong opinion on what is the “correct” interpretation myself. I am much more interested in what they actually say, in their relationships, and in understanding why people hold them. After all, they are empirically indistinguishable.
Honestly, though, as I mention in the paper, my sense is that most big name physicists that you might have heard of (Hawking, Feynman, Gell-Mann, etc.) have expressed support for Everett, so it’s really only more of a problem among your average physicist that probably just doesn’t pay that much attention to interpretations of quantum mechanics.
There are other big name physicists who don’t agree (Penrose, Weinberg) and I don’t think you are right about Feynman (see “Feynman said that the concept of a “universal wave function” has serious conceptual difficulties.” from here). Also in the actual quantum foundations research community, there’s a great diversity of opinion regarding interpretations (see this poll).
Do you see any technical or conceptual challenges which the MWI has yet to address or do you think it is a well-defined interpretation with no open questions?
What’s your model for why people are not satisfied with the MWI? The obvious ones are 1) dislike for a many worlds ontology and 2) ignorance of the arguments. Do you think there are other valid reasons?
There are remaining open questions concerning quantum mechanics, certainly, but I don’t really see any remaining open questions concerning the Everett interpretation.
“Valid” is a strong word, but other reasons I’ve seen include classical prejudice, historical prejudice, dogmatic falsificationism, etc. Honestly, though, as I mention in the paper, my sense is that most big name physicists that you might have heard of (Hawking, Feynman, Gell-Mann, etc.) have expressed support for Everett, so it’s really only more of a problem among your average physicist that probably just doesn’t pay that much attention to interpretations of quantum mechanics.
Thanks for answering. I didn’t find a better word but I think you understood me right.
So you basically think that the case is settled. I don’t agree with this opinion.
I’m not convinced of the validity of the derivations of the Born rule (see IV.C.2 of this for some critcism in the literature). I also see valid philosophical reasons for preferring other interpretations (like quantum bayesianism aka QBism).
I don’t have a strong opinion on what is the “correct” interpretation myself. I am much more interested in what they actually say, in their relationships, and in understanding why people hold them. After all, they are empirically indistinguishable.
There are other big name physicists who don’t agree (Penrose, Weinberg) and I don’t think you are right about Feynman (see “Feynman said that the concept of a “universal wave function” has serious conceptual difficulties.” from here). Also in the actual quantum foundations research community, there’s a great diversity of opinion regarding interpretations (see this poll).
I’d like to know whether worlds consist of states in a coherent superposition, or whether they are decoherent.
Also:
Have you read Dowker and Kent’s paper?
And what is your solution to the basis problem?