A Qbist would say they represent the map. The complex vector formalism of quantum theory is simply a convenient/elegant manual for predicting the outcomes of one’s future interactions with nature. It may be able to tell us something about the territory, but is not the territory itself.
Do you see how that’s not an answer? Why do they work?
A solipsist/Parmenidean theory of reality would need to add another theory, or a copy of all the evidence, in order to make predictions. It would be simpler to drop the solipsism and just state the part of the theory that does the work (which would be our account of reality). Eliezer makes the case that something like a wavefunction exists, and the splitting of ‘worlds’ somehow gives rise to the Born probabilities.
The QBist aim is not to provide an ontological description of the universe. Rather, it is to persuade you that whatever such a description is, quantum theory ain’t it.
“The professed goal is to strip away all those elements of quantum theory that can be interpreted in subjective, agent-dependent terms. The hope is that whatever remains will hint at something essential and objective about nature.”
I’ve read the quantum theoretic parts of the sequences: Eliezer doesn’t really make a case for why Born probabilities arise. Indeed this is one of the major open problems with the MWI.
A Qbist would say they represent the map. The complex vector formalism of quantum theory is simply a convenient/elegant manual for predicting the outcomes of one’s future interactions with nature. It may be able to tell us something about the territory, but is not the territory itself.
Do you see how that’s not an answer? Why do they work?
A solipsist/Parmenidean theory of reality would need to add another theory, or a copy of all the evidence, in order to make predictions. It would be simpler to drop the solipsism and just state the part of the theory that does the work (which would be our account of reality). Eliezer makes the case that something like a wavefunction exists, and the splitting of ‘worlds’ somehow gives rise to the Born probabilities.
The QBist aim is not to provide an ontological description of the universe. Rather, it is to persuade you that whatever such a description is, quantum theory ain’t it.
“The professed goal is to strip away all those elements of quantum theory that can be interpreted in subjective, agent-dependent terms. The hope is that whatever remains will hint at something essential and objective about nature.”
Schlosshauer (https://arxiv.org/pdf/1405.2390.pdf)
I’ve read the quantum theoretic parts of the sequences: Eliezer doesn’t really make a case for why Born probabilities arise. Indeed this is one of the major open problems with the MWI.