Everett and structure

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Publication:720577

DOI10.1016/S1355-2198(02)00085-0zbMATH Open1222.81091arXivquant-ph/0107144MaRDI QIDQ720577FDOQ720577


Authors: David Wallace Edit this on Wikidata


Publication date: 17 October 2011

Published in: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Part B. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: I address the problem of indefiniteness in quantum mechanics: the problem that the theory, without changes to its formalism, seems to predict that macroscopic quantities have no definite values. The Everett interpretation is often criticised along these lines and I shall argue that much of this criticism rests on a false dichotomy: that the macroworld must either be written directly into the formalism or be regarded as somehow illusory. By means of analogy with other areas of physics, I develop the view that the macroworld is instead to be understood in terms of certain structures and patterns which emerge from quantum theory (given appropriate dynamics, in particular decoherence). I extend this view to the observer, and in doing so make contact with functionalist theories of mind.


Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0107144




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