{
  "annotation_id": "3df14c88-9c77-4407-8dd0-8d72757c345d",
  "date_created": "2026-03-02T18:02:06.457000Z",
  "date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:02:06.457000Z",
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  "record": {
    "abstract": "This paper is a commentary on the foundational significance of the\nClifton-Bub-Halvorson theorem characterizing quantum theory in terms of three\ninformation-theoretic constraints (Foundations of Physics 33, 1561-1591 (2003);\nquant-ph/0211089). I argue that: (1) a quantum theory is best understood as a\ntheory about the possibilities and impossibilities of information transfer, as\nopposed to a theory about the mechanics of nonclassical waves or particles, (2)\ngiven the information-theoretic constraints, any mechanical theory of quantum\nphenomena that includes an account of the measuring instruments that reveal\nthese phenomena must be empirically equivalent to a quantum theory, and (3)\nassuming the information-theoretic constraints are in fact satisfied in our\nworld, no mechanical theory of quantum phenomena that includes an account of\nmeasurement interactions can be acceptable, and the appropriate aim of physics\nat the fundamental level then becomes the representation and manipulation of\ninformation.",
    "arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0402149",
    "authors": [
      "Jeffrey Bub"
    ],
    "categories": [
      "quant-ph"
    ],
    "journal_ref": "Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 35B, 241 - 266\n  (2004)",
    "title": "Why the quantum?",
    "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0402149"
  },
  "schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
  "source": {
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    "id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
    "type": "Model",
    "variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
    "version": "0.1.0"
  },
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}