dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaThe Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: Many Worlds or Many Words?
| Authors | Max Tegmark |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9709032 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9709032 |
| DOI | 10.1002/(SICI)1521-3978(199811)46:6/8<855::AID-PROP855>3.0.CO;2-Q |
| Journal | Fortsch.Phys.46:855-862,1998 |
Abstract
As cutting-edge experiments display ever more extreme forms of non-classical behavior, the prevailing view on the interpretation of quantum mechanics appears to be gradually changing. A (highly unscientific) poll taken at the 1997 UMBC quantum mechanics workshop gave the once all-dominant Copenhagen interpretation less than half of the votes. The Many Worlds interpretation (MWI) scored second, comfortably ahead of the Consistent Histories and Bohm interpretations. It is argued that since all the above-mentioned approaches to nonrelativistic quantum mechanics give identical cookbook prescriptions for how to calculate things in practice, practical-minded experimentalists, who have traditionally adopted the ``shut-up-and-calculate interpretation'', typically show little interest in whether cozy classical concepts are in fact real in some untestable metaphysical sense or merely the way we subjectively perceive a mathematically simpler world where the Schrodinger equation describes everything - and that they are therefore becoming less bothered by a profusion of worlds than by a profusion of words. Common objections to the MWI are discussed. It is argued that when environment-induced decoherence is taken into account, the experimental predictions of the MWI are identical to those of the Copenhagen interpretation except for an experiment involving a Byzantine form of ``quantum suicide''. This makes the choice between them purely a matter of taste, roughly equivalent to whether one believes mathematical language or human language to be more fundamental.
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"abstract": "As cutting-edge experiments display ever more extreme forms of non-classical\nbehavior, the prevailing view on the interpretation of quantum mechanics\nappears to be gradually changing. A (highly unscientific) poll taken at the\n1997 UMBC quantum mechanics workshop gave the once all-dominant Copenhagen\ninterpretation less than half of the votes. The Many Worlds interpretation\n(MWI) scored second, comfortably ahead of the Consistent Histories and Bohm\ninterpretations. It is argued that since all the above-mentioned approaches to\nnonrelativistic quantum mechanics give identical cookbook prescriptions for how\nto calculate things in practice, practical-minded experimentalists, who have\ntraditionally adopted the ``shut-up-and-calculate interpretation\u0027\u0027, typically\nshow little interest in whether cozy classical concepts are in fact real in\nsome untestable metaphysical sense or merely the way we subjectively perceive a\nmathematically simpler world where the Schrodinger equation describes\neverything - and that they are therefore becoming less bothered by a profusion\nof worlds than by a profusion of words.\n Common objections to the MWI are discussed. It is argued that when\nenvironment-induced decoherence is taken into account, the experimental\npredictions of the MWI are identical to those of the Copenhagen interpretation\nexcept for an experiment involving a Byzantine form of ``quantum suicide\u0027\u0027.\nThis makes the choice between them purely a matter of taste, roughly equivalent\nto whether one believes mathematical language or human language to be more\nfundamental.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9709032",
"authors": [
"Max Tegmark"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph",
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"doi": "10.1002/(SICI)1521-3978(199811)46:6/8\u003c855::AID-PROP855\u003e3.0.CO;2-Q",
"journal_ref": "Fortsch.Phys.46:855-862,1998",
"title": "The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: Many Worlds or Many Words?",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9709032"
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