dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaStatistical Structures Underlying Quantum Mechanics and Social Science
| Authors | Ron Wright |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0307234 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0307234 |
Abstract
Common observations of the unpredictability of human behavior and the influence of one question on the answer to another suggest social science experiments are probabilistic and may be mutually incompatible with one another, characteristics attributed to quantum mechanics (as distinguished from classical mechanics). This paper examines this superficial similarity in depth using the Foulis-Randall Operational Statistics language. In contradistinction to physics, social science deals with complex, open systems for which the set of possible experiments is unknowable and outcome interference is a graded phenomenon resulting from the ways the human brain processes information. It is concluded that social science is, in some ways, "less classical" than quantum mechanics, but that generalized "quantum" structures may provide appropriate descriptions of social science experiments. Specific challenges to extending "quantum" structures to social science are identified.
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"abstract": "Common observations of the unpredictability of human behavior and the\ninfluence of one question on the answer to another suggest social science\nexperiments are probabilistic and may be mutually incompatible with one\nanother, characteristics attributed to quantum mechanics (as distinguished from\nclassical mechanics). This paper examines this superficial similarity in depth\nusing the Foulis-Randall Operational Statistics language. In contradistinction\nto physics, social science deals with complex, open systems for which the set\nof possible experiments is unknowable and outcome interference is a graded\nphenomenon resulting from the ways the human brain processes information. It is\nconcluded that social science is, in some ways, \"less classical\" than quantum\nmechanics, but that generalized \"quantum\" structures may provide appropriate\ndescriptions of social science experiments. Specific challenges to extending\n\"quantum\" structures to social science are identified.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0307234",
"authors": [
"Ron Wright"
],
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"quant-ph"
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"title": "Statistical Structures Underlying Quantum Mechanics and Social Science",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0307234"
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