TY - GEN
T1 - Delirium quantum or, where I will take quantum mechanics if it will let me
AU - Fuchs, Christopher A.
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - Once again, I take advantage of the wonderfully liberal and tolerant, mood Andrei Khrennikov sets at his yearly conferences by submitting a nonstandard paper for the proceedings. This pseudo-paper consists of excerpts drawn from two of my samizdats [Quantum States: What the Hell Are They? and Darwinism All the Way Down (and Probabilism All the Way Back Up)] that I think best summarize what I am aiming for on the broadest scale with my quantum foundations program. Section 1 tries to draw a picture of a physical world whose essence is "Darwinism all the way down." Section 2 outlines how quantum theory should be viewed in light of that, i.e., as being an expression of probabilism (in Bruno de Finetti or Richard Jeffrey's sense) all the way back up. Section 3 describes how the idea of "identical" quantum measurement outcomes, though sounding atomistic in character, nonetheless meshes well with a William Jamesian style "radical pluralism." Sections 4 and 5 further detail how quantum theory should not be viewed so much as a "theory of the world," but rather as a theory of decision-making for agents immersed within a quantum world - that is, a world in continual creation. Finally, Sections 6 and 7 attempt to sketch once again the very positive sense in which quantum theory is incomplete, but still just as complete is it can be. In total, I hope these heady speculations convey some of the excitement and potential I see for the malleable world quantum mechanics hints of.
AB - Once again, I take advantage of the wonderfully liberal and tolerant, mood Andrei Khrennikov sets at his yearly conferences by submitting a nonstandard paper for the proceedings. This pseudo-paper consists of excerpts drawn from two of my samizdats [Quantum States: What the Hell Are They? and Darwinism All the Way Down (and Probabilism All the Way Back Up)] that I think best summarize what I am aiming for on the broadest scale with my quantum foundations program. Section 1 tries to draw a picture of a physical world whose essence is "Darwinism all the way down." Section 2 outlines how quantum theory should be viewed in light of that, i.e., as being an expression of probabilism (in Bruno de Finetti or Richard Jeffrey's sense) all the way back up. Section 3 describes how the idea of "identical" quantum measurement outcomes, though sounding atomistic in character, nonetheless meshes well with a William Jamesian style "radical pluralism." Sections 4 and 5 further detail how quantum theory should not be viewed so much as a "theory of the world," but rather as a theory of decision-making for agents immersed within a quantum world - that is, a world in continual creation. Finally, Sections 6 and 7 attempt to sketch once again the very positive sense in which quantum theory is incomplete, but still just as complete is it can be. In total, I hope these heady speculations convey some of the excitement and potential I see for the malleable world quantum mechanics hints of.
KW - Bayesian probability
KW - Positive operator valued measures
KW - Pragmatism
KW - Radical probabilism
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/33947710864
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/33947710864#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1063/1.2713493
DO - 10.1063/1.2713493
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:33947710864
SN - 0735403910
SN - 9780735403918
T3 - AIP Conference Proceedings
SP - 438
EP - 462
BT - Foundations of Probability and Physics - 4
T2 - Foundations of Probability and Physics - 4
Y2 - 4 June 2006 through 9 June 2006
ER -