What does realism about the quantum state imply? What follows when quantum theory is applied without restriction, if need be, to the whole universe? These are the questions which an illustrious team of philosophers and physicists debate in this volume. All the contributors are agreed on realism, and on the need, or the aspiration, for a theory that unites micro- and macroworlds, at least in principle. But the further claim argued by some is that if you allow the Schrodinger equation unrestricted application, supposing the quantum state to be something physically real, then this universe is one of countlessly many others, constantly branching in time, all of which are real. The result is the many worlds theory, also known as the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics. The contrary claim sees this picture of many worlds as in no sense inherent in quantum mechanics, even when the latter is allowed unrestricted scope and even given that the quantum state itself is something physically real. For this picture of branching worlds fails to make physical sense, let alone common sense, even on its own terms. The status of these worlds, what they are made of, is never adequately explained. Ordinary ideas about time and identity over time become hopelessly compromised. The concept of probability itself is brought into question. This picture of many branching worlds is inchoate, it is a vision, an error. There are realist alternatives to many worlds, some even that preserve the Schrodinger equation unchanged. Twenty specially written essays, accompanied by commentaries and discussions, examine these claims and counterclaims in depth. They focus first on the question of ontology, the existence of worlds (Part 1 and 2), second on the interpretation of probability (Parts 3 and 4), and third on alternatives or additions to many worlds (Parts 5 and 6). The introduction offers a helpful guide to the arguments for the Everett interpretation, particularly as they have been formulated in the last two decades.
| ISBN | 0199655502 | | DEWEY edition | DC23 | | ISBN13 | 9780199655502
(What's this?) | | Pages | 640 | | Publisher | Oxford University Press | | Published in | Oxford | | Imprint | Oxford University Press | | Height (mm) | 234 | | Format | Paperback | | Width (mm) | 156 | | Publication date | 07 Jun 2012 | | Academic level | Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly | | DEWEY | 530.1201 | |
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Many Worlds: an Introduction; 1. WHY MANY WORLDS?; 1. Decoherence and Ontology; 2. Quasiclassical Realms; 3. Macroscopic Superpositions, Decoherent Histories, and the Emergence of Hydrodynamical Behaviour; 2. PROBLEMS WITH ONTOLOGY; 4. Can the world be only wavefunction?; 5. A metaphysician looks at the Everett interpretation; Commentary. Reply to Hawthorne: Physics Before Metaphysics; Transcript 1: ontology; 3. PROBABILITY IN THE EVERETT INTERPRETATION; 6. Chance in the Everett interpretation; 7. A Scandal of Probability Theory; 8. How to prove the Born rule; 9. Everett and Evidence; 4. CRITICAL REPLIES; 10. One World versus Many: the Inadequacy of Everettian Accounts of Evolution, Probability, and Scientific Confirmation; 11. Probability in the Everett picture; 12. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: Can Savage Salvage Everettian Probability?; Transcript 2: Probability; 5. ALTERNATIVES TO MANY WORLDS; 13. Decoherence, Einselection, Envariance, and Quantum Darwinism: From Relative States to the Existential Interpretation; 14. Two dogmas about quantum mechanics; Commentary: Rabid Dogma? Comments on Bub and Pitowsky; 15. The Principal Principle and Probability in the Many-Worlds interpretation; 16. Pilot-wave theory: many worlds in denial?; Commentary: Reply to Valentini; 6. NOT ONLY MANY WORLDS; 17. Everett and Wheeler, the Untold Story; 18. Apart from universes; 19. Many Worlds in Context; 20. Time Symmetry and the Many-Worlds Interpretation; Transcript 3: Not (only) many worlds; Bibliography
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