Event Title
Quantum Paradoxes: To Resolve or To Acquiesce?
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Location
Argyros Forum 209 A&B
Start Date
18-10-2019 2:10 PM
End Date
18-10-2019 2:50 PM
Abstract
At the dawn of the Quantum Age, Ervin Schrodinger presented his Cat Paradox as a reductio ad absurdum of the problem of measurement in quantum theory in its standard formulation. Not long after, Eugene Wigner accentuated the paradox by considering himself and a Friend as among the correlated systems allegedly described by quantum theory but lacking any principled account of the conclusion of a 'measurement.' This basic problem facing the standard formulation has never gone away. Instead, it has recently been brought to head by the latest, most grotesque version of the same paradox by Frauchiger and Renner.
This situation entails two basic options for researchers: (1) to regard the problem of measurement as inevitable, as something to which we should acquiesce as a feature of some 'appropriate lesson' of quantum theory; or (2) to regard it as a symptom of a fundamental, but curable, problem afflicting the standard formulation of quantum theory. This talk briefly critiques option (1) and explores option (2), in concert with Paul Arden's observation that "If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." It is proposed that the simplest and most elegant solution has been overlooked due to deeply seated metaphysical and cultural ground rules that are overdue for critical examination.
Quantum Paradoxes: To Resolve or To Acquiesce?
Argyros Forum 209 A&B
At the dawn of the Quantum Age, Ervin Schrodinger presented his Cat Paradox as a reductio ad absurdum of the problem of measurement in quantum theory in its standard formulation. Not long after, Eugene Wigner accentuated the paradox by considering himself and a Friend as among the correlated systems allegedly described by quantum theory but lacking any principled account of the conclusion of a 'measurement.' This basic problem facing the standard formulation has never gone away. Instead, it has recently been brought to head by the latest, most grotesque version of the same paradox by Frauchiger and Renner.
This situation entails two basic options for researchers: (1) to regard the problem of measurement as inevitable, as something to which we should acquiesce as a feature of some 'appropriate lesson' of quantum theory; or (2) to regard it as a symptom of a fundamental, but curable, problem afflicting the standard formulation of quantum theory. This talk briefly critiques option (1) and explores option (2), in concert with Paul Arden's observation that "If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." It is proposed that the simplest and most elegant solution has been overlooked due to deeply seated metaphysical and cultural ground rules that are overdue for critical examination.