On 2/20/2015 7:03 AM, Telmo Menezes wrote:
On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 1:59 AM, meekerdb <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
On 2/19/2015 3:52 PM, Jason Resch wrote:
On Thursday, February 19, 2015, meekerdb <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> I think it's taking the mathematics too seriously (but then I'm not a
Platonist). When QM is integrated with GR something different may emerge.
>
So which interpretation do you prefer? Presumably one that takes the math
less
seriously.
The point is to not prefer one but to wait for more evidence or better theories.
Science, unlike practical pursuits, doesn't require a decision.
Ok. My worry here is if some theories are taken as more definitive than others based
only on a matter of personal opinion. Or, put another way, if when to take the math more
or less serious comes from arguments from authority.
If you are an extreme agnostic and always doubt, no matter the theory, than I have no
problem.
I don't think it's extreme agnosticism to doubt an implication of some equation that is
not very well defined and has not been tested. The point is that Everett's interpretation
has to assume that small off diagonal terms in the density matrix imply small
probabilities. But to make that align with experiment requires choosing the right basis
for the density matrix. So far the only theory for doing that is einselection (due to
Zurek) which implicitly assumes the probability interpretation. So, while it's
consistent, it may also be circular.
I'm similarly dubious of black holes, even though they are clearly implied by our best
theory of spacetime. But that theory is incompatible with QM and so BHs may not exist in
the form implied by GR.
Brent
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