Re: R: Dualism via Quantum Mechanics

2012-05-13 Thread Bruno Marchal


On 12 May 2012, at 22:54, meekerdb wrote:


On 5/12/2012 6:20 AM, scerir wrote:



A few quotes below to dualism from Max Velmans.
Evgenii
H. Kragh ("Dirac: a Scientific Biography", Cambridge U.P., 1990)  
reports

a 1927 discussion between Dirac, Heisenberg and Born, about what
actually gives rise to the so called "collapse" (reduction of waves  
packet).

Dirac said that it is 'Nature' that makes the choice (of measurement
outcome).
Born agreed.  Heisenberg however maintained that, behind the  
collapse,
and the choice of which 'branch' the wavefunction would be  
followed, there

was "the free-will of the human observer".




I don't think this does justice to Born's views.  He was not a  
realist about the wave function nor about its collapse.  His  
position was that the classical world was logically prior and  
necessary for shared knowledge to exist.  Without it there could be  
no measured values and no records.


I agree. Born was very cautious in making interpretations. Here, you  
can see that he was very coherent with comp, which at some level,  
accept "classicality" (the level of elementary arithmetic, that Born,  
and many people still miss, but at least he was coherent).
Still, if you read his correspondence with Einstein, you can see that  
he is still avoiding the hard questions, but then it is normal to do  
that, and he does not entirely hide the fact that he does not (try) to  
interpret the facts and theory. this is probably why he got the  
probability idea, which of course no doubt it was fertile, even if  
after Bell, it means something like QM is wrong or there is a  
multiverse.


Bruno




Brent

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Re: R: Dualism via Quantum Mechanics

2012-05-13 Thread Bruno Marchal


On 12 May 2012, at 15:20, scerir wrote:


A few quotes below to dualism from Max Velmans.
Evgenii


H. Kragh ("Dirac: a Scientific Biography", Cambridge U.P., 1990)  
reports

a 1927 discussion between Dirac, Heisenberg and Born, about what
actually gives rise to the so called "collapse" (reduction of waves  
packet).

Dirac said that it is 'Nature' that makes the choice (of measurement
outcome).


That is using Nature as a God of the gap.



Born agreed.  Heisenberg however maintained that, behind the collapse,
and the choice of which 'branch' the wavefunction would be followed,  
there

was "the free-will of the human observer".


That is using Free Will as a God of the gap.

Put in another way; they just say "don't ask".

Everett solved this, without realising that its solution has to be  
extended on arithmetic, and that the wave itself must be explained  
entirely by the relative number computation statistics, to be just  
coherent.


Bruno


http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/



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Re: R: Re: R: Dualism via Quantum Mechanics

2012-05-12 Thread meekerdb

On 5/12/2012 11:21 PM, scerir wrote:


H. Kragh ("Dirac: a Scientific Biography", Cambridge U.P., 1990) reports
a 1927 discussion between Dirac, Heisenberg and Born, about what
actually gives rise to the so called "collapse" (reduction of waves packet).
Dirac said that it is 'Nature' that makes the choice (of measurement
outcome). Born agreed.  Heisenberg however maintained that, behind

the collapse, and the choice of which 'branch' the wavefunction would

be followed, there was "the free-will of the human observer".

-scerir


I don't think this does justice to Born's views.

He was not a realist about the wave function

nor about its collapse.  His position was that

the classical world was *logically* prior and

necessary for shared knowledge to exist.

Without it there could be no measured

values and no records.
Brent

Brent, maybe so, but Born wrote the following:

"The question of whether the waves are something

"real" or a function to describe and predict

phenomena in a convenient way is a matter of
taste. I personally like to regard a probability

wave, even in 3N-dimensional space, as a real thing,

certainly as more than a tool for mathematical
calculations ... Quite generally, how could we

rely on probability predictions if by this notion

we do not refer to something real and objective?"

(Max Born, Dover publ., 1964, "Natural Philosophy

of Cause and Chance", p. 107)




I stand corrected.

Brent

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R: Re: R: Dualism via Quantum Mechanics

2012-05-12 Thread scerir

H. Kragh ("Dirac: a Scientific Biography", Cambridge U.P., 1990) reports
a 1927 discussion between Dirac, Heisenberg and Born, about what 
actually gives rise to the so called "collapse" (reduction of waves packet). 
Dirac said that it is 'Nature' that makes the choice (of measurement 
outcome). Born agreed.  Heisenberg however maintained that, behind 

the collapse, and the choice of which 'branch' the wavefunction would 

be followed, there was "the free-will of the human observer".

-scerir


I don't think this does justice to Born's views.  
He was not a realist about the wave function 
nor about its collapse.  His position was that 
the classical world was logically prior and 
necessary for shared knowledge to exist.  
Without it there could be no measured 
values and no records.
Brent

 
 
Brent, maybe so, but Born wrote the following: 
"The question of whether the waves are something 
"real" or a function to describe and predict 
phenomena in a convenient way is a matter of 
taste. I personally like to regard a probability 
wave, even in 3N-dimensional space, as a real thing, 
certainly as more than a tool for mathematical 
calculations ... Quite generally, how could we 
rely on probability predictions if by this notion 
we do not refer to something real and objective?" 
(Max Born, Dover publ., 1964, "Natural Philosophy 
of Cause and Chance", p. 107) 






 

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Re: R: Dualism via Quantum Mechanics

2012-05-12 Thread meekerdb

On 5/12/2012 6:20 AM, scerir wrote:

A few quotes below to dualism from Max Velmans.
Evgenii

H. Kragh ("Dirac: a Scientific Biography", Cambridge U.P., 1990) reports
a 1927 discussion between Dirac, Heisenberg and Born, about what
actually gives rise to the so called "collapse" (reduction of waves packet).
Dirac said that it is 'Nature' that makes the choice (of measurement
outcome).
Born agreed.  Heisenberg however maintained that, behind the collapse,
and the choice of which 'branch' the wavefunction would be followed, there
was "the free-will of the human observer".




I don't think this does justice to Born's views.  He was not a realist about the wave 
function nor about its collapse.  His position was that the classical world was 
*logically* prior and necessary for shared knowledge to exist.  Without it there could be 
no measured values and no records.


Brent

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