On 2/26/2015 11:07 PM, Jason Resch wrote:
Implicit in Everett's relative state formulation was an implicit assumption of a
mechanist theory of mind. In CI there seems to be the assumption of a non-material,
non-physical mind, which can cause/initiate physical changes which no other
(non-conscious) physical things can do. I think the default position of any rationalist
would be to assume that we (assumed to be physical objects) operate according to the
same physical laws as everything else.
It may not be crucial to your argument, but you repeatedly attack a caricature of the
Copenhagen Interpretation (which is still favored over MWI by a majority of physicists).
Bohr held that QM was a method of predicting the statistics of the results of
measurements; where "results" were classical values. The input to the prediction was the
whole experimental setup - not just the microscopic part - including the recording
devices. He held that this was necessary for scientific knowledge to exist because
scientific results had to be shareable, and hence classical, irreversible records. This is
what he meant by "The classcial world is logically prior to the quantum world."
The best text on non-relativistic QM is by Asher Peres and it's available
*free* online.
http://www.fisica.net/quantica/Peres%20-%20Quantum%20Theory%20Concepts%20and%20Methods.pdf
It, and the very good text by Leslie Ballentine, both take an instrumentalist/Copenhagen
interpretation. So does Roland Omnes in his books on Quantum Philosophy. There may be a
better way of looking at QM, but these are not ignorant or careless thinkers who are just
overlooking the incoherencies you imagine. I suggest you read them.
Brent
"Quantum phenomena do not occur in a Hilbert space. They occur in a laboratory."
--- Asher Peres (1995). Quantum theory: concepts and methods p. 373.
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