Quantum mechanics and experience
by David Z. Albert · first published 1992
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
A careful philosophical examination of what quantum mechanics says about measurement and experience. It offers clarity on the interpretations and suits readers with a philosophy or physics background.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"The more science tells us about the world, the stranger it looks. Ever since physics first penetrated the atom, early in this century, what it found there has stood as a radical and unanswered challenge to many of our most cherished conceptions of nature. It has literally been called into question since then whether or not there are always objective matters of fact about the whereabouts of subatomic particles, or about the locations of tables and chairs, or even about the very contents of our thoughts. A new kind of uncertainty has become a principle of science." "This book is an original and
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The best place to find the answer to this question that I know of it David Z. Albert's excellent book, "Quantum Mechanics and Experience." But the short answer to your question is that Bohmian mechanics has two problems: 1. In order to account for the outcome of Bell-type experiments on entangled particles it has to assign a temporal…
on “The Trouble with Many Worlds” ↗…MWI is obviously true, though he is agnostic on the reality of the other worlds. For more information on this, including a tutorial on all the linear algebra that you need to understand, see the book Quantum Mechanics and Experience by David Albert.
on “Einstein’s ‘spooky action at a distance’: 10,000 times faster than light” ↗…so far, and it's been nice to have the time to digest the lessons without having to run off somewhere. It's also helped to have the MIT OCW lectures as a reference [3], in which I found a book title "Quantum Mechanics and Experience" [4] that I started reading as well and so far has been the most down-to-earth introduction to Quantum Mechanics that I've found. I highly recommend it. [1] https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ [2]…
on “What's your favorite technical book to read during this time of home quarantine?” ↗Quantum Mechanics and Experience, by David Z. Albert, is the most interesting book I read as a philosophy major.
on “Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?” ↗The best of what's available at the moment is (IMHO): David Z. Albert, "Quantum Mechanics and Experience" Tim Maudlin, "Philosophy of Science: Quantum Mechanics" (Space and Time is also a good read.) But I'm actually contemplating writing a book of my own because I think there's still a pretty significant…
on “The Golden Age of Quantum Physics” ↗They have written some good books too. I especially like 'Quantum Mechanics and Experience' by David Z Albert (he's got a very peculiar style of writing that I enjoy), and 'Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity' by Tim Maudlin. Not easy reading, but manageable if you have a physics degree.
on “Carlo Rovelli’s radical perspective on reality” ↗…are now a wee bit dated, but still defensible.) For something written by an actual physicist I recommend anything by Tim Maudlin (he's a Bohmian, but his pedagogy is without peer) or David Z. Alberts, "Quantum Mechanics and Experience." UPDATE: There's also https://arxiv.org/abs/1204.4616
on “Thirty Years of ‘Against Measurement’” ↗I don't know of any resource that explicitly takes this approach. The closest thing I know of is David Z. Albert's "Quantum Mechanics and Experience". AFAICT I am the primary proponent of the pedagogical significance of this idea, so maybe I should write something up. Watch my blog.
on “Quantum Double-Slit Experiment Offers Hope for Earth-Size Telescope” ↗…being sure how collapse works, this might be very difficult. But then again, I'm sure that evil alien overlords are up the task. David Albert talks about doing these sorts of experiments on p. 88 of Quantum Mechanics and Experience, and it was this that I was thinking of. Only Albert's examples don't have a trained rat, but rather other, simpler measuring equipment for which we are trying to determine whether or not it causes collapse.…
on “Quantum entanglement shows that reality can't be local” ↗