What is real?
by Adam Becker · first published 2018
60% recommend40% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Readable popular history of quantum physics that covers the people and sociology behind the Copenhagen, Bohmian and Many Worlds debates; good for readers curious how modern science actually works.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Quantum mechanics is humanity's finest scientific achievement. It explains why the sun shines and how your eyes can see. It's the theory behind the LEDs in your phone and the nuclear hearts of space probes. Every physicist agrees quantum physics is spectacularly successful. But ask them what quantum physics means, and the result will be a brawl. At stake is the nature of the Universe itself. What does it mean for something to be real? What is the role of consciousness in the Universe? And do quantum rules apply to very small objects like electrons and protons, but not us? In What is Real?, Ad
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"What is real?" by Adam Becker. It doesn't touch much on general relativity if you are interested specifically in that, but it's a great read and gives you a bit of perspective how "modern" science works (I mean before…
on “Who Did the Math for General Relativity First, Einstein or Hilbert?” ↗…there is no reason to doubt the pilot wave interpretation, or Bohmian mechanics. For a more popular account that delves into the personalities of the physicists involved, I also recommend Adam Becker’s “What Is Real?: The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics”. Both books came to me via the reading list at https://bohmian-mechanics.net.
on “Quantum Tunnel Shows Particles Can Break the Speed of Light” ↗I found a Bohm through the excellent book What is Real by Adam Becker. It was one of the first books that advocated the philosophy of science that I’d encountered, and it was fascinating. Warning: If you’re a huge fan of Bohr and the Copenhagen interpretation…
on “My Meeting with David Bohm, Tormented Quantum Visionary” ↗"What is Real" by Adam Becker. He presents the sociology of why the Copenhagen interpretation persisted for so long, despite strong opposition early on and refutations of Von Neumann's work on why it had to be true.…
on “Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?” ↗…interpretation was initially rejected by John Wheeler, Everett's Ph.D. advisor, under the influence of Neils Bohr, but I've never read anywhere that the motivation of the two was in any way religious. The book What is Real? by Adam Becker has a good account of this history.
on “Wronger Than Wrong” ↗…this paper frames the distinction and tension between the feeling of subjective experience and the "detached" rational scientific descriptive perspective that purports to be outside of that experience. What is Real by Adam Becker was a fun foray into why this is so in (some) modern science philosophy as well - there's some desire to say that there isn't a "there" there when we talk about the world, just stuff. I'm…
on “What Is It Like to Be a Bat? [pdf]” ↗…~guy's~ woman's disdainful, superior tone, I do think his complaint has merit. Physics is notoriously bad at having curiosity about strange, unconventional, or truly novel ideas. I just finished reading What is Real? by Adam Becker-- a history of modern physics-- and am astonished at how aggressively physicists resisted and suppressed "unconventional" interpretations of quantum mechanics (like the many worlds interpretation)…
on “The present phase of stagnation in the foundations of physics is not normal” ↗> The two books under consideration here bring the paradox home, each in its own way. Adam Becker’s What Is Real? chronicles the tragic side of a crowning achievement of reason, quantum physics. The documentarian Errol Morris gives us The Ashtray, a semi-autobiographical tale of the supremely influential The Structure…
on “The Defeat of Reason” ↗I'm just reading "What is Real?" by Adam Becker (a history of QM published this year) and boy do the Copenhagenists look foolish. Even Bohr comes off as a saintly buffoon. With experimental confirmation that the universe is non-local…
on “A record-breaking microscope” ↗…: https://backreaction.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-problem-with-q... Sabine Hossedfelder also discusses it in her book Lost in Math. Two books on the subject are reviewed in the Booklab podcast, episode 20: http://booklabpodcast.com/booklab-020-what-is-real-and-beyon... Featured Books:What is Real? by Adam Becker; and Beyond Weird by Philip Ball. Quantum physics has been with us for more than 100 years – but what is it actually telling us about the world?
on “How do black holes destroy information and why is that a problem?” ↗