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posted by martyb on Wednesday October 04 2017, @09:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the spooky-action-at-a-distance dept.

Spacetime events and objects aren't all that exists, a new quantum interpretation suggests.

[...] In the new paper, three scientists argue that including "potential things on the list of "real" things can avoid the counterintuitive conundrums that quantum physics poses. It is perhaps less of a full-blown interpretation than a new philosophical framework for contemplating those quantum mysteries. At its root, the new idea holds that the common conception of "reality" is too limited. By expanding the definition of reality, the quantum's mysteries disappear. In particular, "real" should not be restricted to "actual" objects or events in spacetime. Reality ought also be assigned to certain possibilities, or "potential" realities, that have not yet become "actual." These potential realities do not exist in spacetime, but nevertheless are "ontological" — that is, real components of existence.

"This new ontological picture requires that we expand our concept of 'what is real' to include an extraspatiotemporal domain of quantum possibility," write Ruth Kastner, Stuart Kauffman and Michael Epperson.

[...] In their paper, titled "Taking Heisenberg's Potentia Seriously," Kastner and colleagues elaborate on this idea, drawing a parallel to the philosophy of René Descartes. Descartes, in the 17th century, proposed a strict division between material and mental "substance." Material stuff (res extensa, or extended things) existed entirely independently of mental reality (res cogitans, things that think) except in the brain's pineal gland. There res cogitans could influence the body. Modern science has, of course, rejected res cogitans: The material world is all that reality requires. Mental activity is the outcome of material processes, such as electrical impulses and biochemical interactions.

Kastner and colleagues also reject Descartes' res cogitans. But they think reality should not be restricted to res extensa; rather it should be complemented by "res potentia" — in particular, quantum res potentia, not just any old list of possibilities. Quantum potentia can be quantitatively defined; a quantum measurement will, with certainty, always produce one of the possibilities it describes. In the large-scale world, all sorts of possibilities can be imagined (Browns win Super Bowl, Indians win 22 straight games) which may or may not ever come to pass.

This could be an amazing breakthrough - and it would also reconcile Einstein's 'Left Shoe' construction.
Somehow, reading this paper also made me think of software design!

Read the article at sciencenews.org
Read the paper at arxiv.org


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 04 2017, @11:41AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 04 2017, @11:41AM (#576974)

    I did fuck the prom queen! \o/

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by vistic on Wednesday October 04 2017, @12:22PM

    by vistic (4958) on Wednesday October 04 2017, @12:22PM (#576985)

    Only if it ever had a >0 probability of happening at all.

  • (Score: 2) by choose another one on Wednesday October 04 2017, @01:02PM (2 children)

    by choose another one (515) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 04 2017, @01:02PM (#576998)

    Yeah, but (as above) only when probability >0, which means in the year they elected an absolute minger.

    Or, just possibly, the year they elected a telekinetic firestarter with serious menstrual issues - might want to avoid that one, not sure how long you'd last...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 04 2017, @01:11PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 04 2017, @01:11PM (#577001)

      Well, lately I haven't seen any Takuro Spirits on the road. That was my first car. There are some other things that have been really strange, too.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 04 2017, @04:45PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 04 2017, @04:45PM (#577088)

        Sorry you're stuck in that time loop, any chance you can open a bank account in my name during your next life?