Everett and Structure
| dc.creator | Wallace, David | |
| dc.date | 2001-07-28 | |
| dc.date | 2005-07-22 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-07T06:02:30Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-07T06:02:30Z | |
| dc.description | I address the problem of indefiniteness in quantum mechanics: the problem that the theory, without changes to its formalism, seems to predict that macroscopic quantities have no definite values. The Everett interpretation is often criticised along these lines and I shall argue that much of this criticism rests on a false dichotomy: that the macroworld must either be written directly into the formalism or be regarded as somehow illusory. By means of analogy with other areas of physics, I develop the view that the macroworld is instead to be understood in terms of certain structures and patterns which emerge from quantum theory (given appropriate dynamics, in particular decoherence). I extend this view to the observer, and in doing so make contact with functionalist theories of mind. | |
| dc.description | LaTeX; 20 pages; very late update (this updated version is from 2002) | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0107144 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0107144 | |
| dc.identifier | Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 34 (2003), pp. 87-105 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/89624 | |
| dc.subject | Quantum Physics | |
| dc.title | Everett and Structure | |
| dc.type | text |