Howard Marks wrote:
>MWI theory, it seems, to me, needs to address some pivotal issues, such as
>Occam's.
To be short I simplify the things just a little bit. I think
most in this list (and Deutsch list) would essentially agree.
Either you want to satisfy *Conceptual* Occam Razor (COR)
Then you choose to formulate QM with schroedinger equation only (+ the
math)
Then you have not only a shorter theory, but you get a
deterministic, local, complete, realist and
democratic (i.e. the observer obeys the same laws as the observed) theory,
without any measurement problem. Of course, you loose the principle of
unicity of measurement outcomes, superposition is contagious, and you get
the MW. It is not a choice.
BTW the expression MWI is misleading. Everett gives a new *formulation* of
QM from which he extracts the interpretation. I know this is controversial
but I agree 100% with Everett. (More on this latter if I find time).
In fact I agree 200% with Everett because I have showed that Everett
should
have realize that the schroedinger equation is derivable aswell from
his own computationalist hypothesis.
Or you want to satisfy Substancial Occam Razor (SOR)
You insist for the unicity
of outcomes, and you SPECULATE about a collapse. It is well known that
this
introduces (at least for the realist philosopher) indeterminism,
non-locality
a cut between the observer and the observed, unintelligible micro-realm,
an insoluble measurement problem, etc.
This is a just an anthropomorphic cosmo-solipsistic move ...(IMO and in
the opinion of most people in this list if I understand them correctly).
Now if you take computationnalism (look in the archive) then the
``worlds"
becames sort of dreams, and you can put any substances, including
any universes in the trash ... With computationalism COR meet SOR !
Of course, then you *must* derive schroedinger from comp ...
Bruno
Bruno MARCHAL Phone : +32 (0)2 650 27 11
Universite Libre Fax : +32 (0)2 650 27 15
de Bruxelles
Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50 IRIDIA, CP 194/6
B-1050 BRUSSELS Email : marchal.domain.name.hidden
Belgium URL :
http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal
Received on Fri Sep 15 2000 - 07:54:20 PDT