Respectable Anti-Realism: Quantum Mechanics Turns Epistemic

Can we please give it up to Hans Busstra (the interviewer)...! He has really expanded this channel.

This is how the magic is redeemed to stay in the worldview. It was thought to be dead at the hand of materialism and yet we had no idea how much he have yet to learn.

Any measurement using an instrument is a result of a duality - the activity being measured and the activity of the instrument. Then there is another duality happening when we interpret the measurement and give it a value. The information produced in this second step has no absolute basis - it is based on some axioms we have made up. And there are different sets of axioms possible (eg. moving from Newtonion to Einstein). So the end result is just knowledge with no absolute basis. Any theory based on any measurement (or direct observation) has an epistemic interpretation. It just so happens that for classical physics, the variation in the initial measurement is minimal with repeated observations, so all our axioms appear to be "true", getting challenged only when the magnitude changes (eg. modeling gravity going from local to global to solar system to cosmic scale). However, with quantum, the measurement varies largely with the observation, so it exposes the faults in our basic axioms (about existence of objects, particles, time) which were always there. The theories just predict what we can observe in the future, it's not a reflection of a reality. And there will always be incompleteness and inconsistency as we fuzz the line between the measurer and the measured.

Wow, this is so much more dynamic and captivating than any other "podcast like interviews/conversation" I have seen. Having a very interesting topic on top is not bad either : )

So good to hear, how what we know today as science were first a subject of philosophy. And how we need to approach interpretations of quantum mechanics through the philosophical method, i.e., coming up with a 'set' of reasonable assumptions which can be put to practical, physical tests as experiments in physics

Art exists as a superposition of possibilities. Only the perception causes that superposition to collapse — into either temporary reality or permanent reality. This distinction is absolute. I look at temporary art: the collapsed superposition is temporary. I look at permanent art: the collapsed superposition is permanent, infinite.

The first, and largest mistake science has ever made is separating physics and metaphysics. Our world is continuum from spiritual to physical.

I've needed this channel for my entire life .... WOW

"and as physicists, we are very unprepared" is such a massive understatement. The crisis in causality has brought out the worst in us, as some become dogmatic about the old models. Meanwhile people are taking the news and trying to run away with their personal takes on the matter.

The last take on physics as a partial solution to the puzzle with other parts really takes off the heaviness from my shoulder. 😊