Quantum magic: A skeptical perspective
Abstract
Quantum mechanics (QM) has attracted a considerable amount of mysticism, in public opinion and even among academic researches, due to some of its conceptually puzzling features, such as the modification of reality by the observer and entanglement. We argue that many popular "quantum paradoxes" stem from a confusion between mathematical formalism and physics; We demonstrate this by explaining how the paradoxes go away once a different formalism, usually inconvenient to perform calculations, is used. we argue that some modern developments, well-studied in the research literature but generally overlooked by both popular science and teaching-level literature, make quantum mechanics (that is, "canonical" QM, not extensions of it) less conceptually problematic than it looks at first sight. When all this is looked at together, most "conceptual puzzles" of QM are not much different from the well-known paradoxes from probability theory. Consequently, "explanations of QM" involving physical action of consciouses or an infinity of universes are conceptually unnecessary
Cite
@article{arxiv.1107.3800,
title = {Quantum magic: A skeptical perspective},
author = {Giorgio Torrieri},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1107.3800},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
This article, written as a result of many debates with academic colleagues and non-academic friends, expresses the author's view of quantum mechanics and its interpretation. Any suggestions of where to submit it for publication would be much appreciated, please contact me by email