Related papers: A Puzzle about Further Facts
Lawrence et al. have presented an argument purporting to show that "relative facts do not exist" and, consequently, "Relational Quantum Mechanics is incompatible with quantum mechanics". The argument is based on a GHZ-like contradiction…
Contrary to counterfactual definiteness quantum theory teaches us that measuring instruments are not passively reading predetermined values of physical observables. Counterfactual definiteness allows proving Bell inequalities. If the…
Quantum information theory and the multiverse are two of the greatest outcomes of the XX century physics. The consideration of entanglement between the quantum states of two or more universes in a multiverse scenario provides us with a…
We consider decision-making under incomplete information about an unknown state of nature. We show that a decision problem yields a higher value of information than another, uniformly across information structures, if and only if it is…
The mechanism of continuous set of different universes formation is elaborated. It provides tool to solve the problem of observed smallness of physical parameters. Solution of two puzzles - the hierarchy and the cosmological constant…
The question of what ontological message (if any) is encoded in the formalism of contemporary physics is, to say the least, controversial. The reasons for this state of affairs are psychological and neurobiological. The processes by which…
For more than half a century, dualities have been at the heart of modern physics. From quantum mechanics to statistical mechanics, condensed matter physics, quantum field theory and quantum gravity, dualities have proven useful in solving…
We investigate the most general phase space of configurations, consisting of the collection of all possible ways of assigning elementary attributes, "energies", to elementary positions, "cells". We discuss how this space defines a…
When a physicist says that a theory is fine-tuned, they mean that it must make a suspiciously precise assumption in order to explain a certain observation. This is evidence that the theory is deficient or incomplete. One particular case of…
The paradoxes of thermodynamics and statistical physics are unavoidable in the study of physical paradoxes because of their importance at the time they came to be as well as the frequency of their appearance in historical studies of…
General relativity poses serious problems for counterfactual propositions peculiar to it as a physical theory. Because these problems arise solely from the dynamical nature of spacetime geometry, they are shared by all schools of thought on…
Despite the success of modern physics in formulating mathematical theories that can predict the outcome of experiments, we have made remarkably little progress towards answering the most fundamental question of: why is there a universe at…
A fundamental problem in science is how to make logical inferences from scientific data. Mere data does not suffice since additional information is necessary to select a domain of models or hypotheses and thus determine the likelihood of…
This paper explores the intersection of identity, individuality, and reality through competing frameworks, including classical metaphysics, quantum mechanics, and computational theories. Traditional metaphysical notions of fixed identity…
Partial descriptions of the Universe are presented in the form of linear equations considered in the free (full, super) Fock space. The universal properties of these equations are discussed. The closure problem caused by computational and…
One of the most stimulating recent ideas in particle physics involves a possibility that our universe has additional compactified spatial dimensions, perhaps as large as 1 mm. In this review, we discuss the results of recent experimental…
Modern fundamental physics poses new questions for philosophy, which, as it seems to us, have not yet received appropriate attention from philosophers of science. This paper formulates a number of such questions in order to present them to…
We argue against current proposals concerning the non-existence of time. We point out that a large number of these proposals rely, at least implicitly, on the assumption of `closure' (or `partial closure') of the laws of Physics. I.e. the…
Discussions on indeterminism in physics focus on the possibility of an open future, i.e. the possibility of having potential alternative future events, the realisation of one of which is not fully determined by the present state of affairs.…
What do we do when cosmology raises questions it cannot answer? These include the existence of a multiverse and the universality of the laws of physics. We cannot settle any of these issues by experiment, and this is where philosophers…