Related papers: Is the Past Determined?
Decompositions of the world into systems have typically been regarded as arbitrary extra-theoretical assumptions in discussions of quantum measurement. One can instead regard decompositions as part of the theory, and ask what conditions…
Measurements are ordinarily described with respect to absolute "Newtonian" time. In reality however, the switching-on of the measuring device at the instance of the measurement requires a timing device. Hence the classical time $t$ must be…
This paper is about the metaphysical debate whether objects persist over time by the selfsame object existing at different times (nowadays called `endurance' by metaphysicians), or by different temporal parts, or stages, existing at…
In Bohm's version of the EPR gedanken experiment, the spin of the second particle along any vector is minus the spin of the other particle along the same vector. It seems that either the choice of vector along which one projects the spin of…
Here we propose a pair of experiments to distinguish the recently proposed "slicing theory" of quantum measurement, which gives a transient many worlds picture, and decoherence. Since these two theories are essentially "opposites" in their…
In this paper, I attempt a personal account of my understanding of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics, which has been largely in the tradition of the Copenhagen interpretation. I assume that (i) the quantum state is a…
To make informed decisions in natural environments that change over time, humans must update their beliefs as new observations are gathered. Studies exploring human inference as a dynamical process that unfolds in time have focused on…
Time perception is crucial for a coherent human experience. As life progresses, our perception of the passage of time becomes increasingly non-uniform, often feeling as though it accelerates with age. While various causes for this…
Quantum interference phenomena are widely viewed as posing a challenge to the classical worldview. Feynman even went so far as to proclaim that they are the only mystery and the basic peculiarity of quantum mechanics. Many have also argued…
Interpretation problems are eliminated from quantum theory by picturing a quantum history as having been sampled from a probability distribution over the set of histories which are permitted by all relevant boundary conditions. In…
We summarize a recently proposed resolution of the quantum measurement problem. It stems from an insight into entanglement demonstrated in a 1991 experiment involving photon momenta. This experiment shows that, when two superposed quantum…
Quantum nonlocality which is conventionally invoked for describing a composite entangled system is shown here to be a possible important characteristic of a single quantum object. To this end, we analyze some interactions of a single photon…
We designed and ran an experiment to test how often people's choices are reversed by others' recommendations when facing different levels of confirmation and conformity pressures. In our experiment participants were first asked to provide…
Consider an agent taking two successive decisions to maximize his expected utility under uncertainty. After his first decision, a signal is revealed that provides information about the state of nature. The observation of the signal allows…
The measurement problem is to explain why a system which is in a linear combination of states appears, upon measurement, to be in just one of those states. The solution given here is to first show that if one assumes linear, unitary, no…
In analogy with the usual state estimation problem, we introduce the problem of state estimation for a pre- and post-selected ensemble. The problem has fundamental physical significance since, as argued by Y. Aharonov and collaborators,…
The statistics of local measurements of joint quantum systems can sometimes be used to distinguish the spatiotemporal structure in which they were measured. We first prove that every bipartite separable density matrix is temporally…
Moving groups are routinely faced with a choice of different routes as part of their daily lives, such as choosing between exits from a building. Differences in moving speeds and environmental constraints often lead to individuals being…
In this paper we address the question of whether it is possible to obtain evidence that we are in a superposition of different worlds, as suggested by the relative state interpretation of quantum mechanics. We find that it is impossible to…
The Contextuality-by-Default theory is illustrated on contextuality analysis of the idealized double-slit experiment. The experiment is described by a system of contextually labeled binary random variables each of which answers the…