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Classical physics is generally regarded as deterministic, as opposed to quantum mechanics that is considered the first theory to have introduced genuine indeterminism into physics. We challenge this view by arguing that the alleged…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-12-11 Flavio Del Santo , Nicolas Gisin

In this essay a critical review of present conceptual problems in current cosmology is provided from a more philosophical point of view. In essence, a digression on how could philosophy help cosmologists in what is strictly their…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2011-11-14 F. J. Amaral Vieira

Cosmology is operating now on a well established and tightly constraining empirical basis. The relativistic LambdaCDM hot big bang theory is consistent with all the present tests; it has become the benchmark. But the many open issues in…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2014-11-20 P. J. E. Peebles

The epistemological interpretation of quantum mechanics is still in an unacceptable status. This becomes obvious if looking on the variety of interpretations currently under discussion. However, the physical community together with…

General Physics · Physics 2021-03-08 Carsten Reese

The stipulation that no measurable quantity could have an infinite value is indispensable in physics. At the same time, in mathematics, the possibility of considering an infinite procedure as a whole is usually taken for granted. However,…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-12-07 Arkady Bolotin

The quantization of gravity offers a solution to the presence of singularities in cosmology. Infinities are removed because of the existence of finite quanta of spacetime. This is one of the most important prediction of Loop Quantum…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2013-05-13 Francesca Vidotto

Can multiverse hypotheses ever receive empirical support? Critics argue that multiverse scenarios posit unobservable entities, face severe underdetermination, or fall outside the bounds of science. This chapter challenges that view by…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2025-09-08 Baptiste Le Bihan

The finite age of the universe and the existence of cosmological horizons provides a strong argument that the observable universe represents a finite causal region with finite material and informational resources. A similar conclusion…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 P. C. W. Davies

The expansion of the observed universe appears to be accelerating. A simple explanation of this phenomenon is provided by the non-vanishing of the cosmological constant in the Einstein equations. Arguments are commonly presented to the…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2013-05-07 Eugenio Bianchi , Carlo Rovelli

The world of mathematics is often considered abstract, with its symbols, concepts, and topics appearing unrelated to physical objects. However, it is important to recognize that the development of mathematics is fundamentally influenced by…

General Physics · Physics 2023-06-08 Biao Wu

Cosmological models that invoke a multiverse - a collection of unobservable regions of space where conditions are very different from the region around us - are controversial, on the grounds that unobservable phenomena shouldn't play a…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2018-01-17 Sean M. Carroll

The mystery of the cosmological constant is probably the most pressing obstacle to significantly improving the models of elementary particle physics derived from string theory. The problem arises because in the standard framework of low…

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology · Physics 2007-05-23 Edward Witten

The fundamental physical theories that interpret and explain behaviour of matter in nature are dependent on several unobservables and insensibles in their construction. While a rigorous natural philosophy cannot take them for granted, there…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2020-01-29 C. S. Unnikrishnan

Some attack scientific rationality, others defend it, but both miss the point. What both parties take to be scientific rationality is actually a species of irrationality masquerading as scientific rationality. The current orthodox…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2020-01-29 Nicholas Maxwell

The example of the calculus is used to explain how simple, practical math was made enormously complex by imposing on it the Western religiously-colored notion of mathematics as "perfect". We describe a pedagogical experiment to make math…

History and Overview · Mathematics 2013-12-10 C. K. Raju

This is a collection of my responses to the criticisms of my argument against the impossibility proof of John Bell, which aims to undermine any conceivable local realistic completion of quantum mechanics. I plan to periodically update this…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2008-01-03 Joy Christian

Practicing mathematicians often assume that mathematical claims, when they are true, have good reasons to be true. Such a state of affairs is "unreasonable", in Wigner's sense, because basic results in computational complexity suggest that…

History and Overview · Mathematics 2024-10-28 Simon DeDeo

Some notes about quantum physics, an interpretation if one wishes, are put forward, insisting on `closely following the mathematics/formalism, the `nuts and bolts of what quantum physics says'. These, basically well-known, issues seem to…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-01-03 Eliahu Levy

The present discussion contribution is some remarks concerning and review of the proposal by one of us (C. Balazs) to explain the cosmological constant by a/the principle of entropy. Used without further comment this principle of entropy…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2013-06-26 H. B. Nielsen , C. Balazs

Infinity, in various guises, has been invoked recently in order to `explain' a number of important questions regarding observable phenomena in science, and in particular in cosmology. Such explanations are by their nature speculative. Here…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2016-04-26 Reza Tavakol , Fabio Gironi