Related papers: Without microphysical causation, just anything can…
Relativistic causality (RC) is the principle that no cause can act outside its future lightcone, but any attempt to formulate this principle more precisely will depend on the foundational framework that one adopts for quantum theory.…
Constructing the Theory of Everything (TOE) is an elusive goal of today's physics. Goedel's incompleteness theorem seems to forbid physics axiomatization, a necessary part of the TOE. The purpose of this contribution is to show how physics…
In this review article we compare the recent work of Peter Lynds, "On a finite universe with no beginning or end", with that of Stephen Hawking, primarily "Quantum Cosmology, M-Theory, and the Anthropic Principle", and two foundational…
The principle of sufficient reason asserts that anything that happens does so for a reason: no definite state of affairs can come into being unless there is a sufficient reason why that particular thing should happen. This principle is…
The fundamental theories of physics are local theories, depending on local interactions of local variables. It is not clear if and how strictly local theories can produce non-local variables that have causal effectiveness. Yet, non-local…
It is argued that there is no evidence for causality as a metaphysical relation in quantum phenomena. The assumption that there are no causal laws, but only probabilities for physical processes constrained by symmetries, leads naturally to…
The conditions for validity of the Causal Entropy Bound (CEB) are verified in the context of non-singular cosmologies with classical sources. It is shown that they are the same conditions that were previously found to guarantee validity of…
The principle of common cause asserts that positive correlations between causally unrelated events ought to be explained through the action of some shared causal factors. Reichenbachian common cause systems are probabilistic structures…
Frauchiger and Renner recently cast doubt on the universal applicability of Quantum Mechanics [1]. In the following, it is pointed out that their conclusion of one of three common-sense conditions, demanded for Quantum Mechanics, being…
In a recent preprint [1] Jeffrey Bub presents a discussion of neo-Bohrian interpretations of quantum mechanics, and also of von Neumann's work on infinite tensor products [2]. He rightfully writes that this work provides a theoretical…
The basic hypothesis of a post-Copernican Cosmological theory is that {\em all the points} of the Universe have to be essentially equivalent: this hypothesis is required in order to avoid any privileged {\em observer}. This assumption has…
Causal set theory offers a simple and elegant picture of discrete physics. But the vast majority of causal sets look nothing at all like continuum spacetimes, and must be excluded in some way to obtain a realistic theory. I describe recent…
Bell appealed to the theory of relativity in formulating his principle of local causality. But he maintained that quantum field theories do not conform to that principle, even when their field equations are relativistically covariant and…
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…
In this PhD thesis the ancient question of determinism ('Does every event have a cause ?') will be re-examined. In the philosophy of science and physics communities the orthodox position states that the physical world is indeterministic:…
Using a process-theoretic formalism, we introduce the notion of a causal-inferential theory: a triple consisting of a theory of causal influences, a theory of inferences (of both the Boolean and Bayesian varieties), and a specification of…
We begin with a brief summary of issues encountered involving causality in quantum theory, placing careful emphasis on the assumptions involved in results such as the EPR paradox and Bell's inequality. We critique some solutions to the…
The Kalam cosmological argument, of a metaphysical nature, asserts that the universe had a first cause. This study examines the compatibility of its premises through a bibliographic review of advancements in contemporary physics. Quantum…
The nature takes the easiest and most accessible paths and, hence, processes are accomplished very quickly in a minimum time. In 1662 P. Fermat used this principle to work out the refraction law. This was one of the first known attempts at…
Before the universe there was nothing, absolute nothing. That is the starting point because it is the only starting point that requires no cause, no explanation nor justification of its existence. But, that starting point has two…