“Just like Plato’s prisoners we mistake the fleeting shadows of what we see as reality, while the true reality is an all-encompassing whole.” | Heinrich Päs
One
12 Tuesday Nov 2024
Posted in Uncategorized
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Selbstwehr %d
Could we all please just agree that Quantum Mechanics in its present state isn’t evidence for any philosophy whatsoever besides the “philosophy” of Quantum Mechanics.
I would not agree with that. QM is widely misused in philosophy but what we do know for certain about QM (e.g. that the universe is not locally real) has philosophical implications. Additionally, it’s possible to explore the implications of a particular interpretation of QM without asserting that interpretation.
Having studied the subject myself, I’d add that much of the “philosophy” that borrows from QM rests a bit too heavily on effects that are, yes, technically non-zero but for all practical purposes vanishingly small. For example, the probability (as expressed by the square of a wave function that represents you) that you are on Jupiter. Wherever the line between mere mathematical convention and objective reality might be, it is not so distinct as to become a pillar of a formal philosophical structure. The Great Red Spot mathematically would appear in a complete quantum mechanical description of you, but this does not mean that you should set your watch by it.