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  Discussion on the completeness of quantum mechanics and the equivalence (or lack thereof) of quantum interpretations

+ 0 like - 0 dislike
1965 views

Continued chat discussion from here.

asked Apr 11, 2015 in Chat by SchrodingersCatVoter (-10 points) [ no revision ]

1 Answer

+ 1 like - 0 dislike

Doesn't the variety of "interpretations" mean there still no satisfactory physical picture of QM? Doesn't it mean that Feynman's phrase about "understanding" QM is right?

answered Apr 11, 2015 by Vladimir Kalitvianski (102 points) [ no revision ]

@VladimirKalitvianski No, that is incorrect, because as I said, "which interpretation is right?" is a meaningless philosophical question from a logical positivist (i.e. meaningful) perspective.

@dimension10: Then I am confused. No interpretation at all?

@VladimirKalitvianski Rather, all interpretations are equivalent, because they all describe the same underlying theory (quantum mechanics)

all interpretations are equivalent

How different (opposite) things can be equivalent?

because they all describe the same underlying theory (quantum mechanics)

Because they describe our inability with respect to QM.

They are neither different, nor opposite.

It seems you don't really understand logical positivism. Concentrate on the second part, that is positivism. If the predictions are the same, then two different formalisms or interpretations are equivalent, two different theories are dual to each other, etc.

The various quantum interpretations all give you the same results, because they're just nice descriptions of the same underlying theory, that is quantum mechanics.

I see. However, I see also that these problems are not settled yet.

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