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n4r9 comments on [LINK] The Wrong Objections to the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics - Less Wrong Discussion

17 [deleted] 19 February 2015 06:06PM

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Comment author: n4r9 13 March 2015 03:33:58PM *  0 points [-]

I agree with you up until your last paragraph: the strength of Fuchs' papers are not in their direct criticism of Everettian interpretations (Kent's papers are a lot better at that).

For your last paragraph, I think Fuchs would take umbrage at the idea that you are necessarily "modeling the thing" when you assign a quantum state to a given system. I don't think he believes that systems have a "true ontic state" of which quantum states are representative. Rather, the quantum state is merely a representation of an agent's beliefs about the future outcomes of their interventions/measurements into the universe. Nevertheless, Fuchs claims to be a scientific realist.

I'm deliberately using the word "think" a lot here because I'm not confident of relaying Fuchs' views faithfully (this isn't directly my area of research). I haven't adopted a QBist interpretation (or any other), but from what I've read I feel it's worth serious discussion.

You also mentioned theorems constraining ontology. You may be interested in Fuchs' take on Bell's Theorem: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1311.5253v1.pdf . I have been to a talk where he explains why the PBR theorem doesn't impact his interpretation, although the details evade me (and I can't find anything written about it by him online).