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This opinion piece is written by a well-known research professor at CalTech and sits behind Feynman's old desk. He's been extolling this exact message for year
by platz 7y ago
This opinion piece is written by a well-known research professor at CalTech and sits behind Feynman's old desk.
He's been extolling this exact message for years.
I think he would say he's trying to de-woo QM by asking folks to think critically about it's principles
He is not saying that the predictions that QM gives is wrong.
He's a hard materialist and rejects the Copenhagen interpretation of QM (as many do who think intently about it) and prefers Many World's Interpretation, but admits there's more work to be done. He's saying in the article that folks should work on it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_M._Carroll https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_M._Carroll
- mellosouls 7y agoI'm well aware of the author's credentials, writings and views - and would have thought that being in a position of popular renown would have made him more cautious of playing to the crowd with titles that indicate mysticism is the acknowledged heart of the scientific project.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- tim333 7y agoI'm not sure how you get from a title like "Even Physicists Don’t Understand Quantum Mechanics" to the "mysticism is the acknowledged heart of the scientific project" thing. The heart of science has been trying to figure out things we don't understand which is not the same as mysticism.
- mellosouls 7y agoQuantum Mechanics is sold as weird and magical and unfathomable etc in popular representations. The title clearly bolsters that view and insists the author's confusion is shared by physicists generally.
- meowface 7y agoCarroll says essentially this exact same thing in most of his podcast episodes and his dozens of talks and interviews. I don't think there's any sensationalism here. He is indeed saying that the public's impression of QM as inscrutable and mysterious is basically right, in this current scientific climate, and that, even worse, many physicists want to keep it that way.