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Many Worlds?
Everett, Quantum Theory, & Reality
Edited by Simon Saunders, Jonathan Barrett, Adrian Kent, and David Wallace
640 pages
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234x156mm
978-0-19-965550-2
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Paperback
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07 June 2012
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- The first full appraisal of one of the most startling theories in modern science
- Debates crucial questions about how we understand the universe
- Featuring a stellar line-up of philosophers and physicists
What does realism about the quantum state imply? What follows when quantum theory is applied without restriction, if need be, to the whole universe? These are the questions which an illustrious team of philosophers and physicists debate in this volume. All the contributors are agreed on realism, and on the need, or the aspiration, for a theory that unites micro- and macroworlds, at least in principle. But the further claim argued by some is that if you allow the Schrödinger equation unrestricted application, supposing the quantum state to be something physically real, then this universe is one of countlessly many others, constantly branching in time, all of which are real. The result is the many worlds theory, also known as the Everett interpretation of
quantum mechanics.
The contrary claim sees this picture of many worlds as in no sense inherent in quantum mechanics, even when the latter is allowed unrestricted scope and even given that the quantum state itself is something physically real. For this picture of branching worlds fails to make physical sense, let alone common sense, even on its own terms. The status of these worlds, what they are made of, is never adequately explained. Ordinary ideas about time and identity over time become hopelessly compromised. The concept of probability itself is brought into question. This picture of many branching worlds is inchoate, it is a vision, an error. There are realist alternatives to many worlds, some even that preserve the Schrödinger equation unchanged.
Twenty
specially written essays, accompanied by commentaries and discussions, examine these claims and counterclaims in depth. They focus first on the question of ontology, the existence of worlds (Part 1 and 2), second on the interpretation of probability (Parts 3 and 4), and third on alternatives or additions to many worlds (Parts 5 and 6). The introduction offers a helpful guide to the arguments for the Everett interpretation, particularly as they have been formulated in the last two decades.Readership: Academics teaching and researching in the field of philosophy - especially philosophy of physics, metaphysics, philosophy of science, epistemology, decision theory, and probability theory. Academics teaching and
researching in the field of physics - especially quantum mechanics, quantum information, quantum field theory, string theory and cosmology. Also historians of science.
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Edited by Simon Saunders, University of Oxford, Jonathan Barrett, University of Bristol, Adrian Kent, University of Cambridge, and David Wallace, University of Oxford Simon Saunders is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford.
Jon Barrett is a Research Fellow in the Physics department at the University of Bristol
Adrian Kent is a Reader in Quantum Physics at the University of Cambridge
David Wallace is a lecturer in Philosophy of Physics at the University of Oxford Contributors:
David Albert, Columbia University in New York
Harvey Brown, University of Oxford
Jeffrey Bub, University of Maryland
Peter Byrne, King's College London
David Deutsch, University of Oxford
Hilary Greaves, University of Oxford
Jonathan Halliwell, University of Oxford
Jim Hartle, University of California, Santa Barbara
John Hawthorne, University of Oxford
Adrian Kent, University of Cambridge
James Ladyman, University of Bristol
Tim Maudlin, University of
Oxford
Wayne Myrvold, University of Western Ontario
David Papineau, King's College London
Itamar Pitowsky, The Hebrew University
Huw Price, University of Sydney
Simon Saunders, University of Oxford
Rudiger Schack, University of Royal Holloway, London
Max Tegmark, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Christopher Timpson, University of Oxford
Lev Vaidman, Tel Aviv University
Antony Valentini, University of Oxford
David Wallace, University of Oxford
Wojciech Zurek, Los Alamos National Laboratory
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Review(s) from previous edition
"written with great clarity by some of the best minds in contemporary foundations of physics ... a fine read, summarizing nicely the state of the art in one of the most radical no-collapse interpretations of quantum theory.
- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
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Simon Saunders: Many Worlds: an Introduction
1. Why Many Worlds?
1: David Wallace: Decoherence and Ontology
2: Jim Hartle: Quasiclassical Realms
3: Jonathan Halliwell: Macroscopic Superpositions, Decoherent Histories, and the Emergence of Hydrodynamical Behaviour
2. Problems with Ontology
4: Tim Maudlin: Can the world be only wavefunction?
5: John Hawthorne: A metaphysician looks at the Everett interpretation
James Ladyman: Commentary. Reply to Hawthorne: Physics Before Metaphysics
Transcript 1: ontology
3. Probability in the Everett Interpretation
6: Simon Saunders: Chance in the Everett interpretation
7: David Papineau: A Scandal of Probability Theory
8: David Wallace: How to prove the Born rule
9: Hilary Greaves and Wayne Myrvold: Everett and Evidence
4. Critical Replies
10: Adrian Kent: One World versus Many: the Inadequacy of Everettian Accounts of Evolution, Probability, and Scientific Confirmation
11: David Albert: Probability in the Everett picture
12: Huw Price: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: Can Savage Salvage Everettian Probability?
Transcript 2: Probability
5. Alternatives to Many Worlds
13: Wojciech Zurek: Decoherence, Einselection, Envariance, and Quantum Darwinism: From Relative States to the Existential Interpretation
14: Jeffrey Bub and Itamar Pitowsky: Two dogmas about quantum mechanics
Christopher Timpson: Commentary: Rabid Dogma? Comments on Bub and Pitowsky
15: Rudiger Schack: The Principal Principle and Probability in the Many-Worlds interpretation
16: Antony Valentini: Pilot-wave theory: many worlds in denial?
Harvey Brown: Commentary: Reply to Valentini
6. Not Only Many Worlds
17: Peter Byrne: Everett and Wheeler, the Untold Story
18: David Deutsch: Apart from universes
19: Max Tegmark: Many Worlds in Context
20: Lev Vaidman: Time Symmetry and the Many-Worlds Interpretation
Transcript 3: Not (only) many worlds
Bibliography
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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