PERIMETER INSTITUTE RECORDED SEMINAR ARCHIVE
 | Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics Speaker(s): Robert Spekkens
Abstract: Just as there is a
difference between knowing how to *drive* a car and understanding its functioning well enough to fix it when it breaks down, so too is there a difference between knowing how to *use* quantum theory to make predictions and understanding what it says about the world well enough to see how it might fail or how it might be usefully generalized. The field of quantum foundations seeks to achieve such a deeper understanding. In particular, it seeks to determine the correct interpretation of quantum theory and to find the principles underlying it, questions for which there is still no consensus among researchers. In this talk, I’ll discuss some of the interpretational problems of quantum theory and several of the most prominent proposals for how to overcome these problems. The list includes introducing hidden variables that we must necessarily remain uncertain of, changing the rules of logic, and positing the existence of an infinite number of parallel worlds. Date: 25/07/2012 - 10:30 am
Collection: ISSYP 2012
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