The dynamics of difference

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:19110087,
            doi = {10.48660/19110087},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/19110087},
            author = {Smolin, Lee},
            keywords = {Cosmology, Quantum Fields and Strings, Quantum Gravity},
            language = {en},
            title = {The dynamics of difference},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2019},
            month = {nov},
            note = {PIRSA:19110087 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }
          

Abstract

A proposal is made for a fundamental theory, which is hypothesized to be a completion of both quantum mechanics and general relativity, in which the history of the universe is constituted of diverse views of itself. Views are attributes of events, and the theory’s only be-ables; they comprise information about energy and momentum transferred to an event from its causal past. A dynamics is proposed for a universe constituted of views of events, which combines the energetic causal set dynamics with a potential energy based on a measure of the distinctiveness of the views, called the variety. As in the real ensemble formulation of quantum mechanics, quantum pure states are associated to ensembles of similar events; the quantum potential of Bohm then arises from the variety. This theory brings together results from two lines of development: energetic causal sets, developed with Marina Cortes, and the real ensemble formulation of quantum mechanics.