Prof Andrew Steane

Abstract:

The concept of an isolated system, and Frauchiger and Renner’s extended ‘Wigner’s friend’ scenario are discussed. It is argued that: (i) it is questionable whether the approximation of the isolated system is valid when measurement-like processes are involved; (ii) one may infer, from Frauchiger and Renner’s thought-experiment, and similar thought-experiments, that any interpretation of quantum theory involving subjective collapse fails; (iii) this does not distinguish single-world from many-world (relative-state) interpretations of quantum theory; (iv) reasoning from observations has to take into account the possible quantum-erasure of those observations if it is to be valid reasoning; (v) a single-world interpretation is valid if certain kinds of outcome are not quantum-erased in the future.

Abstract:

This book is a presentation of science for the general reader, with an emphasis on correcting widely held misconceptions, and a call to liberate science from 'private ownership' in cultural terms. The heart of the book is about offering to the next generation a balanced and liberating view of their own moral stature. Quantum fields and the physics of the early universe are described in non-technical language, showing what science can and cannot say about origins. Darwinian evolution is then discussed, giving due weight both to variation and to the constraints which shape the possible outcomes. It is argued that there is no good reason to think that human judgements about ethics are driven largely by instinct. The capacities of living things, including reason and moral and aesthetic judgement in humans, are not mere instincts dictated by reproductive success, but rather abilities to perceive what is so. The other liberation the book seeks, or offers, is towards saying that science is a universal, a part of our common inheritance, and not the property of just one world-view calling itself 'scientific'. Any world-view has, built into its character, a set of values, and these cannot be derived from science but rather underpin it. The scientific community can and should make clear, in particular, that Darwinian evolution does not overturn what lies at the root of a religious response to the world.