1212.3606 (Ulrich Mohrhoff)

Interpreting Bananaworld: A response to Bub's Quantum Mechanics for
Primates    [PDF]

Ulrich Mohrhoff

The interpretative principle proposed by Bub in 1211.3062v1 [quant-ph] is justified only for all practical purposes (Bell's "FAPP trap"). An alternative interpretative principle is proposed. It brings to light those features of the quantum world because of which the fundamental theoretical framework of physics is a "mere" probability calculus, and it amply justifies Bohr's insistence that quantum-mechanical observables cannot be defined without reference to the experimental conditions in which they are measured. It implies that the spatial distinctions we make cannot be intrinsic to space, that regions "of space" must be realized by macroscopic objects, that the spatiotemporal differentiation of the physical world is incomplete, that the positions of macroscopic objects (suitably defined) are definite in a nonclassical sense, and that unconditional factuality can be consistently attributed to them.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1212.3606