Quantum physics and the first-person perspective

Quantum physics and the first-person perspective

Markus Müller, PhD

The Nobel Prize in physics this year (2022) went the scientists who, for over 40 years, have carried out a series experiments indicating that, contrary to materialist expectations, physical entities do not have standalone existence but are, in fact, products of observation. This result is extraordinarily relevant to our understanding of the nature of reality, and so Essentia Foundation’s conference this year is organized in collaboration with the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Vienna (IQOQI-Vienna), of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The IQOQI-Vienna is home to Prof. Anton Zeilinger, one of this year’s Nobel Laureates in physics. The conference will be hosted by IQOQI-Vienna’s Dr. Markus Müller and feature seven other speakers. You can attend the conference online, for free, without need for registration, by using this link: https://webinar.cue-support.nl/essentiafoundation. So set the dates in your calendars: 17 and 18 November 2022, between 2:00pm and 5:45pm (Central European Standard Time, CEST). Please come back and visit this space regularly for updates and the detailed conference program.

Classical physics describes the objective and deterministic evolution of a unique external world composed of material entities. One of its main characteristics is to keep the observer out of the description, and this commitment has historically, without doubt, been an important methodological strength. However, quantum physics challenges this commitment: for example, the measurement problem attributes special significance to the act of observation, and Bell’s theorem challenges the assumption that measurements always reveal preexisting properties of the world.

Are some ‘laws of nature’ better interpreted as agents’ betting strategies than facts of the world? Should we think of quantum theory as relational, and if so, as specifically relative to an observer, as Wigner’s friend-type thought experiments may suggest? At this conference, we will discuss whether, and if so, how, the first-person perspective is an irreducible part of quantum physics, and what this may tell us about the paradigm of materialism.

You can watch the conference live via this link: https://webinar.cue-support.nl/essentiafoundation.

The Nobel Prize in physics this year (2022) went the scientists who, for over 40 years, have carried out a series experiments indicating that, contrary to materialist expectations, physical entities do not have standalone existence but are, in fact, products of observation.

This statement is fascinating.  I have a basic enough understanding of physics to, sort of, understand it but the potential implications seem pretty expansive.

I'd be curious for other's thoughts here and in specific how, if at all, this might shape the scientific community's worldview going forward.

This statement is fascinating.  I have a basic enough understanding of physics to, sort of, understand it but the potential implications seem pretty expansive.

I'd be curious for other's thoughts here and in specific how, if at all, this might shape the scientific community's worldview going forward.

Expansive is a good word.  The 1st person point of view is well simulated and its role - called subjective - acting as agency is just as objective as anything else.  In an informational space - it is THE essential stance in predicting and reporting behavior.

I want to think about what may be happening in the near future.  I surely think that scholars like Muller are at the forefront.  Here is a just one of my favorite ideas of his.

 The appearance of linear spaces, describing physical quantities by vectors and tensors, is ubiquitous in all of physics, from classical mechanics to the modern notion of local Lorentz invariance. However, as natural as this seems to the physicist, most computer scientists would argue that something like a "local linear tangent space" is not very typical and in fact a quite surprising property of any conceivable world or algorithm. In this paper, we take the perspective of the computer scientist seriously, and ask whether there could be any inherently information-theoretic reason to expect this notion of linearity to appear in physics. We give a series of simple arguments, spanning quantum information theory, group representation theory, and renormalization in quantum gravity, that supports a surprising thesis: namely, that the local linearity of space-time might ultimately be a consequence of the linearity of probabilities. While our arguments involve a fair amount of speculation, they have the virtue of being independent of any detailed assumptions on quantum gravity, and they are in harmony with several independent recent ideas on emergent space-time in high-energy physics.

 https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.08684

I am always campaigning for the reality of an informational environment, where real-world probabilities evolve in an analog of physical space/time.