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Routledge eBooks

Causality and Chance in Modern Physics

David Böhm

Published Jan 14, 2004• 510 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this classic, David Bohm was the first to offer us his causal interpretation of the quantum theory. Causality and Chance in Modern Physics continues to make possible further insight into the meaning of the quantum theory and to suggest ways of extending the theory into new directions.
DOI
10.4324/9780203201107

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This paper introduces and analyses David Bohm's causal interpretation of quantum potential and his viewpoint of nonlocality. As the key of Bohm's causal interpretation of quantum theory, the interpretation of quantum potential has been paid serious attention to by Bohm since 1980's. Bohm reviews quantum potential from the perspective of information and puts forward some new views. Especially, Bohm probes into nonlocality on the basis of the view of quantum potential and active information. This is of great significance in both physics and philosophy.
Emergent quantum mechanics explores the possibility of an ontology for quantum mechanics. The resurgence of interest in "deeper-level" theories for quantum phenomena challenges the standard, textbook interpretation. The book presents expert views that critically evaluate the significance—for 21st century physics—of ontological quantum mechanics, an approach that David Bohm helped pioneer. The possibility of a deterministic quantum theory was first introduced with the original de Broglie-Bohm theory, which has also been developed as Bohmian mechanics. The wide range of perspectives that were contributed to this book on the occasion of David Bohm’s centennial celebration provide ample evidence for the physical consistency of ontological quantum mechanics. The book addresses deeper-level questions such as the following: Is reality intrinsically random or fundamentally interconnected? Is the universe local or nonlocal? Might a radically new conception of reality include a form of quantum causality or quantum ontology? What is the role of the experimenter agent? As the book demonstrates, the advancement of ‘quantum ontology’—as a scientific concept—marks a clear break with classical reality. The search for quantum reality entails unconventional causal structures and non-classical ontology, which can be fully consistent with the known record of quantum observations in the laboratory.
M.Born's notions on causality are that Quantum World is governed by causality and chance jointly;that quantum particle has the intrinsic property of uncertainty,and the law of chance is the last law of nature;and that the concepts of probability and chance are more elementary than causality.While D.Bohm's notions of potential causality are that there is no last law of nuture at all,and each level manifests unique rules;that causality is just relative necessity and contingency always appears on the cross point of many different factors or probable tendencies;that the potential causality interpretation is some kind of integration of causal determination and probability statistics,which has clear intuitive model in physics,and has definite ontological base in philosophy.
Abstract Bohm’s interpretation of quantum mechanics has generally been received as an attempt to restore the determinism of classical physics. However, although this interpretation, as Bohm initially proposed it in 1952, does indeed have the feature of being deterministic, for Bohm this was never the main point. In fact, in other publications and in correspondence from this period, he argued that the assumption that nature is deterministic is unjustified and should be abandoned. Whereas it has been argued before that Bohm’s commitment to determinism was connected to his interest in Marxism, I argue for the opposite: Bohm found resources in Marxist philosophy for developing a non-deterministic notion of causality, which is based on the idea of infinite complexity and an infinite number of levels of nature. From ca. 1954 onwards, Bohm’s conception of causality further weakened, as he developed the idea of a dialectical relation between causality and chance.