15. Dynamical Reduction Theories as a Natural Basis for a Realistic Worldview

G. C. Ghirardi

G. C. Ghirardi

Iurii Kudriavtcev

We explore the possibility to give a classical explanation to the specifics and physical sense of de Broglie matter waves when studying the microparticle as an object of non zero size, from the point of view of the special theory of relativity. We show that the particularities of de Broglie matter waves and the results of the experimental verifications of Bell inequalities for the pairs of entangled photons are naturally interpreted as the results of implementation of the conclusions of the special theory of relativity to the microparticles. We conclude that it is appropriate to go back to the search of the new means of realistic description of the nature proposed by Einstein and his realistic worldview that states that the world studied by the science is real and every part of it at any moment of time has objective physical characteristics.

G. C. Ghirardi, T. Weber

Jorge Manero

In recent years, there has been a controversial debate in the literature regarding the choice among many interpretations of quantum mechanics. Based on certain realist desiderata, this debate has been partly addressed in the context of the choice between two opposite views about the mathematical space in which the fundamental ontology of this theory lives. Indeed, some scholars advocate a worldview in which this ontology lives in the abstract high-dimensional space, whilst others advocate a three-dimensional worldview, according to which the ontology lives in the physical space of our everyday experience. In this contribution, I will critically evaluate the tenability of solving the resulting underdetermination between the three/high-dimensional worldviews in the context of one particular quantum theory: the Bohmian approach. In so doing, I will be following two strategies: firstly, I will undermine the assumption that a set of theoretical or metaphysical virtues blocks the underdetermination problem associated with the mathematical space in which the fundamental Bohmian ontology lives; and secondly, I will propose a structural Bohmian interpretation through the use of dynamical symmetries (symplectic Lie groups), according to which the three/high-dimensional space distinction is just apparent as both spaces are grounded by the same dynamical, group-theoretic structure.

Atsushi Iriki, Shogo Tanaka

The “(classical) scientific view of the world” that characterizes the modern history of human civilization has been successful by objectifying nature, humans, and society, for reductive analysis into (approximate) linear causation to allow prediction and control. However, because of its growing maturity and complexity, our modern society now confronts the complexity of multilayered causal structures underlying the real phenomena, which classical science has abstracted through reductive approximation, and consequently, modern scientists are perplexed by the limitations on comprehension, predictability, and controllability. The “uncertainty principle” of quantum physics, discovered a century ago, has overthrown this classical mechanistic and deterministic worldview, but the “(quantum) scientific worldview” remained confined at the level of microscopic science and has to date never extended onward to the life-size human world. However, as practical applications of the quantum computer are now becoming realistic, it might provide us with an innovative way to manipulate such complex causal structures and open up a new era in the history of civilization. In this paper, we build ideas on our earlier research findings in the context of the evolutionary patterns of human cognition, so as to extrapolate them to advance speculations on the mechanism of the phase transition of worldviews from classical to quantum causal structure-based ones, expecting to obtain insights into practical ways of computation to realize such a transition. The paper begins with a section examining the origin of the linear approximation adopted in classical science, back casting from the evolutionary history of the (linguistic) consciousness of our human ancestors. In the next section, we show how human intelligence and civilization have in fact evolved as analog with quantum laws, and review the limitations of modern science in finding an expression of these laws in Eastern philosophy. This section proceeds to show the potential of quantum computation to not only realize a fusion of Eastern and Western approaches but also integrate the humanities and natural sciences. The final section concludes that this new framework can expand and develop the structure and function of human “consciousness” and build a bridgehead against recent “anti-scientism” that is rooted in skepticism concerning the (classical) scientific view of the world and humanity.