Comments: John Wheeler (1911‐2008): Quantum theory poses reality's deepest mystery

Mumford, David

Marlon Jesspher De Vera

Introductory Remarksuantum theory is a double-edged sword for secularity and scientism.1 On one side, quantum theory seems to validate science as the ultimate source of truth, reason, and human progress as it is one of the most successful, coherent, and prolific scientific theories.It is successful in the sense that its empirical verifiability has been consistently demonstrated to high degrees of precision, and it is also highly prolific in the sense that it has led to revolutionary advancements in other fields of science and has brought about important technological innovations which led to the computer age and the information age. 2 Moreover, quantum theory is coherent in the sense that its unified account of reality -of particles 3 Stephen M. Barr, "Faith and Quantum Theory," reprinted in The Best American Spiritual Writing 2008, ed.Philip Zaleski (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008), 2.4 In this section, I conduct my reflections with a certain reconstructive picture of the developments in quantum theory in mind and this reconstruction is primarily based on the accounts of Kleppner and Jackiw, Barr, and Max Tegmark and John Archibald Wheeler, "100 Years of Quantum Mysteries," Scientific American, February 2001, 72-29.I cite other references in the appropriate junctures in the article.7 Tegmark and Wheeler, "100 Years of Quantum Mysteries," 77. 8 Barr, "Faith and Quantum Theory," 8-9. 9

Huw Price

Bryce Seligman DeWitt

In 1967, Bryce DeWitt published a three part essay, called "Quantum Theory of Gravitation." He sent a preprint of the first part to Wheeler for his comments. This is DeWitt's reply to Wheeler's comments. It is notable because DeWitt mentions Everett, Bohr, Rosenfeld, and Wheeler's companion to Everett's paper.

Alain Aspect, Trevor W. Marshall, Emilio Santos +10 more

P. C. W. Davies, Julian Brown

Foreword 1. The strange world of the quantum 2. Alain Aspect 3. John Bell 4. John Wheeler 5. Rudolf Peierls 6. David Deutsch 7. John Taylor 8. David Bohm 9. Basil Hiley Glossary Further reading Index.