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arXiv:gr-qc/9703089gr-qc

Against Many-Worlds Interpretations

Adrian Kent

Abstract

A short foreword has been added for the archive version of this article, which otherwise appears as originally published in 1990, except for the updating of references. The original abstract follows. This is a critical review of the literature on many-worlds interpretations (MWI), with arguments drawn partly from earlier critiques by Bell and Stein. The essential postulates involved in various MWI are extracted, and their consistency with the evident physical world is examined. Arguments are presented against MWI proposed by Everett, Graham and DeWitt. The relevance of frequency operators to MWI is examined; it is argued that frequency operator theorems of Hartle and Farhi-Goldstone-Gutmann do not in themselves provide a probability interpretation for quantum mechanics, and thus neither support existing MWI nor would be useful in constructing new MWI. Comments are made on papers by Geroch and Deutsch that advocate MWI. It is concluded that no plausible set of axioms exists for an MWI that describes known physics.

arXiv comments
28 pages, with 3 page foreword; LaTeX
Journal reference
Int.J.Mod.Phys. A5 (1990) 1745
DOI
doi:10.1142/S0217751X90000805
Subjects
gr-qcGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology quant-phQuantum Physics

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  1. How David Bohm and Hugh Everett changed quantum theory 1 comment

    • Indeed, there are various pros and cons to all the leading interpretations. "Parsimonious" is often used to describe Everettian interpreations, although this is somewhat dubious as the leading advocates all have their own slightly different take on MWI (i.e. which quantities are…

      n4r9View on HNParent context

  2. Quantum Weirdness Now a Matter of Time 1 comment

    • Many-Worlds has flaws comparable to many other leading interpretations, which is why it's not a large majority view among quantum information and foundations researchers. Explaining why the observable universe is Born-rule typical is a major issue for Many-Worlds.…

      n4r9View on HNParent context

  3. Have We Been Interpreting Quantum Mechanics Wrong This Whole Time? 1 comment

    • Many Worlds is a far, far more popular interpretation than Bohm[1]. The strong objection to Many Worlds is not that macroscopic objects cannot be in superposition. There are many objections [2], but the principal one is the difficulty of deriving the Born Rule. This is a deep…

      millstoneView on HNParent context

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