Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

241 | Tim Maudlin on Locality, Hidden Variables, and Quantum Foundations

Jun 26, 2023

Tim Maudlin, a philosophy professor at NYU and an expert on quantum foundations, dives into the complexities of quantum mechanics. He critiques hidden-variable theories and dissects the implications of Bell's theorem on locality. The conversation touches on thought experiments like Schrödinger's cat, wrestling with profound philosophical dilemmas. Maudlin also advocates for the importance of foundational studies in physics, emphasizing the need for a bridge between philosophy and scientific inquiry to enhance our understanding of reality.

01:33:55

Episode guests

Tim Maudlin

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

The Role of Wave Function in Guiding Particle Positions and Interactions

01:14

The Nobel Prize and the Misinterpreted Experiment on Bell's Inequality

00:50

The Motivation for the Many Worlds Theory

03:38

Signaling, Quantum Mechanics, and Arrival Times in Pilot Wave Theory

03:22

Intro

2min

Exploring Hidden Variables and Quantum Foundations

4min

Advocating for the Foundations of Physics

2min

The Foundations of Physics: Bridging Philosophy and Inquiry

9min

Exploring the Mysteries of Quantum Mechanics and Thought Experiments

3min

Unraveling Quantum Mechanics

25min

Bell's Theorem and Non-Locality in Quantum Mechanics

26min

Unraveling Classical and Quantum Misconceptions

21min

Foundations of Reality: Quantum Mechanics & Philosophy

5min

Last year's Nobel Prize for experimental tests of Bell's Theorem was the first Nobel in the foundations of quantum mechanics since Max Born in 1954. Quantum foundations is enjoying a bit of a resurgence, inspired in part by improving quantum technology but also by a realization that understanding quantum mechanics might help with other problems in physics (and be important in its own right). Tim Maudlin is a leading philosopher of physics and also a skeptic of the Everett interpretation. We discuss the logic behind hidden-variable approaches such as Bohmian mechanics, and also the broader question of the importance of the foundations of physics.

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Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/26/241-tim-maudlin-on-locality-hidden-variables-and-quantum-foundations/

Tim Maudlin received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently a professor of philosophy at New York University. He is a member of the Academie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences and the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi). He has been a Guggenheim Fellow. He is the founder and director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics in Croatia.

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