Beware in researching this topic, as it's easy, common, and financially lucrative for authors to write nonsense about modern physics -- particularly if they can use lots of impressive-sounding jargon like "quantum indeterminacy" and "wave-function reduction." From there it's only a small step to breathless descriptions of using Heisenberg's uncertainty principle to levitate fruit baskets, or to claims that scientists are merely rediscovering the ancient mystic wisdom of outer Mongolia, and so on. The Internet, unedited as it is, is a particularly dangerous place to get information on the subject.
Fortunately, there are a few authors who know what they're talking about. John Gribbin wrote In Search of Schrödinger's Cat over three decades ago; it's still a fine book, which is why I used it as a text for this course for several years. Gribbin then followed up with the sequel Schrödinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality.
A more recent alternative to Gribbin's books is the second edition of Quantum Enigma by Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner -- which, of course, is now an assigned text for this class. This book has less history than In Search of Schrödinger's Cat but more philosophy and more emphasis on the implications for consciousness. (The book's subtitle is "Physics Encounters Consciousness.") Clear examples are given.
Einstein Defiant, by Edmund Blair Bolles, is a discussion of quantum mechanics that focuses on the debate between Einstein (who refused to accept the counterintuitive implications of the theory) and Niels Bohr (who reveled in them). Semi-biographical, and set against the fraught sociopolitical backdrop of Europe between the two world wars, showing that scientists don't operate in a vacuum. Relativity is also covered. An engaging read, which not too long ago was a required text for this course.
(Until very recently Manjit Kumar's book Quantum was required; this book has somewhat less philosophy and sociology than Bolles but places greater emphasis on experimental data and covers a wider span of years.)
Dance of the Photons was written by Anton Zeilinger, one of the leaders in carrying out lab experiments to verify the weird predictions of quantum mechanics. His book focuses on entanglement -- Einstein's "spooky action at a distance" -- and clearly describes this phenomenon, what Bell's Theorem has to say about it, how it's been experimentally confirmed, and how it can be used for quantum teleportation.
If you get through those books and want more, or if you want a more challenging (yet still non-mathematical) starting point, try David Albert's Quantum Mechanics and Experience. This book is incredibly clear and illuminating, so long as you have the mental fortitude to work through the logic of some rather long multi-clause sentences. If you're already used to reading demanding prose -- prose for which you sometimes have to reread a paragraph once or twice before its meaning becomes entirely clear -- then this book can't be beat.
The most successful version of quantum mechanics, called "quantum electrodynamics" (QED), combines quantum ideas with Einstein's special relativity. One of the co-discoverers of QED (and co-Nobel-prize-winners), Richard Feynman, wrote a short, light, clear description called QED. There's no math at all, just pictures and conversational text, but Feynman explains why this doesn't entail a diluted treatment of the subject.
In The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene writes about current efforts to merge quantum mechanics with general relativity, Einstein's theory of gravitation. These are our two most successful physical theories and yet, as Greene shows, they conflict at a fundamental level: they can't both be entirely correct. Thus theoretical physicists such as (the late) Stephen Hawking are working to devise a quantum gravity theory (a.k.a. "theory of everything") that will combine and replace the two. The approach known as "string theory" is emphasized. Exotic concepts such as black holes and 11-dimensional universes are encountered along the way. If you don't feel like reading the book, view the PBS series of the same name on DVD.
Both Gribbin and Paul Davies write about all aspects of modern "natural philosophy," including quantum mechanics, time, and the relationship of science to religion. Amit Goswami is another author who writes about science and religion, coming at it from a Hindu background. Here one leaves the realm of "inferences supported by experimental data" and enters that of "educated speculation" -- but so long as you recognize that, you can profitably read these works.
Quantum Philosophy
Written by Chris Magri
Last modified on April 27, 2020
URL: https://sites.google.com/a/maine.edu/magri/phy110e/philosophy