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Readings (73 pages total):
Chapter 11: Solvay 1927 (pp. 253-280)
Chapter 12: Einstein Forgets Relativity (pp. 281-299)
Chapter 13: Quantum Reality (pp. 301-327)
Please refer to the Reading Guide for details on readings and Points to Ponder (also below)
In chapter 13, please "skim or skip" at your own most comfortable level of reading and understanding.
Chapter 11: Solvay 1927 – Points to ponder
On p. 262, Bohr is cited as saying that “an unobserved electron does not exist”. Is it clear to you what he means? If you disagree, then what form does the electron take and what is it doing while it is not being observed?
Einstein one famously asked whether ”the moon exists only when I look at it”. What do you think is the difference between the moon and an electron?
Einstein said of quantum mechanics (p. 279): “… I believe that the restriction to statistical laws will be a passing one.” What do you think is the difference between statistical laws in quantum mechanics and the statistics of measurements in our macroscopic world?
The 1927 Solvay conference on Quantum Mechanics
Richard Feynman: "I think I can safely say that no one understands quantum mechanics".
Excerpt of a Feynman lecture on quantum mechanics (Cornell - 1964): YouTube video (3:20)
Another excerpt: "But how can it be like that? Which really is a reflection of an uncontrolled, but I say utterly vain, desire to see it in terms of some analogy with something familiar."
David Mermin: "Shut up and calculate" (often falsely attributed to Richard Feynman).
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in "Faust":
"Nature, mysterious in day's clear light,
lets none remove her veil,
and what she won't discover to your understanding
you can't extort from her with levers and with screws."
"Geheimnisvoll am lichten Tag
Läßt sich Natur des Schleiers nicht berauben,
Und was sie deinem Geist nicht offenbaren mag,
Das zwingst du ihr nicht ab mit Hebeln und mit Schrauben. "
Updated Jan. 12, 2023
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