Book / "Quantum Philosophy" by Roland Omnes (1999)

Omnes is a French physicist, who has written several other books on quantum interpretation.

He ambitiously recaps all of philosophy and math, shows how it is destroyed by quantum logic, and then reconstructs common sense using quantum concepts. Definitely worth reading, as it really takes the quantum bull by the horns, as it were.

Most of our experience seems to be the product of decoherence, a very fast and efficient effect that destroys the superpositions of states. Under any kind of pressure, such as air molecules, or the friction of the pivot of the instrument needle, the multi state decoheres in 10^-16 sec or less, which has been directly observed.

The cat dies and stays dead, because the chance of getting its "live" wave function back is practically zero. If the "cat" consisted of only 2-3 atoms, we might be able to restore it from its state of uncertainty.

Originally posted 8-1-2004.