2019/01/16 by Andréa Oldofredi, Oldofredi, Andrea
Arts and Humanities · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #FOS: Physical sciences #Philosophy and History of Science #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1901.05272
openalex publication_date 2019/01/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Gao (2017) presents a new mentalistic reformulation of the well-known\nmeasurement problem affecting the standard formulation of quantum mechanics.\nAccording to this author, it is essentially a determinate-experience problem,\nnamely a problem about the compatibility between the linearity of the\nSchroedinger's equation, the fundamental law of quantum theory, and definite\nexperiences perceived by conscious observers. In this essay I aim to clarify\n(i) that the well-known measurement problem is a mathematical consequence of\nquantum theory's formalism, and that (ii) its mentalistic variant does not\ngrasp the relevant causes which are responsible for this puzzling issue. The\nfirst part of this paper will be concluded claiming that the "physical"\nformulation of the measurement problem cannot be reduced to its mentalistic\nversion. In the second part of this work it will be shown that, contrary to the\ncase of quantum mechanics, Bohmian mechanics and GRW theories provide clear\nexplanations of the physical processes responsible for the definite\nlocalization of macroscopic objects and, consequently, for well-defined\nperceptions of measurement outcomes by conscious observers. More precisely, the\nmacro-objectification of states of experimental devices is obtained exclusively\nin virtue of their clear ontologies and dynamical laws without any intervention\nof human observers. Hence, it will be argued that in these theoretical\nframeworks the measurement problem and the determinate-experience problem are\nlogically distinct issues.\n