2014/10/23 by Subhash Kak, Kak, Subhash
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · Psychology · #Computability, Logic, AI Algorithms #FOS: Physical sciences #Philosophy and Theoretical Science #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1410.6525
6 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2014/10/23 · openalex publication_date 2014/10/23 · arxiv updated 2014/10/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This paper examines whether unitary evolution alone is sufficient to explain emergence of the classical world from the perspective of computability theory. Specifically, it looks at the problem of how the choice related to the measurement is made by the observer viewed as a quantum system. In interpretations where the system together with the observers is completely described by unitary transformations, the observer cannot make any choices and so measurement is impossible. From the perspective of computability theory, a quantum machine cannot halt and so it cannot observe the computed state, indicating that unitarity alone does not explain all matter processes. Further it is argued that the consideration of information and observation requires an overarching system of knowledge and expectations about outcomes.