280 - David Albert & Jacob Barandes: Debating the Foundation of Quantum Mechanics

David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, director of the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia, and a faculty member of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. Jacob Barandes is Senior Preceptor in Physics at Harvard University, where he works widely across the philosophy of physics, with focuses on the foundations of quantum mechanics, the philosophy of spacetime, and the metaphysics of laws. In this episode, Robinson, Jacob, and David discuss Jacob’s novel Indivisibility Approach to quantum mechanics. After beginning with an introduction from David, the conversation touches on the measurement problem, completeness, scientific realism, the purpose of physics, and more. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life. Jacob’s Website: https://www.jacobbarandes.com A Guess at the Riddle: https://a.co/d/6qcsidl The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org OUTLINE 00:00 The Problem with the Wave Function 05:30 The Indivisibility Approach 17:28 What Is Indivisibility? 25:13 The Measurement Problem 32:18 The Incompleteness of Jacob’s Theory 42:20 Completing the Theory 47:12 Realism in Quantum Mechanics 01:03:13 The Fundamental Task of Physics 01:10:57 The Structure of the Indivisibility Theory 01;22:26 Summarizing and Calculating 01:40:01 The Game of Fundamental Physics 01:46:31 Can Bohmian Mechanics Work? 01:56:26 A Version Including David’s Theory 02:04:49 What Is the Wave Function? 02:15:33 Where We’ve Ended Up Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.