Interview, Fireside Chat
Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity (Lee Smolin) | AI Podcast Clips
- A radically new theory resolving photon particle-wave duality and completing quantum mechanics is expected to introduce additional degrees of freedom, incorporating space-time and gravity to unify general relativity and quantum theory, with the process anticipated to build upon frameworks developed with Marina Cortez since approximately 2012 or 2013.
- Fundamental assumptions posit time as an irreducible concept defined by the continual creation of events from existing ones, whereas space is not fundamental and emerges only at high complexity levels; causality is asserted as a core principle while Einstein-Bell locality is rejected based on experimental violations of Bell inequalities conducted over distances of 25 kilometers or more.
- The outlook anticipates a future that does not exist, viewing the past as a narrative of past events rather than a predetermined state, and plans to postulate "events" as elementary, undefined notions where something changes, such as intersecting particle paths.
- Significant challenges include the failure of over a dozen existing attempts at quantum mechanics and quantum gravity to fully resolve their respective issues, necessitating a shift in the physics community from oppositional stances to integration and the bridging of theoretical "hills" where different groups currently remain isolated.
- Regarding the Many Worlds interpretation, the view is that it fails to explain the origin of probability, that Everett's original derivation was unsuccessful, and that the speaker will establish a single-world foundation, acknowledging that while the Oxford group utilizes decision theory for betting scenarios in an Everett universe, the specific self-referencing approaches of Sean Carroll require further review before being fully dismissed or adopted.
- Future efforts involve continuing dialogues with Sean Carroll despite past debates, specifically to communicate a shift in approach influenced by a statement made by Carroll in June 2016, while ensuring that chapters 10 and 11 of an associated book address the Many Worlds interpretation and the limitations of current probabilistic frameworks.
- Collaborative efforts with Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Marina Cortez are cited as having a major influence on the current theoretical direction, which aims to overcome the sociological fragmentation of the physics community by fostering conversations that incorporate both fundamental causality and the abandonment of strict locality.