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Everyday Quantum Reality
Most people have heard about quantum physics and its remarkable, well-nigh bizarre claims. And most people would assume that quantum reality describes a world quite different from ours. In this book, David A. Grandy shows that one can find quantum puzzles, or variations thereof, in the backyard of everyday experience. What disappears in transferring quantum theory to the everyday is the theory's mathematical formalism, but that need not imply a loss of analytic rigor. If quantum reality is truly as elemental and ubiquitous as many thinkers suggest, then alternative or complementary perspectives ought to be possible, and with the proliferation of such perspectives, a more fully rounded understanding of quantum reality―and everyday reality―might emerge. Everyday Quantum Reality is a step in that direction.
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
28 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 21, 2019
A weird little book written by a philosopher who is attempting to find "every day" analogues to certain quantum phenomena, mostly the wave-particle duality and entanglement. Close to 3/5th of the content will discuss analogues to wave/particle and the associated double slit experiment, nothing on Stern-Gerlach though, I guess exploring the weak analogue between spin and angular momentum wasn't deep enough for the author.
The mission of the text was curious especially since there is some very famous physicist, like Bohr and Feynman, that have gone on record stating that building analogues to interpret quantum phenomena in a common-sense way is a fool's errand. Likewise, the analogies in this book are many times weak enough that objections could be found from a random person who may be decently read into the material.
Some of the analogies "feel" right until one thinks about it a little more and finds it conflicts with the common understanding in the science, for instance, the author uses a flowing river as an analogue to entanglement arguing that a ripple of water from one end could impact another, even though the two are separated by a large distance. This isn't really an analogy for entanglement, maybe for the Newtonian concept of "action at a distance" , but the whole point of entanglement is that we do not know at all how the mechanism works, in fact there is no hidden medium somehow conveying information between entangled particles via space, because as far as we know, maximally entangled particles say, can have perfect, and instantaneous, correlation or anti-correlation, with respect to their states; and no medium in space can recreate the instantaneous nature of entanglement since all things in space are bounded by the speed of light, with respect to the time-to-effect of their actions. The author would have been better served exploring this thread (or dedicate more content in his book on this thread), as there are a few gymnastics one must go through to understand how entanglement does not contradict the bounds of action relativity imposes on physical phenomena (hint : although entanglement may be instantaneous, verification is not).
Still, although the analogies may be imperfect, they do make you think, which is the point of philosophy, and so in that respect, this book serves its purpose. Conditional recommend
The mission of the text was curious especially since there is some very famous physicist, like Bohr and Feynman, that have gone on record stating that building analogues to interpret quantum phenomena in a common-sense way is a fool's errand. Likewise, the analogies in this book are many times weak enough that objections could be found from a random person who may be decently read into the material.
Some of the analogies "feel" right until one thinks about it a little more and finds it conflicts with the common understanding in the science, for instance, the author uses a flowing river as an analogue to entanglement arguing that a ripple of water from one end could impact another, even though the two are separated by a large distance. This isn't really an analogy for entanglement, maybe for the Newtonian concept of "action at a distance" , but the whole point of entanglement is that we do not know at all how the mechanism works, in fact there is no hidden medium somehow conveying information between entangled particles via space, because as far as we know, maximally entangled particles say, can have perfect, and instantaneous, correlation or anti-correlation, with respect to their states; and no medium in space can recreate the instantaneous nature of entanglement since all things in space are bounded by the speed of light, with respect to the time-to-effect of their actions. The author would have been better served exploring this thread (or dedicate more content in his book on this thread), as there are a few gymnastics one must go through to understand how entanglement does not contradict the bounds of action relativity imposes on physical phenomena (hint : although entanglement may be instantaneous, verification is not).
Still, although the analogies may be imperfect, they do make you think, which is the point of philosophy, and so in that respect, this book serves its purpose. Conditional recommend
April 5, 2012
This book is a philosopher's take on quantum physics. The author starts out by arguing that though quantum physics concepts are observed on micro level and are usually considered counter intuitive to our every day experience many analogs to quantum physics phenomena can be found in everyday life. He then proceeds to peer on the everyday life experience through the philosophical microscope. And sure enough, he finds lots of examples of quantum processes - uncertainty, non-locality etc, especially that he doesn't overburden his search with too much of logical thinking.
So where is the big surprise? On microscopic philosophical level every day experience resembles microscopic quantum processes. On microscopic philosophical level you can see anything you are looking for.
In no way this book can be considered an introduction to quantum physics unless you want to get acquainted with quantum physics without actually understanding anything about it. If you are looking for an introduction, "Quantum Physics Cannot Hurt You" is an excellent book.
This book is also not the one that will improve your understanding of the quantum physics's concepts you are already familiar is. The only time this book was interesting was when the author quoted people like Niels Bohr or Carl Yung.
To summarize: "Everyday Quantum Reality" is a philosophical growth on the body of quantum physics.
So where is the big surprise? On microscopic philosophical level every day experience resembles microscopic quantum processes. On microscopic philosophical level you can see anything you are looking for.
In no way this book can be considered an introduction to quantum physics unless you want to get acquainted with quantum physics without actually understanding anything about it. If you are looking for an introduction, "Quantum Physics Cannot Hurt You" is an excellent book.
This book is also not the one that will improve your understanding of the quantum physics's concepts you are already familiar is. The only time this book was interesting was when the author quoted people like Niels Bohr or Carl Yung.
To summarize: "Everyday Quantum Reality" is a philosophical growth on the body of quantum physics.
October 15, 2023
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161211: not as interesting as Grandy’s The Speed of Light: Constancy and Cosmos, but engaging, less complex, philosophical examination of quantum reality so close we do not see it. and he is often inspired by m-p, which will always get a star, though, without math, i do not know how physicists will take it...
161211: not as interesting as Grandy’s The Speed of Light: Constancy and Cosmos, but engaging, less complex, philosophical examination of quantum reality so close we do not see it. and he is often inspired by m-p, which will always get a star, though, without math, i do not know how physicists will take it...
October 18, 2013
Tak tohle byla fakt blbost od titulni stranky az do konce. Nechapu, proc vubec nekdo takovyhle knizky pise. Nechapu, proc vubec nekdo takhle uvazuje. Nechapu to... :-(
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews