14 - Letters to Bob Griffiths

Summary

10 February 1997, “Sunday Afternoons and Consistent Histories”

I've finally completed to my satisfaction your challenge of taking a plunge into “consistent histories.” And I've had great fun! In particular, I read all or most of each of the following:

1. “Consistent Histories and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics,”

2. “Quantum Interpretation Using Consistent Histories,”

3. “Correlations in separated quantum systems: A consistent history analysis of the EPR problem,”

4. “The Consistency of Consistent Histories: A Reply to d'Espagnat,”

5. “A Consistent History Approach to the Logic of Quantum Mechanics,”

6. “Consistent Histories and Quantum Reasoning.”

I don't think I've read everything, but I'll trust that I haven't missed anything too significant – at least for a novice education in the subject.

I say I had great fun because, before this, my only introduction to consistent histories had been through various talks by Gell-Mann, Hartle, and Zurek. And, I can't say I ever found any of those satisfactory – they all made it a very confusing muddle to me. I never could figure out the point, i.e., what actually was being proposed as a “solution” to the quantum interpretation problem. Consequently, I often just fell asleep or thought about other things or both. In contrast, I found all your papers logically crisp.