23 - Diary of a Carefully Worded Paper: More Letters to Asher Peres

Summary

“Partners in crime again?”

CAF to AP 29 September 1999

Introduction

Irving John Good once titled a paper, “46,656 Varieties of Bayesians.” With little stretch of the imagination, one can believe that a similar paper on the interpretations of quantum mechanics exists somewhere out there too. And that may be true even though 46,656 is greater than the whole membership of the American Physical Society! It is no wonder that taking a stand on quantum foundations is treacherous business. Nevertheless, in the March 2000 issue of Physics Today, Asher Peres and I flouted the usual rewards of a calm life and did just that. Our article was titled, “Quantum Theory Needs No ‘Interpretation’.”

This chapter is about the evolution of that article and a later “reply to critics.” When I was an undergraduate at the University of Texas, Bryce DeWitt made a great impression on me by saying something I have not forgotten: “We learn mathematics so that we don't have to think when we do physics.” My paper with Asher contained no mathematics. We had to think, and think very hard. The fruits of that labor, for my part, were in a greatly enhanced keenness for seeing through various foundational issues. How I wanted to share that newfound keenness with the reader! But it was difficult, if not impossible, to convey such an aspect of the paper-writing process in the very paper itself.