"I would like to describe an attitude toward quantum mechanics which, whether or not it clarifies the interpretational problems that continue to plague the subject, at least sets them in a rather different perspective. This point of view alters somewhat the language used to address these issues—a glossary is provided in Appendix C—and it may offer a less perplexing basis for teaching quantum mechanics or explaining it to nonspecialists. It is based on one fundamental insight, perhaps best introduced by an analogy. My complete answer to the late 19th century question "what is electrodynamics trying to tell us" would simply be this:Fields in empty space have physical reality; the medium that supports them does not.Having thus removed the mystery from electrodynamics, let me immediately do the same for quantum mechanics:Correlations have physical reality; that which they correlate does not."
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People from New HavenHarvard University alumniPhysicists from the United StatesCornell University faculty
Original Language: English
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N. David Mermin, "What is quantum mechanics trying to tell us?", Am. J. Phys. 66, 753 (1998)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Mermin
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David Mermin
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