"As a philosopher, I am fascinated by the appearance of the Many-Worlds Interpretation as a cultural phenomenon. This is so similar to what we have seen over and over again in the history of metaphysics! A well-known poet (Derek Walcott) once riddled, "What is the difference between a philosopher and a ruler?" The answer was a pun: "A ruler will only stretch to one foot, but a philosopher will go to any length." But the pun contains a deep observation; it is part of our philosophical tradition that at least one kind of philosopher will go to any length to preserve what he regards as a central metaphysical principle, a principle that is "necessary" in the peculiar philosophical sense of "necessary." What is startling is to observe a metaphysical system as daring as any being born in the unexpected locus of a discussion among physicists about how to understand the deepest and the most accurate physical theory we possess."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Hilary Putnam, "Realism with a Human Face" (1987)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Many-worlds interpretation
24 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Many-worlds interpretation →
Related Quotes
"MWI is not some crazy speculative idea that runs afoul of Occam’s razor. On the contrary, MWI really is just the “obv…"
"If the MWI were supported by some sound science, we would have to deal with it – and to do so with more seriousness t…"
"The “many worlds interpretation” seems to me an extravagant, and above all an extravagantly vague, hypothesis. I coul…"
"Yes, I have strong feelings against it, but I have to qualify that by saying that in this particular Einstein-Podolsk…"
"It's extremely bizarre, and for me that would already be enough reason to dislike it. The idea that there are all tho…"
"He explains that the multiple worlds are not an add-on to the theory but instead are simply what happens naturally wh…"
"The conclusion, therefore, is that multiple worlds automatically occur in quantum mechanics. They are an inevitable p…"
"Fortunately, a minority of physicists, myself included, likewise side unequivocally with realism, by adopting Hugh Ev…"
"In fact the physicists have no good point of view. Somebody mumbled something about a many-world picture, and that ma…"
"To call MWI an interpretation is like talking about dinosaurs as an 'interpretation' of fossil records."