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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!harvard!h-sc1!shiue
From: shiue@h-sc1.UUCP (steve shiue)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy,net.physics
Subject: Electrons, etc., may TOO be deterministic.
Message-ID: <664@h-sc1.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 29-Oct-85 23:56:34 EST
Article-I.D.: h-sc1.664
Posted: Tue Oct 29 23:56:34 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 31-Oct-85 08:46:24 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Harvard Univ. Science Center
Lines: 41
Keywords: QM, Hidden Variable Theory, Determinism, Bohm
Xref: linus net.philosophy:2694 net.physics:3200

> 
>      Electrons, atoms, molecules, biochemical processes, etc..  are not
>      causally deterministic mechanisms, at least if the advances in
>      knowledge about natural phenomena since 1930 are allowable as evidence.
>         
>      Therefore, the idea that "our behavior might be deterministic" is
>      profoundly unscientific.
>      
> -michael


	This is incorrect.  In fact, the chief philosophical
controversy among physicists in quantum mechanics is the argument over
whether quantum mechanics allows a deterministic interpretation of the
evidence.  The standard interpretation of quantum mechanics, which most
scientists subscribe to, is non-deterministic.  However, there have
been so-called "hidden variable" theories proposed in recent years by
some physicists (notably David Bohm) that allow for a deterministic
scheme if the existence of unobservable variables is allowed for.  One
subset of these theories, called local hidden variable theories (local
HVT's), was recently discredited by experiments in France.  The other
subset, called nonlocal HVT, is supported by all current evidence - but
so is the standard interpretation, and there are no experiments
currently devised that can distinguish between the two interpretations,
hence nonlocal HVT's are regarded as nothing more than a philosophical
"high ground".
	It might be argued that nonlocal HVT's should be excluded on
the basis of Occam's Razor:  they assume extra variables that we have
no reason to believe in.  However, it could also be argued that
nonlocal HVT's more than compensate for this failing by adding
determinism to the picture.  There is a good review of this topic in
SCIENCE about 1-2 years back by a physics professor from Syracuse - I
can't seem to dig up my copy or remember his name.  Anyway, I'll post
the reference when I look it up.  The article is good because it
discusses all of the major philosophical points (and the French
experiments), and the math isn't too way out.

			-Steve Shiue

H.L. Mecken's definition of puritanism:  The sneaking suspicion that
somewhere, somehow, someone is having a good time.