Quantum Mechanics and Ordinary Language: The Fuzzy Link

Lewis, Peter J. (2002) Quantum Mechanics and Ordinary Language: The Fuzzy Link.

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that the link between quantum language and ordinary language must be “fuzzier” than the traditional eigenstate-eigenvalue link. In the context of spontaneous collapse theories, Albert and Loewer (1996) argue that the form of this fuzzy link is a matter of convention, and can be freely chosen to minimize anomalies for those theories. I defend the position that the form of the link is empirical, and could be such as to render collapse theories idle. This means that defenders of spontaneous collapse theories must gamble that the actual form of the link renders such theories tenable.