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The Everett Interpretation

Wallace, David (2011) The Everett Interpretation. [Preprint]

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Abstract

The Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics - better known as the Many-Worlds Theory - has had a rather uneven reception. Mainstream philosophers have scarcely heard of it, save as science fiction. In philosophy of physics it is
well known but has historically been fairly widely rejected. Among physicists (at least, among those concerned with the interpretation of quantum mechanics in the first place), it is taken very seriously indeed, arguably tied for first place in popularity with more traditional operationalist views of quantum mechanics. In this article, I provide a fairly short (15,000 words) and self-contained introduction to the Everett interpretation as it is currently understood. I use little technical machinery, although I do assume the reader has encountered the measurement problem already (at about the level of the well-known discussions by Penrose or Albert).


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Wallace, Daviddavid.wallace@balliol.ox.ac.uk
Keywords: Quantum theory Everett interpretation Many-worlds interpretation
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User: Professor David Wallace
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2011 01:56
Last Modified: 10 Nov 2011 01:56
Item ID: 8888
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date: 9 November 2011
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8888

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