Scott Aaronson and Jacob Barandes: Quantum Mechanics Without Waves

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Curt Jaimungal

Physics, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 606 Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2025

⏱️ 151 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jacob Barandes (Harvard) and Scott Aaronson debate a wave-function-free reformulation of quantum mechanics. They explore whether the new “indivisible” approach reshapes our understanding of reality or simply repackages existing puzzles.- 00:00 - Introduction to Quantum Mechanics- 05:40 - The Power of Quantum Computing- 36:17 - The Many Worlds Debate- 1:09:05 - Evaluating Jacob's Theory- 1:13:49 - Criteria for Theoretical Frameworks- 1:17:15 - Bohmian Mechanics and Stochastic Dynamics- 1:18:51 - Generalizing Quantum Theory- 1:22:32 - The Role of Unobservables- 1:31:08 - The Problem of Trajectories- 1:39:39 - Exploring Alternative Theories- 1:50:29 - The Stone Soup Analogy- 1:56:20 - The Limits of Quantum Mechanics- 2:01:57 - The Nature of Laws in Physics- 2:14:57 - The Many Worlds Interpretation- 2:22:40 - The Search for New ConnectionsSPONSORS:- I personally subscribe to The Economist. TOE listeners get 35% off the annual subscription. No other podcast has this! https://economist.com/TOERESOURCES:- Quantum theory, the Church-Turing principle and the universal quantum computer (article): https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall04/cos576/papers/deutsch85.pdf- The Emergent Multiverse (book): https://amzn.to/3QJleSu- Jacob Barandes on TOE (Part 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oWip00iXbo&t=1s&ab_channel=CurtJaimungal- Scott Aaronson on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZpGCQoL2Rk- Quantum Theory From Five Reasonable Axioms (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/0101012- Quantum stochastic processes and quantum non-Markovian phenomena (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2012.01894- Jacob's Wigner's Friend flowchart: https://shared.jacobbarandes.com/images/wigners-friend-flow-chart-2025- Is Quantum Mechanics An Island In Theory Space? (paper): https://www.scottaaronson.com/papers/island.pdf- Aspects of Objectivity in Quantum Mechanics (paper): https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/223/1/Objectivity.pdf- Quantum Computing Since Democritus (book): https://amzn.to/4bqVeoD- The Ghost in the Quantum Turing Machine (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/1306.0159- quantum mechanics and reality (article): https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/23/9/30/427387/Quantum-mechanics-and-realityCould-the-solution-to- Stone Soup (book): https://amzn.to/4kgPamN- TOE's String Theory Iceberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4PdPnQuwjY- TOE's Mindfest playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ7ikzmc6zlOPw7Hqkc6-MXEMBy0fnZcb- Join My New Substack (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com- Listen on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE- Become a YouTube Member (Early Access Videos): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join- Support TOE on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal features long-form, technically detailed interviews with leading researchers in physics, mathematics, consciousness, and philosophy, exploring topics at the level of active research. For academics, graduate students, and anyone seeking depth beyond popular science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It is not every day that I see a claim for a new formulation of quantum mechanics.
0:05.7	That's exciting.
0:08.3	For almost 100 years, quantum mechanics have splintered physics into competing interpretations,
0:14.5	each with a different consequence for reality.
0:16.7	In this theolocation, Harvard's Jacob Barndes, co-director of the Graduate Studies,
0:21.3	department has developed a revolutionary framework called Indivisible Stochastic Processes
0:26.9	that suggest there is no fundamental wave function.
0:30.5	He's joined with Scott Aronson as they dispute other interpretations like Many Worlds and Bollum,
0:36.1	as well as discussing, do quantum computers get
0:38.8	their power from other universes? If so, why don't quantum computers provide speedups for all
0:44.1	problems instead of just a specialized subclass? In Jacob's view, what actually gives quantum
0:49.2	computers their power over classical computers is indivisibility, and that's because the class of indivisible
0:55.1	processes is simply larger than the class of all the kinds of processes used by classical
1:00.7	computers. My name's Kurtzai Mungle, and I use my background in mathematical physics to analyze
1:05.3	various theories of everything. Can we finally understand quantum mechanics without invoking
1:10.2	mysterious wave functions, or are we
1:12.2	forever bound to a world of mathematical abstractions divorced from physical intuition?
1:19.9	The audience is in for a huge treat. I've had a preview of the questions you have for one another,
1:24.7	and I'm excited to be hosting you both. Thank you. Welcome, Scott Aronson and Jacob Barnes.
1:30.3	Great to be here.
1:31.2	It's lovely to be here.
1:32.0	Thanks for the invitation.
	...

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