What if there are no laws of physics?

When physicists investigate the very smallest components of reality – atoms and subatomic particles – they famously find all sorts of things that make no sense. Particles can apparently be in different places at once, and they have different properties depending on how we measure them. Spooky effects seem to act instantaneously, across vast distances. The decisions we make can even alter journeys that particles have already made.

Researchers have come up with different interpretations for what these weird results might mean. Maybe mysterious waves we can’t measure are guiding the course of the entire universe. Or maybe there are countless parallel universes, hosting different versions of ourselves...

What if none of these ideas is wild enough? My guest in this episode, quantum physicist Chris Fuchs from the University of Massachusetts, thinks physicists are still being boxed in by their assumptions about reality. Chris has pioneered a new interpretation of quantum mechanics, called QBism, which says that the probabilities and predictions of quantum physics were never describing physical entities out there in the world. Instead, he says, they are telling us about… us.

QBism is seen by many physicists as extreme, but it’s also wild, lawless, freeing and I love it! Our tour of the QBist universe took us from starships and black holes to party games, gambling and free will. Enjoy.

‘Introducing QBism’: 2014 paper by Chris Fuchs

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christopher-Fuchs/publication/300478790_Introducing_QBism/links/575027c008aefe968db723df/Introducing-QBism.pdf

‘QBism: Where next?’ 2023 research paper on the future of QBism

https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.01446

Nautilus feature article on Chris Fuchs and QBism

https://nautil.us/my-quantum-leap-238433/

Excerpt on QBism from Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQvCTZgNRNw

Documentary on QBism produced by the Essentia Foundation

https://youtu.be/nSqDMtHoaT0 

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