What Is Real?

The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics

De: Adam Becker

Narrado por: Greg Tremblay

Duración: 11 h y 45 m

Resumen del Editor

The untold story of the heretical thinkers who dared to question the nature of our quantum universe

Every physicist agrees quantum mechanics is among humanity's finest scientific achievements. But ask what it means, and the result will be a brawl. For a century, most physicists have followed Niels Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation and dismissed questions about the reality underlying quantum physics as meaningless. A mishmash of solipsism and poor reasoning, Copenhagen endured, as Bohr's students vigorously protected his legacy, and the physics community favored practical experiments over philosophical arguments. As a result, questioning the status quo long meant professional ruin.

And yet, from the 1920s to today, physicists like John Bell, David Bohm, and Hugh Everett persisted in seeking the true meaning of quantum mechanics. What Is Real? is the gripping story of this battle of ideas and the courageous scientists who dared to stand up for truth.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2018 Adam Becker (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

I was enjoying until ...

why did the author have to diverge into the pseudo science if climate change? He presented a good review and history or quantum theory the goes of onto the climate change tangent. He does of the incredible accuracy of quantum mechanics and then equates with climate models that predict nothing accurately and represent constantly manipulated data.

Stay with the quantum and stay away from topics that serve to put government corruption on full display.

who know science was so petty

not so much about the science as much as the journey INTO the science. this book has given me the ability to put all the pieces together from science ive learned about in the past. why were experiments done, by whom, what were they hoping to find and why did they come to thier conclusions. its not just science...its what the science means.

also I learned that physicists are petty as hell 😂

great approach

a really good approach to understanding quantum physics by explaining the context in how the science we have now evolved

Scientist scrapes the point, emerges unscathed

I was a little reluctant to get this book after seeing Becker in a number of Youtube videos. He just doesn't come off as credible. But overall I'm glad I did. The title, possibly chosen by his publisher, is a point scarcely, though repeatedly, brushed by Becker, though. If you really ask the question, credibly survey two or more sides of it. But Becker will have none of that. I guess he wants to keep his scientist card. I recommend this book as a read/listen, as it is well-done and contains many useful distinctions. Just don't expect the title to indicate the author will comprehensively deal with it in the book.

Still, "What is Real?" could have and possibly should have been written by a non-scientist. Because no scientist who hopes to see tenure, a PhD, or grants in his future would do anything to challenge any of a set of treasured notions of the ruling establishment. It's another example of a scientist boldly "speaking consensus to power." Yet, this is a tricky matter, for were a non-scientist to deal with this question more completely, the charge would be lack of qualification. And only a scientist willing to engage in career harikiri would dare.

Becker credibly shows how quantum mechanics threw into question certain ideas of physics, even science, which is typically considered the pursuit of a description of material reality. This was Einstein's real problem with Bohr's conceptualizations. While Einstein was put off by a God who "plays dice," he was far more incensed by any threat to the idea that "the moon is there even when I'm not looking at it." Did Enstein find the idea distasteful because it threatened his idea that materiality is fundamental, or because it threatened his notions of science as a description of it?

The title is obviously chosen to incite interest, though if you want a full treatment of what it indicates, you'll have to adjust your expectations. While Becker makes a credible case to explain how interpretations of quantum mechanics throw into doubt classical notions of realism, Becker's treatment seems more about how to 'fix that problem' and restore classical realism, thereby "saving science," or something like that.

I think Becker should have given time to the brilliant polymath Michael Polanyi with regard to his discussions of Positivism. It was Polanyi who really drove the hatpin through the heart of positivism and for reasons Becker ignores for some reason. Polanyi showed how, on positivism, science necessarily eschewed pure objectivism, but instead ventured into "personal, invested" pursuits.

The best parts of the book are those in which Becker hints at an evolution of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics far beyond its foundations. Yet in telling the story, he tries to drum up controversy in a way that is a bit awkward.

The worst parts of the book are where Becker remorselessly and poorly philosophizes and moralizes, though this is pretty standard fare for modern, popular science books. It would be a far better effort without that. I've read worse philosophy in books on physics, and that by big-name authors, (such as the late Stephen Hawking), but this work is rendered the poorer for it. There are better ways to achieve word count objectives.

At the end of this book, the philosophical naturalist with a solid, a priori commitment to material realism will be satisfied Becker has brought home the bacon. While someone seeking a brave and balanced assessment of the question might want to look elsewhere, I would encourage an "eyes wide open" read. You will gain valuable distinctions, even from this limited work.

Fantastic read!

An excellent journey through the philosophical debates on the meaning of quantum mechanics through the decades.

Best Science Book This Year!

If this book were a meal, it would be bursting with such flavor that you could not help going back for seconds. Indeed I read it a second time and chose to listen to Sean Carroll's Mysteries of Modern Physics lectures, from The Great Courses series, as the accompanying glass of wine and dessert because it reenforced the ideas presented in Becker's book. Listening to Sean Carroll's lecture series along with reading this book allowed me to think about how all of the discoveries made in the quantum world apply to time. I warn you though, it's a rabbit hole. Since there are no final answers yet, your brain might get caught in an obsessive trap. I have now moved on to re-reading Lisa Ranall's Warped passages, not because I am convinced of other dimensions, but because thinking about pocket dimensions and/or bubble universes seemed extremely important to me after reading Becker and Carroll together. I also can't seem to stop thinking about how all of this relates to gravity, and keep rereading sections of Gravity's Engines by Caleb Scharf. Sometimes I feel so sad when I realize I will die before someone can answer the burning questions in my mind about the way the universe works, but nothing feels better than thinking about what we do know.

While mainly focusing on the measurement problem in quantum physics (does the wave function collapse) , Becker recounts the history of many of the major discoveries and provided an extremely intuitive account of the following aspects of quantum mechanics:

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle
Double slit
Schrödinger's cat
Everett's many worlds
Copenhagen Interpretation (probability / wave function collapse)
The Bohr - Einstein debates
EPR paradox

Becker included in depth and intensely refreshing biographies of John Bell and his inequality and David Bohm's unorthodox ideas. The biography of Bohm was particularly of interest to me because not too long ago I finished a series of books about the discovery of quantum theory and while many of those books covered the other people highlighted in this book, none of them covered Bohm in the manner Becker did.

I really cannot recommend this book highly enough. Rating a book like this always makes me realize how my previous 5 star ratings muddy the waters. I want there to be a 6 star rating you could use once or twice a year, so that you can really set a book apart from others. This book would be worthy of that 6 star rating.
#tagsgiving #sweepstakes #BestScienceBook

Great historical Physics book on Quantum Universe

Great book, lots historical context within the physics community. Surprisingly it’s a very small world in terms of influence and direction of physics. The book is very easy to follow for a non-physics person; but still provides the information needed to really grasp the concepts.

Great Book!

This is one of the best science-focused books I have ever read, marrying science, history, politics philosophy, and human nature into one coherent story. Reading this book is like riding a pilot wave.

A good book, expertly narrated

This was a book about the history of quantum physics, including an attempt to explain it to the layperson. It mostly succeeded. Underneath, it was an argument about the "Copenhagen interpretation" of Quantum physics and why this is inadequate, highlighting the physicists who have come up with alternate and in Becker's view, interpretations closer to the truth. I enjoyed listening to the book in part because the material was interestingly written through the perspective of the various genius physicists, and in part because of the OUTSTANDING NARRATOR. I have read a lot of nonfiction and a lot of lay-oriented science, and Greg Tremblay is one of the best narrators I've heard.
All in all a good and interesting experience. I recommend the book to anyone who had an interest in this fascinating and still largely unexplained world.

Comprehensive

Outstanding explanations on the complexities of various scientific theories, how we got where we are, and what is yet to be solidified. I will listen again. it's worth reiteration.