Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity: Metaphysical Intimations of Modern Physics (Aristotelian Society Monographs) |  | Author: Tim Maudlin
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
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Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 263919
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Pages: 296
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0631232214
Dewey Decimal Number: 100
EAN: 9780631232216
ASIN: 0631232214
Publication Date: February 8, 2002
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Product Description
Modern physics was born from two great revolutions: relativity and the quantum theory. Relativity imposed a locality constraint on physical theories: since nothing can go faster than light, very distant events cannot influence one another. Only in the last few decades has it become clear that the quantum theory violates this constraint. The work of J.S. Bell has demonstrated that no local theory can return the predictions of quantum theory. Thus it would seem that the central pillars of modern physics are contradictory.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
 Nice introduction to physics, philosophical chaos November 18, 2009
V. Spillner
I am a theoretical physicist from Germany and I appreciated Maudlin's introduction to special relativity and quantum physics. Much of it is in words and pictures and yet it is as precise as possible, if one doesn't want to evoke the entire apparatus of equations.
However, the philosophical implications and reasonings were not only far from being clear, but also so twisted, that nobody is able to really wrap up, what Maudlin's view is. Try to find it on the internet - nowhere will you find, what his upshot is. Why is that? Because it is impossible to wrap up a philosopher in a few words? Of course not! You will find many clear and sharp results of the philosophies even of Kant, Schopenhauer or Nietzsche, who also enjoyed writing in long essays.
So what is this book about? It first tries to explain the EPR-paradoxon by considering the collapse as a physical process. Therefore you have to talk about signalling or some kind of propagation at least with a speed which is faster than light (in order to reproduce the results of A. Aspect for example).
So Maudlin analyses, which aspect of the 'information' of 'a measurement being performed' must minimally be submitted from one EPR-particle to another. He keeps analysing and approaches the problem from all kinds of sides. This is very lenghthy and repetative.
And then, suddenly, on the last 3 pages of the book: A miracle happens!
Suddenly Maudlin choses the Many Minds Interpretation, which has never before been motivated in the book!
He himself finds this a bit ad hoc and says: Well, you might feel a bit betrayed, that we now do not at all come to a conclusion which has anything to do with the rest of the book.
However, this solution suddenly seems logical to him and he choses it.
The reader stays back in bewilderment.
As I said, try to find someone, who sums up Maudlin's real conclusion of this book in a precise phrase.
You will fail.
I think, because there is none.
So after all, I would say: The book offers a good introduction to quantum physics and the EPR-problem, but it is way overrated in being innovative, brilliant or conclusive. It totally failed me in saying anything new. And don't tell me his concept of hyperplanes was new. Gordon Fleming has published this many years ago.
 God does not play dice with Nature? March 17, 2009
Dennis K. Morgan (Whitefish Bay, WI)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Excellent treatise on Non-Locality and Relativity. Some Knowledge based philosophy stuff but well written.
Kudos!
Dennis
 Very clear discussion of Bell's Theorem January 31, 2008
Gideon Reich (CA USA)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
This contains the clearest presentation of the evidence for non-locality that I've seen. The other chapters on the implications of this are a little more challenging but worth it.
Fascinating and somewhat disquieting May 17, 2007
Timothy B. Miller (Knoxville, TN USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is a great book - captivating, a bit technical in places (but you can easily avoid the technical details and still understand the theses), and ultimately somewhat disturbing in the best sense of that word (it will knock away a lot of your presuppositions). Quantum non-locality (QNL) has been experimentally verified and there is no question that it exists. Particles too far apart to "communicate" at speeds less than the speed of light nonetheless do somehow "communicate". Lorentz invariance, a cornerstone of relativity, has also been well verified experimentally. Yet Einstein's philosophical underpinning of special relativity, the democracy of all reference frames, seem to be radically called into question by QNL. The author goes through every theory put forward so far to reconcile special relativity (with its philosophical underpinning intact) with QNL, and shows that none can cut the mustard. Trying to reconcile QNL with general relativity leads to even worse conundrums. Science is in a deep quandary! This book will blow your mind if you let it.
Maudlin. A Great Teacher January 5, 2006
John Warwick (Malvern, PA United States)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
In this delightful read, Maudlin goes through an array of topics revolving around non-locality, relativity, and the mathematics involved. However, although I didn't find any "new" ideas in the text, I was amazed at how quickly & clearly he explained the said topics. Without exaggerating, in 80 pages of this book I attained what had taken me an entire stack of now useless books on quantum physics (particularly Bell's theorem), relativity, linear algebra, and philosophy(don't read Philosophy of Physics by Lange, you'll get it all out of this)
Anyone who has a prior introduction to Quantum theory will love this. I'd suggest Quantum Reality by Herbert, But there are lots of good ones out there.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
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