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Phenomenology solves quantum puzzles

Bringing consciousness back to the quantum table

Issue 90, 21st July 2020
| Steven French is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of Science at Leeds. His latest book is A Phenomenological Approach to Quantum Mechanics: Cutting the Chain of Correlations, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023
1,539 words
Read time: approx. 8 mins

At the heart of the quantum measurement problem is a profound misunderstanding of the subject-object relationship. A closer look at Fritz London and Edmond Bauer's work on the problem reveals Edmund Husserl's phenomenology at play. Recognising this provides a new way to explain the fate of Schrödinger's cat, writes Steven French.

Of all the mysteries associated with quantum physics, from entanglement to the Uncertainty Principle, perhaps the most fundamental is the so-called ‘measurement problem’. A striking way of seeing what’s at stake is by means of the infamous ‘Schrödinger's Cat’ thought experiment: inside a box is placed a cat and a sample of radioactive material, together with a Geiger counter connected to a device that, if triggered, will kill the cat (if you’re uncomfortable with the set-up, think of putting Schrödinger in the box).

According to quantum theory the state of this arrangement should be described as a superposition of sample-doesn’t-decay-geiger-counter-doesn’t-trigger-cat-alive and sample-decays-geiger-counter-triggers-cat-dead. However, when we open the box, we invariably observe either an alive or a dead cat. How may we account for this transition from the superposition to the definite state of either cat-alive or cat-dead?

Steven French
Issue 90, 21st July 2020

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Xinhang Shen 27 July 2020

It is obviously wrong that the Schrodinger's cat is in the superposition of both live and dead before it is being observed, which is resulted from the belief in quantum mechanics: the vacuum space is completely empty and the wave behavior of a particle is the property of the particle itself, but the reality is that the wave behavior is the result of the interaction between the particle and aether - the fluid medium of light filling up all so called vacuum space, the existence of which is denied by Einstein's relativity which now has been completely disproved both theoretically and experimentally. Special relativity tells us that time is relative and thus simultaneity of events can only be held relative to one inertial reference frame i.e. clocks can be synchronized relative to only one inertial reference frame no matter how you correct them. The reality is that all the clocks on the GPS satellites after correction are synchronized not only relative to the earth reference frame but also relative to each other, that is, the real physical time is absolute, not relative. See https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297527784_Challenge_to_the_Special_Theory_of_Relativity for more detail proofs.

As the existence of aether has been restored, quantum mechanics can't stand any longer and thus all ridiculous conclusions of quantum mechanics will be removed from science.

Olivier Devid 22 July 2020

The cat is by itself also an observer. That's why the state of ‘cat alive/dead’ is not one that the cat is in, in and of itself, but only in relation to the state of the other system in the measurement interaction – in this case the observer.
If you compare both observation points, it can be discribed as a lack of knowledge between both observers.