Erkenntnis 86 (6):1469-1481 (2021)
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It is usual to identify initial conditions of classical dynamical systems with mathematical real numbers. However, almost all real numbers contain an infinite amount of information. I argue that a finite volume of space can’t contain more than a finite amount of information, hence that the mathematical real numbers are not physically relevant. Moreover, a better terminology for the so-called real numbers is “random numbers”, as their series of bits are truly random. I propose an alternative classical mechanics, which is empirically equivalent to classical mechanics, but uses only finite-information numbers. This alternative classical mechanics is non-deterministic, despite the use of deterministic equations, in a way similar to quantum theory. Interestingly, both alternative classical mechanics and quantum theories can be supplemented by additional variables in such a way that the supplemented theory is deterministic. Most physicists straightforwardly supplement classical theory with real numbers to which they attribute physical existence, while most physicists reject Bohmian mechanics as supplemented quantum theory, arguing that Bohmian positions have no physical reality.
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DOI | 10.1007/s10670-019-00165-8 |
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References found in this work BETA
Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics: Collected Papers on Quantum Philosophy.John Stewart Bell - 2004 - Cambridge University Press.
Do Dispositions and Propensities Have a Role in the Ontology of Quantum Mechanics? Some Critical Remarks.Mauro Dorato - unknown - Synthese Library.
Varieties of Indeterminacy in the Theory of General Choice Sequences.Carl J. Posy - 1976 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 5 (1):91 - 132.
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Citations of this work BETA
Real Numbers Are the Hidden Variables of Classical Mechanics.Nicolas Gisin - 2020 - Quantum Studies: Mathematics and Foundations 7:197–201.
Indeterminism in Physics and Intuitionistic Mathematics.Nicolas Gisin - 2021 - Synthese 199 (5-6):13345-13371.
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