QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

an epistemological solution to the measurement problem while the problem quite often is
experienced as being more an ontological one. Physicists want to know the point at which the
transfer from the quantum world to the classical world takes place: at what point do identical
quantum systems start to produce macroscopically observable differences, i.e. where does
possibility become actuality and when do dynamic attributes appear?
Bohr’s answer, that the transfer from the quantum level to the classical level takes place within
the measuring device was not considered adequate. He was considered to be doing nothing more
than hiding the problem from view, since humans cannot monitor events within a measuring
device. Correctly understood, Bohr’s solution does not however exclude attempts to use
decoherence or other physical phenomena to achieve more precise ontological explanation and
understanding of the measurement situation. His method of approach does not prohibit attempts
to portray the situation in a more exact way. Just the opposite, we are always free to interpret and
explain our experiences, as long as we are not cowed into being too speculative by postulating,
for example, archetypes or branching universes. Thoughts of decoherence resulting from
environmental causes include the same ignorance as the statistical causality emphasised by the
Copenhagen group. Processes occur in the world which humans are unable to predict. No attempt
to solve the measurement problem provides an answer to the question of why a measuring device
yields the result which is obtained from it.
Correct understanding of the effect of an environment obviously requires the perception of a
change in the role of the observer. Humans are also part of the environment of the process that is
being examined. Attributes that appear during measurement are not necessarily just internal
properties of the system being investigated, they may rather be relationships between the system
and the measuring device which are dependent on the whole of the experimental setup.
Measurement does not passively reveal the already existing attributes of a quantum systems, but
it changes the probability distribution for future events as well as what actually exists. Through
the choice of measurement system and their own actions, humans can to some extent influence
which properties or attributes are finally actualised and are manifested. Both measurement and
changing of the world take place when a mark is created in the measuring device.
Bohr did not argue very convincingly for his central claim concerning the necessity to use
classical terms and macroscopic experimental equipment. On the other hand, if he was correct in
saying that the simultaneous description of space-time and causality is only possible in classical
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