Dimension and Illusion

Abstract

The world looks three-dimensional unless one looks closely, when it looks 3N-dimensional. But which appearance is veridical, and which the illusion? Albert contends that the three-dimensionality of the everyday world is illusory, and that 3N-dimensional wavefunction one discerns in quantum phenomena is the reality behind the illusion. What I try to do here is to argue for the converse of Albert's position; the world really is three dimensional, and the 3N-dimensional appearance of quantum phenomena is the theoretical analog of an illusion; we represent quantum reality to ourselves as 3N-dimensional in order to more readily visualize the correlations between wave packets.

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Peter J. Lewis
Dartmouth College

References found in this work

Elementary Quantum Metaphysics.David Albert - 1996 - In James T. Cushing, Arthur Fine & Sheldon Goldstein (eds.), Bohmian mechanics and quantum theory: an appraisal. Springer. pp. 277-284.
Quantum Mechanics on Spacetime I: Spacetime State Realism.David Wallace & Christopher Gordon Timpson - 2010 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 61 (4):697-727.
Quantum Mechanics and 3 N - Dimensional Space.Bradley Monton - 2006 - Philosophy of Science 73 (5):778-789.
Wave Function Ontology.Bradley Monton - 2002 - Synthese 130 (2):265-277.
Life in configuration space.Peter J. Lewis - 2004 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 55 (4):713-729.

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