
Information, Physics, Quantum: The Search for Links (1989) [pdf] - legel
http://cqi.inf.usi.ch/qic/wheeler.pdf
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da-bacon
When I found a version of this paper, as an undergrad researcher circa 1995,
it changed the course of my life and I spent an amazing decade working in
quantum computing.

For those who are interested, the result quoted by Wheeler, which attempts to
derive quantum theory via arguments using distinguishability, appears in
Wootters' Ph.D. thesis in 1980. 33 years later(!), he wrote a follow up
[https://arxiv.org/abs/1301.2018](https://arxiv.org/abs/1301.2018) in which he
showed that result essentially only works for the real number version of
quantum theory. (Pessimist would say this means it is a dead end, optimist
that we are just missing something!)

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zitterbewegung
Obligatory posting of Physics, Topology, Logic and Computation: A Rosetta
Stone
[http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/rosetta.pdf](http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/rosetta.pdf)

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legel
This looks like a gem, thanks!

Under my elbow as I type is a small introductory book called Topology for
Computing, which I’d recommend to anyone trying to investigate such links, for
its concise clarity and elegant figures.

[https://www.amazon.com/Computing-Cambridge-Monographs-
Comput...](https://www.amazon.com/Computing-Cambridge-Monographs-
Computational-Mathematics/dp/0521136091)

~~~
zitterbewegung
Thanks for the book recommendation. :)

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glbrew
Anyone know what book this is from? Looks like it is Chapter 19?

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Bromskloss
I can't be sure, but it might be this:
[https://www.google.se/search?q=ISBN+9780201515060](https://www.google.se/search?q=ISBN+9780201515060)

~~~
jchook
Looks like this paper is the opening chapter of that book. The search
continues!

[http://toc.nkp.cz/VSE/201103/contents/vse000191986_1.pdf](http://toc.nkp.cz/VSE/201103/contents/vse000191986_1.pdf)

~~~
godelmachine
I really would like to know the name of the book from which this index is.
It's super interesting and I really want to read that book. Please let me know
once you find it. Sincerely,

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slackenerny
Book already referenced by GP, click your links. These are old classic
conference proceedings edited by Zurek
[https://archive.org/details/ComplexityEntropyAndThePhysicsOf...](https://archive.org/details/ComplexityEntropyAndThePhysicsOfInformation)
but it’s a mixed bag unless you really fancy EG quantum field theorist’s
opinions on workings of visual cortex.

~~~
Bromskloss
Thanks for posting it! It's unfortunate that the entry doesn't include the
ISBN number [0], and that it consequently doesn't turn up when searching for
that number

[0] I consider "ISBN number" to be a reasonable expression, with the
interpretation "the number that goes by the name _ISBN_".

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tbabb
Is this a "mainstream" view in academic quantum mechanics? It seems so much
more "modern" than what I learned.

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n4r9
Wheeler was certainly visionary.

The most faithful contemporary worldview is probably the "QBist"
interpretation [0-2] espoused by Chris Fuchs (who studied under Wheeler),
Ruediger Schack, Carlton Caves, David Mermin and others. It's growing in
popularity but is not mainstream.

[0] [https://www.wired.com/2015/06/private-view-quantum-
reality/](https://www.wired.com/2015/06/private-view-quantum-reality/)

[1] [https://www.nature.com/news/physics-qbism-puts-the-
scientist...](https://www.nature.com/news/physics-qbism-puts-the-scientist-
back-into-science-1.14912)

[2] [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/quantum-
bayesian/](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/quantum-bayesian/)

