Summary of Sean Carroll's Something Deeply Hidden

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

#1 Quantum mechanics is the heart and soul of modern physics, and it is used in everything from astrophysics to particle physics. It is the most comprehensive view of reality we have, and it is not magic.

#2 The world is fundamentally intelligible, and we have something of a mental block when it comes to quantum mechanics. We need to overcome this, and teach students that quantum mechanics is just a list of rules that we use to make predictions.

#3 The first is that quantum mechanics should be understandable, even if we’re not there yet. It is unique among physical theories in drawing an apparent distinction between what we see and what really is. But this challenge isn’t insuperable, and if we free our minds from certain old-fashioned and intuitive ways of thinking, we find that quantum mechanics isn’t hopelessly mystical or inexplicable.

#4 The third message is that all this matters, and not just for the integrity of science. The success of the existing adequate but not perfectly coherent framework of quantum mechanics shouldn’t blind us to the fact that there are circumstances under which such an approach simply isn’t up to the task.

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Rafbók: 15 april 2022