from Part IV - The Whole Universe
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 October 2025
The conceptual problems of quantum theory make a particularly strong appearance in contexts such as black hole physics, or the physics of the very early universe, where the theory must be used with nothing that could be reasonably given the “role of observer” or a “measuring device.” As such, those situations offer a rather fertile ground, where proposals for dealing with those problems could produce results that actually differ substantially from the ones obtained within the “standard type” of studies, where those questions are essentially ignored. We will explore the ways in which one of the proposals to address the so-called measurement problem affects various specific issues that arise within the above-mentioned fields. We will see that in our specific approach to the subject several well-known and concrete problems seem to simply disappear, and in particular, that it could offer a novel and unexpected account for the nature of the entropic arrow of time in cosmology.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.