# Category Archives: Uncategorised

## Crackpots in my inbox

Often people ask me why I’m not more open-minded about ideas that defy the scientific consensus. Maybe global warming is just a conspiracy? Maybe Bell’s theorem is in fact wrong? Maybe the EmDrive does provide thrust without using propellant? Maybe … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorised | 31 Comments

## My shortest research program ever

$t=0:00$ SIMPLICIO: These quantum gravity people! Always claiming that the world is fundamentally discrete! It’s so stupid! INGENUO: Humm why is it stupid? They do have good reasons to think that. SIMPLICIO: But come on, even the most … Continue reading

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## The sleeping beauty problem: a foray into experimental metaphysics

One of the most intriguing consequences of Bell’s theorem is the idea that one can do experimental metaphysics: to take some eminently metaphysical concepts such as determinism, causality, and free will, and extract from them actual experimental predictions, which can … Continue reading

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## Understanding Bell’s theorem part 3: the Many-Worlds version

This post is based on discussions with Harvey Brown, Eric Cavalcanti, and Nathan Walk. At least one of them peacefully disagrees with everything written here. After going through two versions of Bell’s theorem, one might hope to be done with … Continue reading

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## Understanding Bell’s theorem part 2: the nonlocal version

Continuing the series on Bell’s theorem, I will now write about its most popular version, the one that people have in mind when they talk about quantum nonlocality: the version that Bell proved in his 1975 paper The theory of … Continue reading

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## Understanding Bell’s theorem part 1: the simple version

To continue with the series of “public service” posts, I will write the presentation of Bell’s theorem that I would like to have read when I was learning it. My reaction at the time was, I believe, similar to most … Continue reading

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## If your interpretation of quantum mechanics has a single world but no collapse, you have a problem

To inaugurate this blog I want to talk about Daniela Frauchiger and Renato Renner’s polemical new paper, Single-world interpretations of quantum theory cannot be self-consistent. Since lots of people want to understand what the paper is saying, but do not … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorised | 30 Comments

## Hello, world!

Since I routinely write papers, and I have empirical evidence that they were read by people other than the authors and the referees, I conjecture that people might actually be interested in reading what I write! Therefore I’m starting this … Continue reading