Landscapes of Sibylline Strangeness: Complementarity, Quantum Measurement and Classical Physics

Abstract

Quantum mechanics has divided our description of the physical world into two distinct counterparts—classical at the macrolevel and quantum at the microlevel—and by so doing initiated a debate that has continued ever since. On the one side of this debate one finds arguments for the necessity of replacing (and attempts to replace) quantum mechanics with classical or classical-like theories—from Einstein’s initial skepticism and the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) argument to hidden variables and beyond. On the other side, one encounters attempts to account for classical and quantum physics as both necessary for our understanding of the physical world. Niels Bohr’s interpretation of quantum mechanics as complementarity follows this second approach, with radical implications for classical and quantum physics, and, as I shall suggest here, for their relationships. I shall also suggest that, contrary to a common view, Bohr’s interpretation reveals several affinities and interactions between both sides of the debate at issue.