The Quantum World

This book presents a series of sessions that took place between 2010 and 2013 under the auspices of the French "Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques" dedicated to discussing the philosophical impact of recent advances in quantum physics, which can shed new light on profound philosophical questions about realism, determinism, causality or locality.Some of the most eminent physicists and philosophers contributed in the spirit of an open and honest discussion recalling the time when science and philosophy were inseparable.In the first chapter, Edouard Brezin gives an introduction and shows the strangeness of quantum mechanics. Chapter II relates the extensive debate between physicists and philosophers concerning the notion of reality. Chapters III and IV are dedicated to the important notion of decoherence, which prevents that the Schrodinger cat be simultaneously alive and dead. Chapters V and VI present Bohm's theory, which provides the same observational predictions as the standard theory while being based on radically different ideas. Chapter VII and VIII cover two distinct topics, non-locality and the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics. Chapter IX is dedicated to a presentation by Roger Balian of a method for resolving the measurement problem using a statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics. In chapter X, Carlo Rovelli describes the quantum loop gravity theory which aims at unify quantum mechanics and general relativity.This book will appeal to everybody interested in knowing how the description of the world we live in is impacted by the very results of the most powerful and successful theory that physicists have ever built.