In his C 15 to TA 1, commenting on <3> in Henkel's C 14, Chris Lofting wrote <15> :

"Henkel writes 'the reality status of quantum mechanical potentiality or availability is a very interesting question.' My answer is 'not really . . .".

I disagree with this answer. The reality status of quantum potentiality or probability fields is a fascinating topic that leads to questions right at the heart of the nature of reality, whether it is conceived as mind dependent or mind independent.

We need to bother about their reality because the Elitzur-Vaidman bomb testing problem shows clearly that the unobserved component of a wave function can have consequences for the observed world, while it has been claimed (by Clark) that both components of a two-component superposition are in effect observable at the same time under the right conditions. It' s no good taking a Copenhagen-like stance and claiming that such questions are effectively meaningless or are subsumed in other, deeper ones.

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References:

Clark T.D. (1987). Macroscopic Quantum Objects. In: Quantum Implications. Eds: B.J. Hiley and F.D. Peat. Routledge. London.

Elitzur A.C. and Vaidman L. (1993). Quantum-mechanical interaction-free measurements. Foundations of Physics. 23, 987-97.

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[Chris Nunn
<chrisnunn@compuserve.com>]