Undifferentiated

Parents always tell their children that they can become whatever they want to be when they grow up. Over the last few days, I've been thinking. If that were the case, knowing what I know now, what would I want to be? If I were completely undifferentiated and if I had the capacity to pursue any study, what would I want to do?

I decided that I would love to study the philosophy of physics. It's just so cool. I took a class in it once as an undergrad and absolutely loved it. I think it's so amazing because it gets at the fundamental nature of the universe in two different ways: empirical science and theoretical philosophy. Physics (along with mathematics) has this beautiful elegance to it that mirrors formal logic. In this way, it can be scrutinized with the same criteria that analytical philosophy approaches arguments. Because both physics and metaphysics try to get at the laws that govern how matter and energy interact, the implications of such theories have a large bearing on different aspects of our lives. Like philosophy of science, we should study the assumptions, foundations, implications, and applications of modern physical principles.

I'm especially fascinated by philosophy of quantum mechanics. The strength of quantum mechanics lies in its ability to elucidate empirical observations that previous theories could not explain. But its philosophical implications are huge. It seems to undermine determinism by allowing stochastic phenomena (which some libertarians claim is sufficient for free will). Furthermore, it invokes curiosities like the effect of measurement on physical systems. If no measurements are occurring, states of physical systems follow unitary dynamics of a time-dependent Schrodinger equation (linear, continuous, deterministic). But upon measurement, a system's wave function may collapse into one of its eigenstates whose probability is determined by Born's rule (discontinuous, random, nonlinear). When John von Neumann described this in 1932, he left open the interpretation. That's where a lot of the philosophy kicked in. The physics may make sense, but what does it mean?

Someday, if I run out of topics, I might discuss a really cool idea called quantum suicide and how it may prove DeWitt's Many Worlds interpretation of Everett's relative state formulation. Very very cool stuff. If I were actually smart enough, I would do philosophy of qunatum mechanics. Right now, it's just a hobby.

"I fully agree with you about the significance and educational value of methodology as well as history and philosophy of science. So many people today - and even professional scientists - seem to me like somebody who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest. A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering. This independence created by philosophical insight is - in my opinion - the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth." -Einstein.