“Abandoning functionalism: Some intuition pumps” by Alfredo Parra 🔸

There seems to be a widely-held view in popular culture that no physicist really understands quantum mechanics. The meme probably gained popularity after Richard Feynman famously stated in a lecture (transcribed in the book “The Character of Physical Law”) “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics”, though many prominent physicists have expressed a similar sentiment. Anyone aware of the overwhelming success of quantum mechanics will recognize that the seeming lack of understanding of the theory is primarily about how to interpret its ontology, and not about how to do the calculations or run the experiments, which clearly many physicists understand extremely well. But even the ontological confusion is debatable. With the proliferation of interpretations of quantum mechanics—each varying in terms of, among others, which classical intuitions should be abandoned—at least some physicists seem to think that there isn’t anything weird or mysterious about the quantum [...] ---Outline:(06:06) Not all computers are computers(09:21) The problem of single-cell organisms(10:32) Using “functionally equivalent” silicon neurons(14:29) The binding problem(20:35) Most things are fuzzy, but not all things are fuzzy(26:13) A note on emergence(28:23) Parting thoughtsThe original text contained 14 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. The original text contained 3 images which were described by AI. --- First published: July 11th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/6cc9y3rwSBRWsquBs/abandoning-functionalism-some-intuition-pumps --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.