I happen to be working on a new way to look at quantum mechanics, based on finite combinatorial objects called multi-way systems, and after just a few weeks I’ve made a very satisfying amount of progress.
Maybe it won’t go anywhere. But if it succeeds, it should generate the abstract algebraic structure of QM — complex Hilbert spaces — from a more elegant, intuitive, general, and natural set of axioms. If it succeeds, it will probably be how we teach quantum mechanics in 50 years. And I’ll have to write the textbook! As a side bonus, it could also reveal quantum mechanical behavior in a much wider set of systems in the natural sciences, unconnected with physics.
Sure, saying all these things out aloud sounds super grandiose and silly. But I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it could work. Obviously it’s super risky, but that’s the only reason I’m actually interested in trying it — the high stakes are what get me up every day, obsessing about it, talking about it, reading endlessly, trying different permutations of ideas, etc.
Now, I’m self funded. I would struggle to imagine someone who would fund me to do this. Or an institution or adviser that would regard it as a suitable topic for a PhD. How on earth could something so ambitious possibly work? Who the hell do I think I am? etc.
But we need hundreds of people doing this — one of them will probably succeed, and it will change the world!
I happen to be working on a new way to look at quantum mechanics, based on finite combinatorial objects called multi-way systems, and after just a few weeks I’ve made a very satisfying amount of progress.
Maybe it won’t go anywhere. But if it succeeds, it should generate the abstract algebraic structure of QM — complex Hilbert spaces — from a more elegant, intuitive, general, and natural set of axioms. If it succeeds, it will probably be how we teach quantum mechanics in 50 years. And I’ll have to write the textbook! As a side bonus, it could also reveal quantum mechanical behavior in a much wider set of systems in the natural sciences, unconnected with physics.
Sure, saying all these things out aloud sounds super grandiose and silly. But I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it could work. Obviously it’s super risky, but that’s the only reason I’m actually interested in trying it — the high stakes are what get me up every day, obsessing about it, talking about it, reading endlessly, trying different permutations of ideas, etc.
Now, I’m self funded. I would struggle to imagine someone who would fund me to do this. Or an institution or adviser that would regard it as a suitable topic for a PhD. How on earth could something so ambitious possibly work? Who the hell do I think I am? etc.
But we need hundreds of people doing this — one of them will probably succeed, and it will change the world!