Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different

Philip Ball

What does quantum physics actually say, and why do physicists still disagree about what it means?

At a glance

You will drop popular quantum clichés, such as that an object is simply a wave or a particle
You will understand why measurement is where the strangeness of quantum physics comes from
You will read claims about quantum computers with a clearer sense of what is known and what is not

By way of introduction . . .
No one can say what quantum mechanics means (and this is a book about it)
Quantum mechanics is not really about the quantum
Quantum objects are neither wave nor particle (but sometimes they might as well be)
Quantum particles aren’t in two states at once (but sometimes they might as well be)
What ‘happens’ depends on what we find out about it
There are many ways of interpreting quantum theory (and none of them quite makes sense)
Whatever the question, the answer is ‘Yes’ (unless it’s ‘No’)
Not everything is knowable at once
The properties of quantum objects don’t have to be contained within the objects
There is no ‘spooky action at a distance’
The everyday world is what quantum becomes at human scales
Everything you experience is a (partial) copy of what causes it
Schrödinger’s cat has had kittens
Quantum mechanics can be harnessed for technology
Quantum computers don’t necessarily perform ‘many calculations at once’
There is no other ‘quantum’ you
Things could be even more ‘quantum’ than they are (so why aren’t they)?
The fundamental laws of quantum mechanics might be simpler than we imagine
Can we ever get to the bottom of it?