Survey of Quantum Interpretations

When I was writing my senior thesis about quantum mechanics I began to wonder which interpretations were most and least popular. My professor found this illuminating survey taken in July of 2011 at the conference named Quantum Physics and the Nature of Reality. In attendance were 33 individuals, most of whom were affiliated with physics, while a small handful were associated with math or philosophy. The study is by Maximilian Schlosshauer , Johannes Kofler, and Anton Zeilinger.

The poll is interesting to sort through. It is by no means a completely representative sample of all thinkers in the whole world, but it is sizable and professional enough to be taken seriously. It as good looking and informative graphics as well a solid statistical analysis.

Here is the link. I highly recommend checking it out yourself.

• Interestingly, they were highly divided over the nature and solution of the measurement problem. Nearly equal split of support between different answers.
• A majority of experts optimistically predicted we would have a "working and useful" quantum computer in 10 to 25 years and no one thought it would take longer than 50 years. Very few comparably think it will happen before ten years from now.
• Copenhagen is the most popular interpretation. I think that this is still an unclear result, though, since it is not always clear what the Copenhagen interpretation is. The second most popular were information-based interpretations, and I'm not entirely sure what those are. I would have guessed many-worlds would be second, but it was in a relatively close third.
• Apparently most of them thought that personal philosophical prejudice played a large part in choice of interpretation. This isn't too surprising: most of the time when one is heavily informed on a topic and debates that topic with others one is very likely to become frustrated with their views, regardless of how informed they are. While some might think this suggests that viewpoints are inherently about nothing more than our preferences, I don't think that's the right conclusion. While that could be true, I think that it suggests that smart people who strong opinions just have more opportunities to come up with excuses as to why others don't accept (their obviously true) views on some matter.
• Very few people thought we would stop having conferences devoted to quantum foundations in the future. A great many thought we would. My guess is that we will, but they will be of a completely different nature. Instead of trying to figure out the "right answer" where the focus is on debating which is best, conferences in the future will be more of a "marketplace of ideas". My reasoning: the "right answer" is not obvious to the experts now so it would definitely not be obvious to most people in the near future. Even if we discover the "right answer" in 50 years, that doesn't mean it will be commonly accepted or taken seriously. Future conferences will probably not continue to focus on sorting things out and will instead be about exploring cool ideas. I like the authors' take on this:

"Among the different interpretive camps, adherents of objective (physical) collapse theories were the only group to believe, in significant numbers, that in fifty years from now, there will likely be still conferences devoted to quantum foundations. So perhaps this reflects the fact that those who pursue collapse theories tend to view quantum theory as an essentially unsatisfactory and unfinished edifice requiring long-term modification and construction efforts. Vice versa, it may be a sign that those who regard such efforts as unnecessary or even misguided are optimistic that the remaining foundational problems, whatever they may be, will soon be resolved."

• I find it interesting that most of the correlations found in the data mostly just show logical conclusions. Not too surprising since the survey-takers are all thinkers by profession.
• The largest consensus on a question was about quantum information, where a relatively large majority agreed that it "is a breath of fresh air for quantum foundations". I'm not entirely sure what quantum information is, so I'm surprised it has been such a big deal and I haven't heard much about it.