An interesting interview with Carver Mead

> --- In ssi_list@... "victoriatangoman"
> > In light of our recent debates on science I thought others might
> > enjoy reading this Carver Mead interview on Quantum Mechanics and
> > his criticism of Bohr and the Copenhagen School, and other topics
> as
> > well.

Mead seems to have been a fine semiconductor engineer, but he looks
a little out of his depth here. At least half of his criticisms
of Bohr have nothing to do with the nature of quantum mechanics -
macroscopic quantum effects have been well understood in the traditional
manner since superconductors were first explained in the 1950's - Townes's
laser, Josephson junctions, quantum Hall etc. all have perfectly
normal explanations founded in regular quantum theory.

Worse than that, Mead seems to reject the photo-electric effect.
Since that is one of the two major foundations of the original
quantum theory (and the one for which Einstein received his Nobel
prize!), is an experiment that any college undergraduate
can reproduce, and is the basis for any number of modern
experimental techniques (for example, photoelectron spectroscopy),
and moreover is essentially the same effect that photo-voltaic
solar cells rely on, denial of the effect means he is denying
observational reality. Not a good way to proceed. Unless, of course,
I've misinterpreted the various statements there and his version
of quantum theory does actually reproduce the effect. In which case
it just enters the field along with about 450 other fundamental
approaches to quantum theory that produce exactly the same answers
in the end.

Arthur