The Need For A Theory Of Perception Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 809):

Since the mathematics alone will not single out the ‘|live cat⟩’ and ‘|dead cat⟩’ states as being in any way ‘preferred’, we still need a theory of perception before we can make sense of (b) [the 'many worlds' interpretation], and such a theory is lacking. Moreover, the onus on such a theory would be not only to explain why superpositions of dead and live cats (or of anything else macroscopic) do not occur in the perceived world, but also why the wondrous and extraordinarily precise squared-modulus rule actually gives the right answers for probabilities in quantum mechanics! A theory of perception that could do this would itself need to be as precise as quantum theory. Supporters of (b) have come nowhere close to suggesting such a scheme.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, it is not a theory of perception that is required but merely an understanding of the distinction between potential and instance. This distinction explains that superpositions of dead and live cats are not perceived because they are each potential construals of experience as meaning, only one of which is instantiated as an actual perception. It also explains the squared-modulus rule as modelling the potential of a quantum system, with probabilities as the quantification of that potential.