Presenters:   Elio Caccavale   Dawn Danby   Olaf Dreyer   Juan Geuer   Rob Godman   John Hatch   Kenneth A. Huff   Mantissa   Miroslav Lovric   Sally McKay   Eric Raymond   S. David Rosner   Mariano Sardón   Frederic P. Schuller   Krister Shalm   Lydia Sharman &   Stephen Morris   Donald Spector   Joseph Thywissen   Marion Tränkle   Koala Yip Symposium The Trouble with Waiting for Godot in Copenhagen by Donald Spector Hobart and William Smith Colleges In this talk, I will show that Waiting for Godot -- one of the truly iconic artistic products of the post-WWII era -- can be understood as a play about the tension between the Copenhagen and the Many Worlds Interpretations of quantum mechanics. The play serves as a lens that enables us to understand better this debate that sits at the heart of quantum mechanics; in return, the competing interpretations of quantum mechanics provide a framework that enables us to understand better the existential difficulties facing the characters in Waiting for Godot. Quantum mechanics describes things the size of atoms and smaller extraordinarily well, but its proper interpretation remains a matter of contention. The two leading proposals are both consistent with what is known empirically, but offer radically different conceptions of the fundamental nature of reality. The Copenhagen Interpretation argues that each measurement has a unique (though not pre-determined) outcome, while the Many Worlds Interpretation argues that each measurement has multiple outcomes that exist in parallel, but non-interacting, universes. In Godot, Samuel Beckett has written a play with a dramatic structure that brings these competing visions to the fore, and with characters who are quite specifically concerned with the issues that distinguish the Copenhagen and Many Worlds Interpretations of quantum mechanics. Indeed, Beckett's characters explicitly contest the question of whether there are multiple realities (as asserted by the Many Worlds Interpretation) or a single reality (as asserted by the Copenhagen Interpretation). The play explores the existential conflict that arises when an adherent of the Copenhagen Interpretation is confronted with a Many Worlds universe. Biography: Donald Spector is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, with undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Harvard. Recent honors include visiting Japan as a 2004 JSPS Fellow and being named a 2005-2007 KITP Scholar. His research focuses on particle physics and supersymmetry. He has also written about superheroes, lectured on weapons of mass destruction, and taught about science fiction.   Page Top Copyright © 2004 Subtle Technologies Festival