Quantum Mechanics: Harbinger of a Non-Commutative Probability Theory?

TL;DR

This paper explores the algebraic approach to quantum phenomena, emphasizing non-commutative probability theory as a framework that unifies quantum and classical structures and offers insights beyond traditional wave-particle models.

Contribution

It advocates for a non-commutative probability framework rooted in von Neumann's algebraic approach, moving beyond wave-particle models to understand quantum processes as structure processes.

Findings

Highlights the non-Boolean structure of quantum processes

Shows how classical worlds emerge from non-commutative structures

Proposes a broader application of algebraic quantum theory

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the relevance of the algebraic approach to quantum phenomena first introduced by von Neumann before he confessed to Birkoff that he no longer believed in Hilbert space. This approach is more general and allows us to see the structure of quantum processes in terms of non-commutative probability theory, a non-Boolean structure of the implicate order which contains Boolean sub-structures which accommodates the explicate classical world. We move away from mechanical `waves' and `particles' and take as basic what Bohm called a {\em structure process}. This enables us to learn new lessons that can have a wider application in the way we think of structures in language and thought itself.