Beyond Complementarity

TL;DR

The paper critiques Bohr's complementarity in quantum mechanics, arguing it fails to explain the emergence of classical reality from quantum phenomena and proposes an alternative perspective.

Contribution

It identifies limitations in Bohr's complementarity and suggests a new approach to understanding the quantum-classical transition.

Findings

Bohr's approach leads to conceptual inconsistency

Complementarity does not fully explain classical emergence

An alternative framework is proposed

Abstract

It is argued that Niels Bohr ultimately arrived at positivistic and antirealist-flavored statements because of weaknesses in his initial objective of accounting for measurement in physical terms. Bohr's investigative approach faced a dilemma, the choices being (i) conceptual inconsistency or (ii) taking the classical realm as primitive. In either case, Bohr's `Complementarity' does not adequately explain or account for the emergence of a macroscopic, classical domain from a microscopic domain described by quantum mechanics. A diagnosis of the basic problem is offered, and an alternative way forward is indicated.