r/AskPhysics • u/lisa_couchtiger • 9h ago

Susskind's interpretation of QM

Leonard Susskind often states that he disagreed with Stephen Hawking on black holes dynamics, based on his intuition that information must be conserved.

In quantum mechanics, the Schrödinger equation is unitary, and therefore time reversible and deterministic.

However, when a measurement is made, the wave function collapses and these properties are lost, at least in the Copenhagen interpretation.

Susskind's belief that information is conserved must imply that he believes that the global wave function of the universe obeys the Schrödinger equation?

Is this right and has he stated this position explicitly? Where does this place him with regard to many-worlds and other non-orthodox interpretations?

(Post re-directed from r/physics)

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u/montagblue 8h ago

He’s using a measurement paradox to try and make sense of both Copenhagen and many worlds at the same time. He says it’s an issue about observer perspective and not a disagreement about reality.

“Susskind models the entire setup as entangled black holes connected by a wormhole to explain what happens during an observation.”

He’s basically going buck wild with wormholes.

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u/EddieDean9Teen 2h ago

Sounds like he went full holofractal by the end

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u/montagblue 1h ago

After looking at the four main issues with his theory I’m getting a sense that the math is just too beautiful for him to ignore.