The Center for Philosophy of Science invites you to join us for our Lunch Time Talks. Attend in person, Room 1117 on the 11th floor of the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh or visit our live stream on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
LTT: Feraz Azhar
Friday, September 20 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT
Title: Rethinking the Anthropic Principle
Abstract: The anthropic principle (AP) states that “what we can expect to observe must be restricted by the conditions necessary for our presence as observers”. But the phrase “our presence as observers” cannot be uniquely interpreted in the context of the theories within which AP is meant to be understood and applied: namely, for effective theories. In this talk, I’ll describe and defend a reformulation of AP, which I’ll refer to as the effective observation principle (EOP). EOP describes what we can expect to observe in physical settings by considering our ‘observational situation’ (and not, specifically, ‘observers’)—understood solely in terms of effective theories. (Joint work with Niels Linnemann.)
Can’t make it in-person? This talk will be available online through the following:
LTT: Porter Williams
Tuesday, September 24 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT
Title: The Aim and Structure of Cluster Decomposition
Abstract:
The architecture of quantum field theory includes a handful of load-bearing locality or causality conditions. One of the most important is the cluster decomposition property: roughly speaking, a property intended to capture the fact that the outcome of experiments at Fermilab is independent of whatever might be happening in the accelerator tunnel at SLAC. Steven Weinberg went so far as to call it a foundational requirement of all experimental science. However, the statistical independence required by cluster decomposition is in tension with the long-range correlations characteristic of entangled states. Nevertheless, something very much like Weinberg’s transcendental-ish claim is probably correct but appreciating that requires disentangling the role of the cluster decomposition property from its standard mathematical presentation and elucidating a delicate relationship between the cluster decomposition property and the ubiquity of entanglement in quantum field theory.
This talk will be available online through:
Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/s/91855041780 and