Ruth\'s \"real\" possibilities (General)

by rekastner , Tuesday, July 30, 2013, 22:29 (4132 days ago) @ David Turell

A short answer to dhw's concern about the distinction between my physically real quantum possibiities and other notions of possibility, such as ideas in the mind, is that the former are describable by quantum states, and are capble of being physically created and manipulated, while other merely conceivable things (such as Quine's 'possible fat man in the doorway') are not. -QM seems to instruct us that there are indeed different levels of possibility. Nonrelativistic QM states are at one level ('real particles'), while field propagators ('virtual particles') are at a more subtle level.