Relational Order Theories - The Quantum Mechanics Level

The Quantum Mechanics Level

Lee Smolin proposes a system of "knots and networks" such that "the geometry of space arises out of a … fundamental quantum level which is made up of an interwoven network of … processes". Smolin and a group of like minded researchers have devoted a number of years to developing a loop quantum gravity basis for physics, which encompasses this relational network viewpoint.

Carlo Rovelli and associated persons have, in parallel and in communication with Smolin and associates, begun to elaborate a system called Relational quantum mechanics, which has at its foundation the view that all systems are quantum systems, and that each quantum system is defined by its relationship with other quantum systems with which it interacts. Rovelli has proposed that each interaction between quantum systems involves a ‘measurement’, and such interactions involved reductions in degrees of freedom between the respective systems, to which he applies the term correlation.

These lines of inquiry are developed at more length by the authors and other investigators, and in the linked pages in this encyclopedia. The linked pages are more technical and detailed in nature than this very summary reflection of some of the central elements.

Though the proponents of these theories seem confident that they are on the right track, they are candid in reflecting that their work requires considerable investigation and elaboration in competition with and integration with other perspectives on quantum mechanics, Einsteinian relativity, string, and other fundamental theories of physics.