Imposing system-observer symmetry on the von Neumann description of measurement

Abstract

By imposing system-observer symmetry on the von Neumann description of measurement, it is shown that the quantum measurement problem is structurally equivalent to a familiar reverse-engineering problem: that of describing the behavior of an arbitrary physical device as algorithm instantiation. It is suggested that this problem can at best be given a relational solution.

14 pages, 5 figures; v2 minor clarifications

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