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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Sep 2

New paper with Jeff Barrett coming out in @thebjps.bsky.social !
We develop new notions of probability and probabilistic laws. Years in the making.

Next: a natural proof of the Principal Principle.

Link: philpapers.org/rec/BARARA-17

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Jul 12

Excited to be giving a talk on philosophy of science and foundations of AI at the National University of Singapore, hosted by the Department of Philosophy. It’s a special occasion for me—NUS is where I began my philosophical training as an undergraduate 15 years ago.

Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Jul 7

Looking forward to talking about exchangeability, algorithmic randomness, and the Principal Principle tomorrow at the Institute of Data Science at the University of Hong Kong! (Joint work with Jeff Barrett)

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Jun 18

Debating laws of physics + metaphysics with my former PhD supervisor Barry Loewer on Theories of Everything. Plenty of disagreements, but always learning!

Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZna...

Do The Laws of Physics Exist?

YouTube video by Curt Jaimungal

www.youtube.com

Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Jun 5

Just finished a semester-long reading group on my book with the All Milan History & Philosophy of Physics group, thanks to the amazing Silvia De Bianchi. Incredible discussions on laws of nature, simplicity, and cosmology. Grateful for the sharp questions & insights!

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Reposted by Eddy Keming Chen

Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · Apr 15

Lofty Math Problem Called Hilbert’s Sixth Closer to Being Solved www.scientificamerican.com/article/loft...

Mathematicians Crack 125-Year-Old Problem, Unite Three Physics Theories

A breakthrough in Hilbert’s sixth problem is a major step in grounding physics in math

www.scientificamerican.com

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Apr 29

Had the privilege to visit Armin Schwartzman’s group @ucsdhealthsci.bsky.social (Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute + Biostatistics) to talk about algorithmic randomness, exchangeability, and the Principal Principle. Great conversations on probability and AI foundations!

Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Apr 21

Honored to receive the APA’s 2024 Public Philosophy Op-Ed Prize for “The Preordained Quantum Universe” (Nature, 2023). Thanks to @apaphilosophy for supporting public-facing philosophy! #Quantum #Philosophy #APA2024

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Reposted by Eddy Keming Chen

Eugene Y. S. Chua @eugenechua.bsky.social · Apr 9

Very happy that my paper with @eddykemingchen.bsky.social is officially published with Synthese with open access. It was a great opportunity to survey the space of options when it comes to the Born Rule for Everettians, and see how density matrix realism generalizes them!

Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Apr 9

Happy to share that my paper with @eugenechua.bsky.social is now officially published with open access! 🚀

"Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse" link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Thanks to all who offered feedback!

Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse - Synthese

In Everettian quantum mechanics, justifications for the Born rule appeal to self-locating uncertainty or decision theory. Such justifications have focused exclusively on a pure-state Everettian multiv...

link.springer.com

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Apr 9

Happy to share that my paper with @eugenechua.bsky.social is now officially published with open access! 🚀

"Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse" link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Thanks to all who offered feedback!

Decoherence, branching, and the Born rule in a mixed-state Everettian multiverse - Synthese

In Everettian quantum mechanics, justifications for the Born rule appeal to self-locating uncertainty or decision theory. Such justifications have focused exclusively on a pure-state Everettian multiv...

link.springer.com

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Apr 8

Thanks so much, Davide! I’m really honored by your engagement with the book. Your presentation was thoughtful, clear, and generous throughout. I'm excited to follow the rest of your series!

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Apr 8

Just found this (Italian!) YouTube breakdown of Laws of Physics by physicist @davidedebiasio.bsky.social on his channel Spazi Attorcigliati. He dives into the first 20 pages—ontology, nomology, laws as constraints. I'm honored!
Thanks to #ChatGPT I could follow along! www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDBD...

Le Leggi della Fisica (1/2) | Fisica: Filosofia e Fondamenti 3

YouTube video by Spazi Attorcigliati | Davide De Biasio

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Eddy Keming Chen

Philosophy of Science Association @philsci.bsky.social · Mar 10

5. Andrews, Mel (2023) The Devil in the Data: Machine Learning & the Theory-Free Ideal

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Reposted by Eddy Keming Chen

Philosophy of Science Association @philsci.bsky.social · Mar 10

3. Brown, Matthew J. (2020) Science and Moral Imagination: A New Ideal for Values in Science. Science, Values, and the Public.
4. Ardourel, Vincent and Bangu, Sorin (2023) Finite-size scaling theory: Quantitative and qualitative approaches to critical phenomena.

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Reposted by Eddy Keming Chen

Philosophy of Science Association @philsci.bsky.social · Mar 10

Visit the PhilSci Archive 📄 to read the most downloaded preprints for the last 6 months:
philsci-archive.pitt...

1. Chen, Eddy Keming (2023) Laws of Physics.
2. Rushing, Bruce and Gomez-Lavin, Javier (2024) Is the Scaling Hypothesis Falsifiable?

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Mar 22

It is a surprising result that challenges our conventional intuitions regarding state distinguishability. Finally, I discuss potential connections to the PBR theorem and quantum tomography.

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Mar 22

In the second part, drawing on joint work with Roderich Tumulka (arxiv.org/abs/2410.16860), I show that typical quantum states in any high-dimensional Hilbert space are observationally indistinguishable from the normalized projection (a mixed state) and from each other.

Typical Quantum States of the Universe are Observationally Indistinguishable

This paper is about the epistemology of quantum theory. We establish a new result about a limitation to knowledge of its central object -- the quantum state of the universe. We show that, if the unive...

arxiv.org

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Mar 22

Title: Density Matrix Realism
Abstract: I first define and clarify Density Matrix Realism—the view that the universe’s quantum state is best understood as an objective density matrix, which may be a mixed state, rather than as a pure wave function (arxiv.org/abs/2405.01025).

Density Matrix Realism

Realism about quantum theory naturally leads to realism about the quantum state of the universe. It leaves open whether it is a pure state represented by a wave function, or an impure (mixed) one repr...

arxiv.org

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Mar 22

Excited to talk about density matrix realism and a new result on observation typicality at the Chapman workshop on quantum foundations in two days!

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Mar 17

Big thanks to Snow Xueyin Zhang, Verónica Gómez Sánchez, and Ezra Rubenstein for the kind invitations and for showing me the famous Tarski Room!

Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Mar 17

Had a wonderful time in Berkeley, speaking at the Logic Group on Friday and the Metaphysics Workshop on Saturday! I presented two joint papers with Jeff Barrett—on chancy laws as constraints and deriving the Principal Principle from them. Great discussions and feedback.

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Mar 14

Had a fantastic visit at Stanford—thanks to Elliott Sober and Thomas Icard for the kind invitation! Tomorrow, Linda and I are heading to Berkeley! Looking forward to engaging with faculty and students to discuss foundations of AI, algorithmic randomness, and the laws of nature.

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Mar 8

Thank you!

Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Mar 8

Featured in the @philsci.bsky.social Newsletter:
mms.philsci.org/msg_detail.p...

Philosophy of Science Association

mms.philsci.org

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Eddy Keming Chen @eddykemingchen.bsky.social · Mar 8

Thrilled to see my book Laws of Physics as the most downloaded item on PhilSci Archive for the last six months—a title it has held since September 2024! Grateful for the continued interest and support from readers, colleagues, and the @philsci.bsky.social community.
#PhilosophyOfScience

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