Quantum Discontents, or What Is Wrong with Our Science Practice

For more than eighty years the standard interpretation (SI) has dominated quantum physics. Perspectives that have tried to challenge this domination have been remarkably unsuccessful. As a result, quantum theory (QT) has remained remarkably stagnant. The article offers a critical examination of SI and provides an explanation for its continued domination. It also uses Bohmian mechanics—a theoretical perspective advanced by American physicist David Bohm—as a case study for why alternative interpretations have failed to displace SI. The article sees the main reason for the failure to achieve much progress beyond SI in the unresolved philosophical problem of subject-object relation that continues to plague our study of physics. The article sketches a path to a possible solution and outlines a new science practice that this solution will require.