Our next IPI Lecture will be on Saturday, 24th of February at 16.00 London time.
Title: Are Entropy Bounds Epistemic?
Abstract: Entropy bounds have played an important role in the development of holography as an approach to quantum gravity. In this talk I will introduce the strong and covariant entropy bounds, and then discuss how the covariant bound should be interpreted. I will argue that there is a possible way of thinking about the covariant entropy bound which would suggest that it encodes an epistemic limitation rather than an objective count of the true number of degrees of freedom on a light-sheet; thus I will distinguish between ontological and epistemic interpretations of the covariant bound. I will consider the consequences that these interpretations might have for physics and discuss what each approach has to say about gravitational phenomena. My aim is not to advocate for either the ontological or epistemic approach in particular, but rather to articulate both possibilities clearly and explore some arguments for and against them.
Speaker: Dr. Emily Adlam
BIO: Emily is a philosopher of physics focusing on the foundations of quantum mechanics, quantum clocks and the philosophy of time, particularly approaches to physics which go beyond the time evolution paradigm – encompassing a range of possibilities like temporal non-locality, retrocausality, and all-at-once laws. She is also interested in pursuing the consequences of these possibilities for philosophical topics like laws and determinism.
Emily did her PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge. Prior to that she completed the Perimeter Scholar’s International programme in theoretical physics, and she did her undergraduate degree in physics and philosophy at the University of Oxford. Emily was a postdoctoral associate at the University of Western Ontario before moving to Chapman University. She is also associated with Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University.
IPI members will receive an email with the link to join the event. If you wish to attend this IPI Talk, please email: information.physics.institute@gmail.com
