Multi-Situationality: The Central Metaphor of Quantum Physics

Quantum mechanics has never had a simple, short-punch metaphor that expresses the central theme of what makes its model of Nature and conception of physical reality fundamentally different from that of classical physics. The realist quantum framework (RQF), introduced and developed in https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5920722, now provides a definitive answer. The new metaphor, in a word, is multi-situationality. That is nine syllables, compared to five for "clockwork universe'', but the mouthful aptly captures what for 125 years has been the conceptually intractable core of quantum physics. The most distinctive characteristic of classical physics that was overturned by the quantum revolution was uni-situationality, not determinism. If the multi-situational switch is shut off (which goes in tandem with h -> 0), the RQF gracefully reduces to classical physics in a precise manner that shows that multi-situationality makes all the difference.