Contrary to Mermin, Bohr Did Acknowledge a Significant Quantum Measurement Problem - The Importance of William James, The Early American Psychologist, To Bohr, Mermin, And Carroll’s Epistemic Option For Quantum Measurement

James’s complementarity works well with the proofs at the heart of null and positive measurements in quantum mechanics. It is important for the physics community to know that complementarity originated in psychology in 1890, in the work of James, an early American psychologist, to know his finding that “the total possible consciousness may be split into parts which coexist but mutually ignore each other, and share the objects of knowledge between them.” The human observer is central in James’s complementarity. Consciousness and knowledge are essential. It appears that James’s complementarity is likely the correct conceptual model for quantum measurement. Bohr borrowed James’s complementarity and adapted it for physics by introducing an unavoidable physical interaction between a physical measuring instrument and the physical system measured. This physical interaction has an aspect that cannot be controlled. This allowed Bohr to apply the uncertainty principle. Bohr’s complementarity for physics is unwarranted. His view does not work for null measurements which are dependent on a logical proof. For positive measurements, once there is a logical proof that a certain measurement outcome will occur, the wave component associated with other possible measurement outcome vanishes. No interference is then possible. Perhaps through collaboration between physics and psychology further progress can be made in developing a self-consistent view of quantum measurement supported by empirical evidence.