WHAT MAKES A QUANTUM PHYSICS BELIEF BELIEVABLE? MANY-WORLDS AMONG SIX IMPOSSIBLE THINGS BEFORE BREAKFAST

An extraordinary, if circumscribed, positive shift has occurred since the mid-twentieth century in the perceived status of Hugh Everett III's 1956 theory of the universal wave function of quantum mechanics, now widely called the Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI). Everett's starkly new interpretation denied the existence of a separate classical realm, contending that the experimental data can be seen as presenting a state vector for the whole universe. Since there is no state vector collapse, reality as a whole is strictly deterministic. Explained jointly by the dynamical variables and the state vector, “this reality is not the reality we customarily think of, but is a reality composed of many worlds,” wrote Everett's colleague Bryce DeWitt. In this essay, I account briefly for the change of status in conventional scientific terms, yet chiefly in extended terms of three sets of ideas that I argue can be understood to affect believability in both scientific and religious contexts, illuminating helpfully the MWI phenomenon, and its engagement with theology: orthodoxy and heresy, language and reference, and faith and agnosticism. One's orientation relative to the variable content of these dynamic, socially oriented categories helps to make belief in ideas as metaphysically challenging as Everettian Quantum Mechanics, or particular ideas about God, either more or less believable. The categories will have the same function in a theology engaging Everett's theory, and in any theology at all written in a society deeply marked by what I further argue is a subtle, powerful, and pervasive mode of quasi-scientific thinking we can call societal constructive agnosticism, of which anyone doing theology today must be aware.     

“I definitely feel like a scientist”: Exploring science identity trajectories among Latinx students in a critical race theory-informed undergraduate research experience

The current study investigated science identity development among Latinx university students selected for a critical race theory (CRT)-informed undergraduate research experience. Twenty students (12 female, 8 male; M_age = 22.00; SD = 2.77) enrolled in biomedical-related majors at a 4-year university responded to open-ended questions regarding their identity as scientists at 2 weeks, 6 months, and 18 months after they began the program. Results illustrated a steady increase in the number of students identifying as scientists over 18 months. At 2 weeks into the program, only 35% of Latinx students felt like a scientist. At 6 months, 45% of Latinx students identified as a scientist. At 18 months, 70% of Latinx students reported feeling like a scientist. Results also revealed variation in science identity trajectories, with four trajectories viewed in the data: (1) consistent or fast achievement, (2) gradual achievement, (3) achievement adjustment, and (4) never reach achievement. The majority of students demonstrated a trajectory in which they reached science identity achievement (the feeling that they are “a scientist”). Our results provide evidence of the positive, longitudinal impact that a CRT-informed curriculum has on the science identity development of Latinx students. Implications surrounding future research and strategies to facilitate long-term Latinx student participation in the biomedical sciences are discussed.