"I
like to think the moon is there even if I am not looking at it." ~Albert
Einstein
In Newtonian physics, our
world is orderly. Everything that happens is pre-ordained and with enough
information, intrinsically predictable. Our scientific ideas of the
time well-matched our religious ideas at the time, with human beings at the
center of the earth, which was at the center of the universe, over which we
could, given enough time and effort, completely control. This strikes me as
reminiscent of our desire to embrace a fundamental reality in nature, which may
or may not be known as God.
In quantum mechanics, our
world is uncertain. Everything exists in a cloud of possibilities. Precise
definitions are unobtainable, and as Sir Isaac Newton came to show us, even
things we thought we understood had an even deeper level. Light is one such
example; what we once thought of as particles turned out to be both particles
and waves. With a sigh, we have alternately accepted and fought the uncertain
duality of the universe ever since.
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