We tend to agree with the statement that "everyone is unique". However, we tend to think that things or inanimate materials could be clones of each other, or that "Everything is not unique". For example if I go to the store to buy a television I just need the model number; All TVs of the same model number are identical right?
This thinking extends to our experience, for example if I push a table then it will move in the direction of my push. If I pull it it will move with the pull. It cannot happen that if I push the table away from me it decides that it would rather move sideways.
This predictability of inanimate matter is the basis of physics. Its beginnings are based upon the predictability of the motion of big space objects such as planets, and eventually to the predictability of everyday objects.
This predictability is a surprising property if we were to ponder it more deeply. If we know the current position of a planet, we can predict where it is going to be in an hour, accurate to within meters. The said planet has existed for billions of years. All of its past history does not matter, while making this future prediction. There is a certain forgetfulness which is the basis of this prediction.
Consider a living being such as a cat for example. If I were to push a cat, the results could be quite unpredictable. Depending on the mood the cat is it in it could struggle it could run away, or it could bite and scratch. Even for living beings which are clones of each other (say identical twin cats), the same experimental setup will yield different results.
One can argue that well even for the cat if we were to be given its whole history, its behavior would be as predictable as that of the planet. However any such predictor that uses the whole history to output its estimate of the future is not useful because everything has a unique history. The least history the predictor uses the more useful it is.
When I first learnt that mathematics can be used with great effect to predict behavior of objects, I was very intrigued. I had always thought that mathematics was divorced from reality, maybe useful for money and constructing shapes. That physical bodies follow rules which can be written in the language of mathematics was a revelation.
It was a revelation to physicists as well, earlier they may have been surprised at the effectiveness of mathematics in relation to physical systems. Over time however they became more confident in their predictive powers. In fact Laplace conceived of a demon (i.e. a powerful being), who could predict all that is about to come in the future based upon knowledge of the past.
Such hopes were to be dashed when physicists examined smaller and smaller bodies. When they reached the level of atoms, they were surprised to find that these tended to believe more like cats than other inanimate material. Thus if you push an electron it could happen that if moved forward, stayed put, or even move sideways or backwards.
In quantum physics which is about the behavior of these subatomic particles, it was found that one cannot say with certainty the result of a given experiment, one can only give odds for the electron doing this or that.
Fortunately mathematics had another tool in its arsenal in the form of probability theory, to describe this wayward behavior of electrones and photons, in terms of averages. Thus while say ten percent of the electrons are recalcitrant and may like to push you back when you give them a push, ninety percent of them would simply comply with your request.
As you aggregate more and more of them as in large physical bodies we see around us, predictability returns back, because lets say 90% of electrons like to comply and 10% push against you, then by applying 100 units force you will see a net movement of 80 units, this will become more and more accurate as the number of small particles increases, just as if you toss a coin a large number of times and calculate the average of heads or tails, it will be closer and closer to 50%, the more tosses you perform.
What quantum mechanics shows us is that nature is at its heart more wayward than predictable. However there is some order to its chaos in terms of averages.
It can be said that it is not quantum mechanic which is weird, its willful particles are much like us. Rather it is the predictability of large inanimate matter using mathematical formulas which is a bit spooky.
This thinking extends to our experience, for example if I push a table then it will move in the direction of my push. If I pull it it will move with the pull. It cannot happen that if I push the table away from me it decides that it would rather move sideways.
This predictability of inanimate matter is the basis of physics. Its beginnings are based upon the predictability of the motion of big space objects such as planets, and eventually to the predictability of everyday objects.
This predictability is a surprising property if we were to ponder it more deeply. If we know the current position of a planet, we can predict where it is going to be in an hour, accurate to within meters. The said planet has existed for billions of years. All of its past history does not matter, while making this future prediction. There is a certain forgetfulness which is the basis of this prediction.
Consider a living being such as a cat for example. If I were to push a cat, the results could be quite unpredictable. Depending on the mood the cat is it in it could struggle it could run away, or it could bite and scratch. Even for living beings which are clones of each other (say identical twin cats), the same experimental setup will yield different results.
One can argue that well even for the cat if we were to be given its whole history, its behavior would be as predictable as that of the planet. However any such predictor that uses the whole history to output its estimate of the future is not useful because everything has a unique history. The least history the predictor uses the more useful it is.
When I first learnt that mathematics can be used with great effect to predict behavior of objects, I was very intrigued. I had always thought that mathematics was divorced from reality, maybe useful for money and constructing shapes. That physical bodies follow rules which can be written in the language of mathematics was a revelation.
It was a revelation to physicists as well, earlier they may have been surprised at the effectiveness of mathematics in relation to physical systems. Over time however they became more confident in their predictive powers. In fact Laplace conceived of a demon (i.e. a powerful being), who could predict all that is about to come in the future based upon knowledge of the past.
Such hopes were to be dashed when physicists examined smaller and smaller bodies. When they reached the level of atoms, they were surprised to find that these tended to believe more like cats than other inanimate material. Thus if you push an electron it could happen that if moved forward, stayed put, or even move sideways or backwards.
In quantum physics which is about the behavior of these subatomic particles, it was found that one cannot say with certainty the result of a given experiment, one can only give odds for the electron doing this or that.
Fortunately mathematics had another tool in its arsenal in the form of probability theory, to describe this wayward behavior of electrones and photons, in terms of averages. Thus while say ten percent of the electrons are recalcitrant and may like to push you back when you give them a push, ninety percent of them would simply comply with your request.
As you aggregate more and more of them as in large physical bodies we see around us, predictability returns back, because lets say 90% of electrons like to comply and 10% push against you, then by applying 100 units force you will see a net movement of 80 units, this will become more and more accurate as the number of small particles increases, just as if you toss a coin a large number of times and calculate the average of heads or tails, it will be closer and closer to 50%, the more tosses you perform.
What quantum mechanics shows us is that nature is at its heart more wayward than predictable. However there is some order to its chaos in terms of averages.
It can be said that it is not quantum mechanic which is weird, its willful particles are much like us. Rather it is the predictability of large inanimate matter using mathematical formulas which is a bit spooky.
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