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Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 138: NOV-DEC 2001 |
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It's Time For A Bit Of Generalization
- The quantization of the properties of matter;
- The probabilistic nature of physical measurements;
- Entanglement; that is, the mysterious instantaneous connection of objects and processes across immense distances; and
- Superposition; for example, an electron is both here and there until we look at it!
A. Zeilinger, University of Vienna, advances the idea that we can truly understand quantum mechanics only when we discover an underlying principle -- something akin to the concept of energy which led to the quantification of the laws of thermodynamics. (Incidentally. we only think we know what energy is, but it is a human construct and is not a physical dimension like mass or distance.)
Zeilinger asserts that the underlying principle of quantum mechanics is the quantization of information. Every inquiry science makes into the nature of the universe, says Zeilinger, can be reduced to a yes-or-no question; i.e., a 1 or 0. To a scientist, nature is really like a person on a witness stand being hammered by a prosecutor (i.e., a scientist) with yes-or-no questions. In other words, nature appears quantized because our knowledge of it is quantized.
(von Baeyer, Hans Christian; "In the Beginning Was the Bit," New Scientist, p. 26, February 17, 2001.)
Comment. It follows, we presume, that if information were not quantized and were, say, analog in nature, the universe would look entirely different.
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