Classical vs Quantum Mechanics Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Gribbin (1989: 239):

In the classical view, a particle at point A has a definite speed in a definite direction.  As it is acted upon by external forces, it moves along a precise determinable path, which, for the sake of argument, passes through, or ends at, point B.  The quantum–mechanical view is different.  We cannot know, not even in principle, both the position and momentum of a particle simultaneously.  There is an inherent uncertainty about where a particle is going, and if the particle starts out at point A and is later detected at point B, we cannot know exactly how it got from A to B unless it is watched all the way along its path.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, the difference between classical and quantum mechanics is that the latter — unwittingly — introduces the distinction between potential (quantified as probabilities) and instances (quantified as frequencies).