Quantum Entanglement Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Robinson (2005: 120):

In terms of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Einstein was saying that if one were to use a precise measurement of one particle's momentum to determine the precise momentum of the other, then this must increase the uncertainty in the position of the second particle. If, conversely, one were to determine the first particle's position precisely, this must increase the uncertainty in the momentum of the second particle. And these changes must take place instantaneously, through some kind of faster-than-light signalling.

Which is exactly what Bohr argued to be true. Bohr believed in non-local reality: the two particles really do 'co-operate' in a sort of conspiracy forced on them by the nature of physical reality. Schrödinger promptly dubbed the new notion 'entanglement'.

It was completely unacceptable to Einstein. He believed in local reality … . In a private letter to Born he said he simply could not credit the existence of "spooky actions at a distance".

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, uncertainty (probability) is a measure of potential, not of instances. So the interdependent ('entangled') probabilities of momentum and position are a feature of the potential, not of the instances, and the measurements of instances of that potential, the momentum and position of particles, actualise those interdependent probabilities.

So, there is no faster-than-light signalling or "spooky actions at a distance" because these notions mistake the instantiation of interdependent potential for an instantaneous information exchange between instances.

Einstein vs Bohr Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Robinson (2005: 100):

For quantum theory maintains that reality is dependent on the observer. In science, said Einstein, "we ought to be concerned solely with what nature does." Bohr, however, insisted that it was "wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about nature."

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, quantum theory maintains that reality is the meaning construed of experience, rather than the experience that is construed as meaning. That is, quantum theory supports the 'immanent' approach to meaning, rather than the 'transcendent' approach.

From this perspective, "how nature is", and Einstein's "what natures does", are construals of experience as meaning, whereas Bohr's "what we can say about nature" is a construal of experience as wording that realises meaning.

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Robinson (2005: 92-3):

In 1924 de Broglie proposed that all matter has a wave associated with it, and this was quickly confirmed for electrons by diffraction experiments. In 1926 Schrödinger, in his classic wave equation — aided importantly by Born — replaced the picture of an electron as a particle having a precise position and momentum as it orbits a nucleus with a wave function that predicted stationary waves of electron probability around the nucleus. Schrödinger's equation enables physicists to calculate not the location of an electron at any given moment but its probability of being at any particular point in space. … the electron becomes a probability wave in the Schrödinger/Born model.

Then in 1927 Heisenberg, in his far-reaching uncertainty principle, proved that the position and momentum of any elementary particle such as an electron can never be measured simultaneously with unlimited accuracy. The more an experimenter tries to pin down the position in space, the greater will be the uncertainty in momentum, and vice versa, because the very act of observing the particle (say by firing a photon at it) will inevitably disturb its position and momentum. 

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that the uncertainty in the position multiplied by the uncertainty in momentum will always exceed a constant based on Planck's constant h. Other kinds of uncertainty principle may also be derived, such as one which relates the uncertainty in the energy of a particle to the time interval in which one measures the energy.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the wave of a particle is its potential, measured in terms of probability, and the particle is the instantiation of that potential, measured in terms of frequency.

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is the probability measure of the meaning being construed viewed from the perspective of the observer who is doing the construing.

Quantum Theory On Reality — Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Robinson (2005: 92):

In answer to Einstein's well-known poser "Does the moon really exist only when you look at it?" a current physicist, David Peat, answers: "Einstein's moon really exists. It is linked to us through non-local correlations but does not depend upon us for its actual being in the world. On the other hand, what we call the moon's reality, or the electron's existence, depends to some extent upon the contexts we create in thought, theories, language and experiments." In quantum theory, an electron (or a photon) has no independent reality 'out there', wholly independent of the human world. It can be both a wave and a particle, depending on how it is measured and observed.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, Quantum Theory demonstrates that reality is the meaning that is construed of experience by consciousness. The reason why an electron or photon has "no independent reality 'out there' " is that it is construed as being 'out there' by consciousness in the act of observing. Consciousness creates meaning out of meaninglessness. 

Importantly, the sense in which "it can be both a wave and a particle" is that the wave constitutes the particle's potential, whereas a particle is an instance of that potential.

So it is not a case of whether or not the moon really exists, but that to observe or think or talk about the moon is construe experience as meaning.