Saturday 4 June 2022

The Randomness And Determinism Of Quantum Theory Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Davies & Gribbin (1992: 26-7):
At the heart of quantum mechanics lies Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which states that everything we can measure is subject to truly random fluctuations. … the essential point is that quantum fluctuations are not the result of human limitations or hidden levels of mechanistic clockwork; they are inherent in the workings of nature on an atomic scale. For example, the exact moment of decay of a particular radioactive nucleus is intrinsically uncertain. An element of genuine unpredictability is thus an integral part of nature.

In spite of this uncertainty, there remains a sense in which quantum mechanics is still a deterministic theory. Although the outcome of a particular quantum process might be undetermined, the relative probabilities of different outcomes evolve in a deterministic manner. What this means is that although you cannot know in a particular case what will be the outcome of the 'throw of the quantum dice', you can know completely accurately how the betting odds vary from moment to moment. As a statistical theory, quantum mechanics remains deterministic.


Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, 'quantum fluctuations' are instantiations of quantum potential, whose random statistical properties are instantiations of the calculable probabilities of quantum potential.

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