Heisenberg On The Probability Wave Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

In his 1958 text Physics and Philosophy, Heisenberg states:

In the experiments about atomic events we have to do with things and facts, with phenomena that are just as real as any phenomena in daily life. But atoms and the elementary particles themselves are not as real; they form a world of potentialities or possibilities rather than one of things or facts ... The probability wave ... mean[s] tendency for something. It's a quantitative version of the old concept of potentia from Aristotle's philosophy. It introduces something standing in the middle between the idea of an event and the actual event, a strange kind of physical reality just in the middle between possibility and reality.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, atoms and elementary particles are just as real as any phenomena in daily life, in the sense that all such phenomena are construals of experience as meaning. The probability wave, 'a world of potentialities or possibilities', identifies the range of potential construals of experience as reality.

This perspective is not quite Aristotle's concept of potentia, because, unlike Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, Aristotle's philosophy did not relate potential to actual by the vector of instantiation.

From this perspective, the probability wave does not introduce 'a strange kind of physical reality just in the middle between possibility and reality'. Instead it identifies the possibility of reality: the range of potential construals of experience as meaning, graded in terms of probability.

The Needed Perspectival Change In Physics Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 1045):

The spacetime singularities lying at cores of black holes are among the known (or presumed) objects in the universe about which the most profound mysteries remain — and which our present-day theories are powerless to describe. As we have seen, there are other deeply mysterious issues about which we have very little comprehension. It is quite likely that the 21st century will reveal even more wonderful insights than those that we have been blessed with in the 20th. But for this to happen, we shall need powerful new ideas, which will take us in directions significantly different from those currently being pursued. Perhaps what we mainly need is some subtle change in perspective — something that we all have missed . . . .

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the required subtle change of perspective is that confirmed by the experiments of quantum mechanics. Meaning does not transcend semiotic systems, and a construal of experience as meaning instantiates the most probable of a range of potential construals.

∞

This is the final post on The Road to Reality (Penrose 2004).

The de-Broglie–Bohm Approach Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 1032):

As far as I can make out, the only interpretations that do not necessarily depend upon some notion of ‘conscious observer’ are that of de-Broglie–Bohm that require some fundamental change in the rules of quantum mechanics, according to which U and R are both taken to be approximations to some kind of objectively real physical evolution.

As I have stated in many places in this book, I am an adherent of this last view, where it is with gravitational phenomena that an objective R (i.e. OR) takes over from U. This gravitational OR would take place spontaneously, and requires no conscious observer to be part of the process. In usual circumstances, there would be frequent manifestations of OR occurring all the time, and these would lead to a classical world emerging on a large scale, as an excellent approximation. Accordingly, there is no need to invoke any conscious observer in order to achieve the reduction of the quantum state (R) when a measurement takes place. 

On the other hand, I envisage that the phenomenon of consciousness — which I take to be a real physical process, arising ‘out there’ in the physical world — fundamentally makes use of the actual OR process. Thus, my own position is basically the reverse of those referred to above, in which, in one way or another, it is envisaged that consciousness is responsible for the R process. In my own view, it is a physically real R process that is (partly) responsible for consciousness!

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, the de-Broglie–Bohm 'pilot wave' interpretation of quantum mechanics posits two levels of reality:

a firmer ‘particle’ level of the reality of the configuration of the system, as well as a secondary ‘wave’ level of reality, defined by the wavefunction ψ, whose role is to guide the behaviour of the firmer level.

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the 'wave' level identifies the range of potential construals of experience as meaning, and the 'particle' level constitutes an instance of those potential construals. From this perspective, both levels are intersubjectively real.

The 'taking over' of R from U — the collapse of the wavefunction — is the instantiation of potential when a conscious observer takes a measurement, and the wavefunction 'guides' the 'behaviour of the firmer level' in the sense that is delimits the range of potential that can be instantiated and grades it in terms of probability.

Consciousness, in this view, is mental and verbal symbolic processing, rather than a physical process, but it is realised by physical processes of the brain, the observation or thought of which is an instance of a construal of experience as meaning.

The Observer In Interpretations Of Quantum Mechanics Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 1031-2):

The consistent-histories approach is also explicitly dependent upon some notion of what an ‘observer’ might be (the notion referred to as an IGUS in the Gell-Mann–Hartle scheme). The point of view suggested by Wigner that consciousness (or perhaps living systems generally) might violate U evolution is also one which makes explicit reference to the role of the mind (or whatever constitutes an ‘observer’) in the interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Blogger Comments;

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the conscious observer is necessary in the interpretation of quantum mechanics because it is the observer who instantiates one construal of experience as meaning from the range of potential construals identified by the wavefunction.

The Conscious Observer in The Many-Worlds Interpretation Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 1031):

The many-worlds viewpoint is manifestly dependent upon having a proper understanding of what constitutes a ‘conscious observer’, since each perceived ‘reality’ is associated with an ‘observer state’, so we do not know what reality states (i.e. ‘worlds’) are allowed until we know what observer states are allowed. Put another way, the behaviour of the seemingly objective world that is actually perceived depends upon how one’s consciousness threads its way through the myriads of quantum-superposed alternatives. In the absence of an adequate theory of conscious observers, the many-worlds interpretation must necessarily remain fundamentally incomplete.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the many worlds interpretation misconstrues alternative potentials as actual alternative instances (many worlds). From this perspective, each 'perceived reality' is an 'observer state' because a perceived reality is a construal of experience as meaning by the observer. It is not that consciousness 'threads its way through the myriads of quantum-superposed alternatives', but that the act of observation instantiates one of superposed alternatives as an actual construal of experience as meaning.

The Environmental Decoherence Perspective Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 1031):

The issue of environmental decoherence also provides us with merely a stopgap position, since the inaccessibility of the information ‘lost in the environment’ does not mean that it is actually lost, in an objective sense. But for the loss to be subjective, we are again thrown back on the issue of ‘subjectively perceived — by whom?’ which returns us to the conscious-observer question. 

In any case, even with environmental decoherence, if we retain rigorous adherence to U evolution for the ‘true’ quantum description of the universe, then we are driven to the many-worlds description of reality.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the 'Environmental Decoherence' interpretation of Quantum Theory misconstrues the interdependence of potential as an entanglement of instances (states of the environment). The 'information' is inaccessible to a conscious observer because it is potential, not because it is 'lost in the environment'.

The Role Of Consciousness In Quantum Experiments Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 1031):

There is a quite separate important role played by consciousness in many interpretations of the R part of quantum mechanics .In fact, almost all the ‘conventional’ interpretations of quantum mechanics ultimately depend upon the presence of a ‘perceiving being’, and therefore seem to require that we know what a perceiving being actually is! 

We recall that the Copenhagen interpretation takes the wavefunction not to be an objectively real physical entity but, in effect, to be something whose existence is ‘in the observer’s mind’. Moreover, at least in one of its manifestations, this interpretation requires that a measurement be an ‘observation’, which presumably means something ultimately observed by a conscious being — although at a more practical level of applicability, the measurement is something carried out by a ‘classical’ measuring apparatus. 

This dependence upon a classical apparatus is only a stopgap, however, since any actual piece of apparatus is still made of quantum constituents, and it would not actually behave classically — even approximately — if it adhered to the standard quantum U evolution. (This is simply the issue of Schrödinger’s cat). 

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the 'perceiving being' required in quantum mechanics is a conscious being capable of construing experience as the the meanings of language.

In this view, both the wavefunction and observations are 'all in the mind' in the sense they are meanings construed by conscious processing.

In this view, it is the observation of the measuring apparatus (and the cat) that is required, and this is also a construal of experience by a 'perceiving being': the most probable construal of potential construals, in line with quantum theory.

Potentially Embarrassing ‘What?’ And ‘Why?’ Questions Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 1028):

Modern science would be cautious in attempting answers to ‘why?’ questions as well as ‘what?’. Yet, questions as to ‘what?’ and ‘why?’ are frequently supplied with answers. It is considered acceptable to do so provided that the questions are not asking about reality at its deepest levels. One may expect an answer to such a question as the following. ‘What is a cholesterol molecule made of?’; ‘why does a match burst into flame when dragged rapidly across a suitable rough surface?’; ‘what is an aurora?’; ‘why does the sun shine?’; ‘what are the forces which hold a hydrogen atom or a hydrogen molecule together?’; and ‘why is a uranium nucleus unstable?’. Yet, some other questions that one might pose could cause more embarrassment, such as ‘what is an electron?’ or ‘why does space have just three dimensions?’. These questions can, however, find meaning within some more fundamental picture of physical reality.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, an electron is just what physics says it is. For example:

The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no known components or substructure. The electron's mass is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton. Quantum mechanical properties of the electron include an intrinsic angular momentum (spin) of a half-integer value, expressed in units of the reduced Planck constant, ħ.

From this perspective, there are three dimensions of space because this number proved functional in the construal of experience as first-order meaning, and has since proved functional in reconstruals of first-order meaning as the second-order meaning of theory. String theorists are trying to demonstrate that what they think are additional spatial dimensions would be more functional in the second-order meaning of theory.

The True ‘Road To Reality’ Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 1027-8):

As the reader will gather from all this, I do not believe that we have yet found the true ‘road to reality’, despite the extraordinary progress that has been made over three and one half millennia, particularly in the last few centuries. Some fundamentally new insights are certainly needed. Yet, some readers may well still take the view that the road itself may be a mirage. True — so they might argue — we have been fortunate enough to stumble upon mathematical schemes that accord with Nature in remarkable ways, but the unity of Nature as a whole with some mathematical scheme can be no more than a ‘pipe dream’. Others might take the view that the very notion of a ‘physical reality’ with a truly objective nature, independent of how we might choose to look at it, is itself a pipe dream.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, there is no true road to reality, but there are construals of experience as reality that may be valid or invalid with regard to theory and the assumptions on which a theory is founded.

The notion of a true road to reality assumes that reality transcends construals of experience rather than that reality is the construal of experience as meaning. The 'transcendent' assumption has been invalidated by the experiments of quantum mechanics. Reality is intersubjective, rather than objective.

The Needed New Perspective On Quantum Theory Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 1025):

It is certainly possible that there are many clues to Nature’s ways hidden in such data, even if we do not properly read them yet. Recall that Einstein’s general relativity was crucially based on his insight (the principle of equivalence) which had been implicit in observational data that had been around since (and before) the time of Galileo, but not fully appreciated. There may well be other clues hidden in the immeasurably more extensive modern observations. Perhaps there are even ‘obvious’ ones, before our very eyes, that need to be twisted round and viewed from a different angle, so that a fundamentally new perspective may be obtained concerning the nature of physical reality. 

I believe, indeed, that a new perspective is certainly needed, and that this change in viewpoint will have to address the profound issues raised by the measurement paradox of quantum mechanics and the related non-locality that is inherent in EPR effects and in the issue of ‘quanglement’. I have argued that the measurement paradox must be deeply interconnected with the principles of general relativity. Perhaps new experiments may lead the way to the needed improved understandings of quantum theory. Perhaps there will be other types of experiment shedding light on the nature of quantum gravity. Perhaps, on the other hand, it will be theoretical considerations that will take us forward.

 

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the clues to a new perspective lie, not in the data, but in what the data invalidates: the epistemological assumption that meaning transcends semiotic systems, including the language that realises theory.

The epistemological assumption that all meaning is within semiotic systems is consistent with the dependence of experimental findings on the observations of conscious meaning-makers, and the distinction between potential and instance clarifies such construals of experience as meaning as instances of a range of 'entangled' potential construals of meaning.

A Quantum Theory That Encompasses Gravity Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 1013-4):

A general consensus seems indeed to have grown up that, in order for real progress to be made in our moving beyond the standard models of particle physics (and cosmology), and thereby obtaining a deeper understanding of the basic ingredients of the universe, it will be necessary to have a quantum theory that encompasses gravity in addition to the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, the General Theory of Relativity construes gravity, not as a force, but as a mutual relation between mass and spacetime, whereas particle physics construes the three forces as types of particle exchange.

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, it is not necessary for quantum theory to encompass gravity because quantum theory is concerned with the instantiation of potential as particles, and general relativity is concerned with the mutual relation of particles and spacetime.

The Incompleteness Of Quantum Theory Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

 Penrose (2004: 1011):

Einstein’s general relativity stands out, in my opinion, as that century’s greatest single achievement. Quantum theory (and QFT) might well be regarded by most physicists as an even greater achievement. From my own particular perspective on the matter, I do not feel able to share that view. While it is undoubtedly the case that quantum theory has explained incomparably more than general relativity, over a vastly greater range of different phenomena, I do not regard the theory as having yet achieved the necessary coherence as a theory. The problem, of course, is the measurement paradox. In my opinion, quantum theory is incomplete. When it is completed — which I would anticipate happening some time in the 21st century — it will, no doubt, represent an even greater achievement than Einstein’s general relativity.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, Quantum theory has already achieved 'the necessary coherence as a theory', since the measurement paradox is made coherent by understanding the collapse of the wave function as the probabilistic instantiation of one of a range of potential construals of experience as meaning.

A Final True ‘Theory Of Everything’ Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 1010, 1011):

It has been a not uncommon view among confident theoreticians that we may be ‘almost there’, and that a ‘theory of everything’ may lie not far beyond the subsequent developments of the late 20th century. … 

From my own perspective, we are much farther from a ‘final theory’ even than this. … 

It would be unwise to predict with any great confidence that even these theories are close to making the further necessary leaps that would guide us to the true road to the understanding of physical reality.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, there is no final 'theory of everything' because this assumes the 'transcendent' view of meaning that Quantum experiments invalidate: that there is meaning outside semiotic systems which the meaning of physics will eventually match.

Instead, physical theories are open-ended evolving semiotic systems, that adapt to the material and semiotic environments in which they function, and 'truth' in this context, means the validity of the theorising and of the assumptions on which the theorising is founded, or founders.

The 'Correct' Quantum–Gravity Union Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 954):

As the reader will have gathered by now, I regard as a necessary feature of the correct quantum–gravity union that it must depart from standard quantum mechanics in some essential way, so that R becomes a realistic physical process (OR).

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, R stands for 'reduction', which is the collapse of the wave function, and OR stands for 'objective reduction'. From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the notion of objective reduction dissolves the distinction between potential and instance, which is essential for providing a coherent ontology for Quantum Theory.

The State Reduction To A Classical Configuration Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 904):

This raises the issue of the classical limit of a quantum system for large quantum numbers, and the related matter of the state reduction R to such a classical configuration. We have seen that the R issue cannot really be fully resolved within the framework of present-day quantum theory.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, 'the state reduction R to a classical configuration' is the collapse of the wave function, and from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, this can be fully resolved within the framework of present-day quantum theory by understanding this as the instantiation of potential when an observation is made. The wave function constitutes the range of potential construals of experience as meaning, and its "collapse" is one instance of this potential when experience is actually construed as meaning in an observation.

A Viable Ontology For Quantum Mechanics Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 865):

It is clear that we are far from a theory which can reliably address all these issues. But I hope, at least, that I have been able to persuade the reader of the fundamental importance of having a quantum mechanics with a viable ontology. The issues that are addressed in Chapters 29 and 30 of this book are not just matters of philosophical interest. The importance of having an ontologically coherent (improved) quantum mechanics cannot, in my view, be over-estimated. In this section, I have touched upon just one of the foundational issues that could be deeply affected by knowledge of such a theory. There are many more, including situations in biology, where as with the early universe, the present-day ‘Copenhagen’ viewpoint cannot really be applied — there being no clear division into a quantum system and a classical measuring device.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, it is a viable epistemology that quantum mechanics requires. Quantum mechanics has invalidated the epistemological assumption that meaning transcends semiotic systems. The ontology that follows from the epistemological assumption that meaning is immanent, and does not transcend semiotic systems, merely requires the additional distinction between potential and instance to make it coherent and viable. This makes the distinction between 'a quantum system' (potential and instance) and 'a classical measuring device' (instance of potential) perfectly clear.

Perspectives On The Very Early Universe Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 863, 868n):

We should bear in mind that we are here concerned with the very early universe, where the temperature would have been perhaps some 10³²K. There were no experimenters around at that time performing ‘measurements’, so it is hard to see how the standard ‘Copenhagen’ perspective can be applied. 

What about the many-worlds view? In that picture, there is no actual R, and the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker-symmetric state of the universe would be maintained until the present day, this state being representable as a grand superposition of many constituent spacetime geometries. Only when conscious observers try to make sense of the world, according to this view, would the resolution into alternative spacetime geometries be deemed appropriate — there now being a superposition of conscious observers, each one perceiving a single ‘world’.⁴⁶

On the ‘For All Practical Purposes’ view, the presence of (sufficient) environmental decoherence is regarded as the signal, whereby our quantum superposition of different geometries is permitted to be regarded as a probability mixture of different geometries.

⁴⁶ On Wheeler’s own variant, the ‘participatory universe’, see Wheeler (1983), it would be the ultimate presence of conscious observers who somehow (teleologically) determine the particular selection of spacetime geometry that occurred in the early universe.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the Copenhagen interpretation is concerned with the construal of experience as first-order meaning, through perception, whereas (a model of) the very early universe is a reconstrual of first-order meaning as second-order meaning that realises theory, through cognition.

From the same perspective, the notion of 'a grand superposition of many constituent spacetime geometries' confuses potential construals of experience as meaning (superpositions) with instances of that potential (actual construals), and confuses spacetime with states of phenomena in spacetime. The notion of 'a superposition of conscious observers' misapplies the notion of alternative potential construals of meaning to the observer who construes experience as meaning. 

In this view, it is not that conscious observers '(teleologically) determine the particular selection of spacetime geometry that occurred in the early universe' but that this is second-order meaning construed by conscious processing.

The Quantum Description Of Spacetime Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 862):

Similarly, in standard quantum mechanics, all the variables defining a spacetime state cannot be determined together. The quantum description of spacetime should nevertheless be perfectly well defined. But the Heisenberg principle tells us that this description cannot resemble a classical (pseudo-)Riemannian manifold, as different spacetime geometric quantities do not commute with one another. Instead, according to Wheeler’s picture, the state would consist of a vast superposition of different geometries, most of which would deviate wildly from flatness and so have the ‘foamlike’ character that he envisages.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, this confuses what is located in spacetime with the spacetime in which phenomena are located. For example, 'all the variables defining a spacetime state' are the variables of phenomena at a specified location in spacetime.

Moreover, the superposition of variables is the superposition of potential variables, not the superposition of actual variables that instantiate that potential, and the 'foamlike' character is concerned with instantiations of this potential, not with the spatiotemporal dimensions in which such instantiations are located.

The Unmeasured State Of A Particle Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 861-2):

To clarify this picture, we must recall carefully what Heisenberg’s uncertainty relations actually state. They do not tell us that there is something inherently ‘fuzzy’ or ‘incoherent’ in the way that nature behaves at the tiniest scales. Instead, Heisenberg uncertainty restricts the precision whereby two non-commuting measurements can be carried out. We recall that, for a single particle, both its position and momentum in some direction, being non-commuting, cannot be determined precisely at the same time, the product of their respective errors being not less than ½ħ. There is a perfectly well-defined quantum state, however, and if no actual measurement is performed, the state of the particle will evolve precisely, according to Schrödinger’s equation.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, if no actual measurement is performed, then no construal of experience as a particle occurs. It is the potential state of the particle that evolves precisely according to Schrödinger’s equation.

Quantum Fluctuations Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 861):

But what are quantum fluctuations? It is a feature of Heisenberg’s uncertainty relations, as applied to field quantities, that, if one tries to measure the value of a quantum field in some very small region to great accuracy, this will lead to a very large uncertainty in other (canonically) related field quantities, and hence to a very rapidly changing expected value of the quantity being measured. Thus, the very act of ascertaining the precise value of some field quantity will result in that quantity fluctuating wildly. This quantity could be some component of the spacetime metric, so we see that any attempt at measuring the metric precisely will result in enormous changes in that metric. It was considerations such as these that led John Wheeler, in the 1950s, to argue that the nature of spacetime at the Planck scale of 10⁻¹³ cm would be a wildly fluctuating ‘foam’.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, this confuses instantiations of potential (field quantities) with spatiotemporal locations in which such instantiations occur. That is, it is the instantiations of field quantities that constitute a 'fluctuating foam', not the spacetime in which they are located.