Werner Heisenberg
Is the Universe a Machine?
The atomic physics of the twentieth century held in store a surprise for humankind. We were nearly convinced over the previous hundred years that all phenomena in the universe were deterministic. As if sitting in a kind of machine, ourselves also machines working according to the law of nature, our actions appeared mechanical and calculable.
James Jeans, in his work published after 1930, outlined – probably for first time in scientific terms for the general public – the possibility that processes in the universe can be controlled by an independent, external controller (otherwise known as soul or spirit). This external entity does not invest energy in the controlling process, thus the law of conservation of energy is not violated. This is illustrated by the example of the train, the rails and the railway switch.
In the example, the train is the carrier of the energy in a physical process, and the switch decides the direction of the process taking place. As the switch determines the track on which the train should go, the direction of a high energy physical process can be controlled by another process, with the investment of minimal energy, or without the need of investment of any energy at all. Jeans proposed that we can find processes in the universe where zero energy is needed to “change the railway-switch”, thus it is not absurd that a controller who is totally independent from the reactions of matter may exist.
What is Quantum Physics?
Jeans’ works are being supported by more and more recent discoveries of astronomers and theoretical physicists. Physicists began to recognize that reality and measured results deviate from each other. For example, the velocity of light – contrary to expectations – under all circumstances appeared to be constant, and showed wave and particle characteristics at the same time. The nature of waves allows the waves to construct (strengthening) and destroy (extinguishing) each other, thus if everything emerged only from waves, then it would be possible for two pieces of matter to destroy each other with both of them disappearing into nothing or unifying. This is not consistent with experience since we observe tangible objects and pieces colliding with each other. But in the atomic world, sometimes elements act as waves, really constructing and destroying each other (as waves of water on the surface of a lake), and sometimes the elements act as particles and glance off each other colliding with each other (as two balls meet).
Nobody was able to look into the subatomic world with the naked eye and because of this the physicists speculated so much about what really happens on the level of the building blocks of matter.
According to one of these speculations there is an atomic nucleus, and electrons circulate around the atomic nucleus (Niels Bohr’s model of the atom, 1913). The electrons alone define the chemical reactions of an atom because electrons move on the outside surface of an atom, and thus the electrons interact with each other only when two or more atoms meet. We could explain all of the chemical phenomena by this model. Furthermore, another interesting phenomenon, called the production of spectral lines, could be explained with Bohr’s model. The spectral lines are produced with the splitting of the light of a radiant object into the color components of the rainbow. If we could split the colors more and more we could observe that the color transitions are non-continuous, containing breaks, and that between the colored places black empty places gape. This means that the construction of the world appears quantized.
The word “quantized” means non-continuous, but constructed from pieces. So the world is composed of pieces, consisting of elemental components, and we call these pieces quantums. These quantums are the final building blocks of the universe. Quantum physics deals with these quantums. The atomic model of Bohr supports the existence of the quantum, and from among these quantums two were already known: the electron and the energy quantum. The energy quantums are actually the energy carrying particles. The energy quantums are emitted by atoms when an electron jumps from an exterior orbit to a more inner orbit, closer to the nucleus. And the energy quantum is absorbed when an electron jumps onto a higher orbit. The size of the possible electron orbits and the distance of orbits from each other determines what color or what frequency of energy a quantum emits, and absorbs. And since the distances of electron orbits can only be defined values, the spectral lines appear on defined frequencies simply because of this.
The behavior of electrons, jumping from one orbit to an another, raised many conflicts among physicists. The problem was not the fact that it was inconceivable, but rather that an electron does not simply step over to another orbit. Nevertheless, the measurements indicated that the electron changes its orbit in that manner meaning that it simply disappears from one orbit and appears in another one, while the atom emits or absorbs a particle, an energy quantum. How is it possible that a particle disappears from one place and appears in another place? This was the so-called absurdity.
This absurdity was augmented by the fact that the electron’s orbit or state did not always change during the examinations. Some electrons had an inclination to change their orbits while other electrons did not. It was possible to assign a certain probability to the behavior of the electrons. The atomic physicists used tables like insurance companies use, in which the numbers define the probability of a kind of accident happening to somebody. Nobody can predict personal accidents. The same situation is found in the behavior of the analyzed electrons.
Albert Einstein was not able to accept that the electrons themselves decided how they should behave. One of his famous sayings, which he repeated many times was “God does not throw dice!” He wanted to express that the world is deterministic, working like a machine. Niels Bohr regularly retorted, “Einstein, stop telling God what to do!”
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle
Werner Heisenberg was born in 1901 in Wurzburg, Germany. He studied theoretical physics in 1920 in Munich. He completed his doctorate under Arnold Sommerfeld. In 1923 he went to Gottingen where he was an assistant of Max Born. Later he became the assistant of Niels Bohr in a Copenhagen research institute between 1924 and 1927. He founded the uncertainty principle in 1927 (see below), and he won the Nobel Prize for this in 1932. He stayed in Germany during World War II, and he worked in the nuclear reactor development project. He believed that science was independent of politics, and through a world wide association of scientists, political leaders could be influenced, and the production of the nuclear bomb could be prevented. Albert Speer, the minister of Nazi imperial armaments, stopped the nuclear bomb research program in Germany because of Hesienberg’s proposal. Between 1945 and 1955 Heisenberg was a university professor in Gottingen, and from 1956, in Munich. He died in Munich in 1976 .At the beginning of Heisenberg’s period of active research, scientists could not handle the dual nature of subatomic phenomena. One group of researchers described subatomic particles as waves, while another group, failing to describe the particles in any way, simply used abstract mathematical equations to formulate models for the measured figures. Erwin Schrottinger worked in the group that used the wave model, and Heisenberg worked with mathematical abstractions.
In a paper he published in 1926, Schrodinger described the circulation of electrons as waves, which exist only in those orbits where the circumference of the orbit is exactly the same as that of the multipliers of the wavelength of an electron. In this way the electron wave arrives back to a certain point of its orbit on the same phase as it started, and thus the electron wave does not destroy itself, but rather constructs itself and oscillates continuously. From these oscillating orbits it can be deduced that when an electron wave starts to oscillate on another frequency, it simply jumps to another orbit. The difference between the two frequencies or between the two energy levels will be emitted or absorbed in the form of an energy quantum, which is also a wave. The deterministic universe believers welcomed this theory very much because they got an easily understandable, mechanical, visual and beautiful explanation of the subatomic world. However, it was clear to mainstream atomic physicists and even to Schrodinger, that this model did not explain everything.
For example, it did not give an explanation for the appearance of virtual particles, which had already been detected many times. The virtual particles do not come from atoms, but rather from empty space, and if they receive impact from energy, then they turn into a full value particle.
Thus Heisenberg worked on forming a theory that could explain all of the phenomena. In the course of examining the measurement results, he established that certain quantum states – for example the velocity of the electron (more precisely, the impulse of an electron) and its position – could not be defined with arbitrary accuracy independently of each other. Initially, it was presumed that these deviations were caused by the imperfections of measuring instruments. The measuring instrument was believed to have an effect on the measured object, but Heisenberg believed that nature behaved in an unpredictable manner. Since nature behaved freely, the processes could not be calculated the way they wanted. He recalculated and transformed every result and equation by allowing the processes to occur freely. Not wishing to obtain exact results, he simply predicted the results between certain parameters. All of his calculations adhered to the law of conservation of energy, which is an absolute axiom and is considered an inviolable rule for physicists.
Nature wants to remain incalculable, and because of this for example, particles have to appear in that place where we presuppose empty space. If we knew that a given space was definitely empty, then the certainty would exist. But since certainty does not exist, particles appear in emptiness coming from quasi nothing. This is the currently accepted explanation for the production of the virtual particles. The philosophical message of Heisenberg’s uncertainty relation is that you cannot be sure about anything, and you can not observe the secret of nature through the method of analysis. You may believe in any constructed theory, but you can never be sure about any theory. God is unfathomable. Naturally, many people disputed Heisenberg’s statements for a long time. They tried out the modified variants of the exclusive wave theories, but without success. Einstein and some other scientists continuously produced thought experiments to illustrate the absurd nature of the uncertainty principle. Most of these thought experiments could be disproved on the theoretical level, but a famous experiment remained. This experiment was performed just after death of Heisenberg and Einstein. The experiment is the interwoven photon-pair examination. Einstein said that if two photons (light particles) came from the same source and were initially together (getting enmeshed with each other), their characteristics could be known and compared to each other after a detachment. So if we measure the characteristic of one of the photons, then we will know the characteristic of the other photon immediately, and we can be sure what each photon does without any measurements. The experiment was performed in 1982 in Paris, with the leadership of a French physicist, Alain Aspect. During the course of the experiment, at the moment when the measurement was performed on one of the photons, the other photon behaved as if it knew what had happened to its pair, and in this way the measurement performed on the first photon disturbed the other photon. The Heisenberg uncertainty theory once again gained justification on an experimental level.
Philosophical Concerns
The quotation announced below is a talk between Heisenberg and Wolfgang Pauli in 1952. This dialogue reveals the kind of philosophical thoughts that were awakened from the results of experiments in atomic physics (Pauli also carried on a lengthy correspondence with C .G. Jung on similar questions).
“We silently walked forward. We reached the northern part of Langeliene shortly, and we continued our way onto the pier, until finally we arrived at the beacon masts. Towards the north a red stripe was drawn on the edge of the horizon. The sun does not go so far beyond the horizon on the line of latitude of Copenhagen at night time. The harbor establishments drew sharp contours on the background of the pale sky. We contemplated silently for a time, then Wolfgang – totally unexpectedly – asked me:
-Do you believe in a personal God? I know well how hard it is to interpret this question exactly, but obviously you also feel the general content of the question. -Allow me to rephrase your question! – I said – This phrasing is closer to me: Can anybody grasp the things or the substantive order of events which exist beyond any doubt, or catch them as directly as the soul of another human being? If you ask the question in this manner my answer is unambiguously yes. And since my own experiences do not count in this topic let me cite the famous text of Pascal, which was sewn on his coat. “Fire” was his title, and it began with these words: “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – not the God of sages and philosophers.” I append quickly, I do not accept God in this context.
-So in other words, you think you can feel the substantive order as intensively as the soul of another person?
-Yes, possibly.
-Why did you use the word “soul” ? Why don’t you just say another “person“?
-The “soul” indicates the substantive order, the internal seeds of beings, whose exterior manifestation is rather various. Because of this they are unidentifiable
-I do not know if I fully agree with you. Overestimating the value of our own experiences would ultimately be a mistake.
-I agree, although the basis of science is also just personal experience, or the experiences of others conveyed in reliable form. “
Heisenberg says that he can perceive reality only in the same way as he feels the soul of another person (This is because particles, which apparently have no consciousness, behave as though they have freedom). Intelligence can operate only in the calculable world. At that moment when the events become incalculable (freely), our inferences cannot be based on experiences. The device of intelligence becomes inappropriate for cognition and deduction. Only the pure emotional approach remains. Thus, Heisenberg in the final phase of cognition rejected the intellectual approach and described God as spiritual.
The other interesting point of the discussion is the proposition of the similarity of the souls. Heisenberg talks about a substantive order that always appears during the course of physical experiments. Things follow order according to a system and inequalities strive for equality. The order existing in the universe also indicates presence of God. It would probably be possible to formulate this statement in a scientific way. The probability that the universe has been created by chance is so low that the probability of the existence of God increases. (We can express such a high probability with everyday words such as “sure”!) Of course, we have to add that we cannot deduce a personal God with this intellectual approach. Due to this, Wolfgang Pauli asked this question: “Do you believe in a personal God?” Heisenberg answered yes and appended that he imagined the existence of God similarly to his personal existence.
Conclusions
Science cannot yet handle the concept of personal existence nor the concept of consciousness. We use the concept of consciousness just for ourselves, and nor do we think that the existence of consciousness could possibly require a physical structure or mechanical function. In this way, the personal presence may hide behind apparently unconscious things. We can perceive our own consciousness, our own existence and decisions. We see the order of the world, and we can discover substantive similarities between our own acts and the world’s behaviour. We roam the paths of life choosing our way just as the subatomic particles decide between possible choices in a process. We can understand that a picture of an impersonal God can be delineated in the front of our intelligence, while a picture of a personal God can be revealed only in the depth of our soul, simply because consciousness can only be perceived by consciousness, and not by mathematical formalism, or algorithmic description.
The development of science passes through similar stages, which have already occurred at least once before, some millennia before. Behind tangible objects we discovered waves, oscillations, vibrations, which reveal the possibility of the existence of a free world. These vibrations are similar to the “creator world” of the ancient scriptures, to the logos in the hermetic tradition, or to the mantras of Indian saints. Schrodinger who was one of the creators of the sub atomic wave theory in his old age had a favourite Indian reading: the Vedanta. The word „veda” means knowledge, and „anta” indicates the end of something. Thus Vedanta means: Where knowledge ends.
Written by Bela Mihalik for OIDA therapy.