Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Can the Human Brain ever understand Quantum Physics?

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For years, I have tried to follow the back-and-forth debates between physicists regarding "quantum theory" and "local realism."  I remain a bystander in these debates.

Someone named Patel drew my attention to the link, https://www.closertotruth.com/series/why-the-quantum-so-strange

This article, along with others, makes me think that physics, and quantum physics in particular, is not a natural "fit" for the human brain (apart from consideration of the mind.)

The Nobel-prize-winning physicist, Leon Lederman, speculated that the human brain may not yet have "evolved" (his word), to the point where it can understand physics.

Lederman's statement (here I go, criticizing my betters) is very contrary to Darwinism, which states that evolution has no direction, no purpose, no goal.  It is purely driven by random changes in the genome which sometimes enhance survivability.

Therefore, the human brain (apart from the mind!) can never "evolve" an understanding of physics unless two things occur:  random mutation and increased survivability.

Neither of these seem to operate in the brain's understanding of physics.

They do operate in intelligence, but quantum physicists do not seem to procreate in large numbers and then selectively enhance their survival by making advances in physics.  (That is almost a parody, is it not?)

The mind, however, is a different matter.  It can guide evolution, and it operates the brain as a musician operates his violin.  My violin is not a Stradivarius, so I will never understand even basic quantum theory.

The inability of physicists, after more than a hundred years of intense study by geniuses, to agree on quantum physics, and to reconcile it with Relativity Theory, is a profound demonstration that the human brain is not structured in a way that enables it to achieve these goals.

I still continue to be fascinated, and baffled, by the debates between those who promote the Copenhagen Interpretation, and those who reject it, because it not only humbles me, but I think it reveals something profound about both the universe and the human condition.

Quantum Theory needs its own Einstein:  someone who can go where no man has gone before, and lead others to a new paradigm in physics.

Will he be welcomed?
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