( Will get featured in the Sunday Speaking Tree Edition next month)
Heisenbergs Uncertainty and Brahma
The Heisenberg's Uncertainty principle, also called the indeterminacy principle, was proposed in 1927 by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg. It had a very profound impact on classical Physics as it questioned the very foundation of all Scientific investigation and observation. Newtonian physics not only believed in accuracy of measurement, but also that all information could be defined and used to predict the future course of the particle.
Heisenberg cleared this misconception and made the bold proposition that there is a lower limit to this precision making our knowledge of a particle inherently uncertain.
This revolutionary insight, a realization that parameters that defined the position and the velocity of an object cannot be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory cast serious aspersions on our own perceptive and cognitive abilities.
Scientific endeavor relied largely on observation and conclusions based on these observations. The very act of investigating and observing altered physical systems. For example, one cannot measure the pressure in a tyre without letting out some air. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle, however as he himself said, has nothing to do with the observation process. This uncertainty is a fundamental property of quantum systems irrespective of observation and is a consequence of the wave-particle duality.
Heisenberg's theory has had lasting philosophical implications, as suggested in his own words
“In the strong formulation of the causal law ‘If we know the present with exactitude, we can predict the future,’ it is not the conclusion, but rather the premise that is false. We cannot know, as a matter of principle, the present in all its details. In view of the intimate relation between the statistical character of quantum theory and the imprecision of all perception, it is possible to suggest that behind the statistical universe of perception there is a hidden “real” world ruled by causality. "
Insistence on the existence of a hidden 'real' world ruled by causality is the ego of Scientific belief and ethos. This theory exposed a cognitive warp, an inevitable incongruence that raised very profound doubts about the fidelity and reliability of our perceptive faculties. All conclusions that we infer from observations of this manifest universe are cast in a pall of Uncertainty.
The uncertainty that plagues objective perception paves the path to the domain of experiential cognition. It is possible that I experience the Universe, rather than observe it. Experience transcends and possibly even precludes sensory cognition. The senses might just serve to distort cognition from the experiential to the perceptive. The observed universe would then be an illusion, as suggested by Adi Shankaracharya's proclamation
'Brahma Satya, Jagat Mithya.'
That one which exists due to constant change (jagat) is based on,or being tended by Brahman which is changeless existence- Satya.
Is Brahma that "'hidden “real” world ruled by causality " alluded by Heisenberg, the backdrop of reality, on which the manifest universe and its inherent illusory nature uncertainty are founded.?
Brahma , the all pervasive consciousness, not restricted to the conditioned consciousness which manifests at the level of brain. It is not the process that mediates 'consciousness of something', but the very essence of the conscious principle. The truth, that exists before & inspite of the manifestation. The truth that transcends causality. A certainty, that spins the principle of uncertainty to generate an illusion that we call Manifestation.
DR. Deepak M. Ranade
Heisenbergs Uncertainty and Brahma
The Heisenberg's Uncertainty principle, also called the indeterminacy principle, was proposed in 1927 by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg. It had a very profound impact on classical Physics as it questioned the very foundation of all Scientific investigation and observation. Newtonian physics not only believed in accuracy of measurement, but also that all information could be defined and used to predict the future course of the particle.
Heisenberg cleared this misconception and made the bold proposition that there is a lower limit to this precision making our knowledge of a particle inherently uncertain.
This revolutionary insight, a realization that parameters that defined the position and the velocity of an object cannot be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory cast serious aspersions on our own perceptive and cognitive abilities.
Scientific endeavor relied largely on observation and conclusions based on these observations. The very act of investigating and observing altered physical systems. For example, one cannot measure the pressure in a tyre without letting out some air. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle, however as he himself said, has nothing to do with the observation process. This uncertainty is a fundamental property of quantum systems irrespective of observation and is a consequence of the wave-particle duality.
Heisenberg's theory has had lasting philosophical implications, as suggested in his own words
“In the strong formulation of the causal law ‘If we know the present with exactitude, we can predict the future,’ it is not the conclusion, but rather the premise that is false. We cannot know, as a matter of principle, the present in all its details. In view of the intimate relation between the statistical character of quantum theory and the imprecision of all perception, it is possible to suggest that behind the statistical universe of perception there is a hidden “real” world ruled by causality. "
Insistence on the existence of a hidden 'real' world ruled by causality is the ego of Scientific belief and ethos. This theory exposed a cognitive warp, an inevitable incongruence that raised very profound doubts about the fidelity and reliability of our perceptive faculties. All conclusions that we infer from observations of this manifest universe are cast in a pall of Uncertainty.
The uncertainty that plagues objective perception paves the path to the domain of experiential cognition. It is possible that I experience the Universe, rather than observe it. Experience transcends and possibly even precludes sensory cognition. The senses might just serve to distort cognition from the experiential to the perceptive. The observed universe would then be an illusion, as suggested by Adi Shankaracharya's proclamation
'Brahma Satya, Jagat Mithya.'
That one which exists due to constant change (jagat) is based on,or being tended by Brahman which is changeless existence- Satya.
Is Brahma that "'hidden “real” world ruled by causality " alluded by Heisenberg, the backdrop of reality, on which the manifest universe and its inherent illusory nature uncertainty are founded.?
Brahma , the all pervasive consciousness, not restricted to the conditioned consciousness which manifests at the level of brain. It is not the process that mediates 'consciousness of something', but the very essence of the conscious principle. The truth, that exists before & inspite of the manifestation. The truth that transcends causality. A certainty, that spins the principle of uncertainty to generate an illusion that we call Manifestation.
DR. Deepak M. Ranade
No comments:
Post a Comment