What do you make of quantum theory? One response is that it is weird or hopelessly mind-boggling. But many of the tropes of quantum physics have permeated cultural discourse, among them quantum jumps, the uncertainty principle and Schrödinger’s cat. Physicists may sometimes despair at how these ideas are misused—quantum jumps are small, not big, and Werner Heisenberg didn’t say that everything is uncertain. But historian of science Robert P Crease and physicist Alfred Goldhaber provide reasons why scientists should lighten up.
This survey of the cultural reception of quantum theory since its inception at the start of the 20th century shows that, like any other branch of science, it serves up elegant metaphors for human experience. In the right hands—John Updike, Tom Stoppard, Michael Frayn—the ideas can be illuminated without distorting the technical meanings. And the abuses and over-extrapolations are not the sole preserve of flaky artists and pretentious postmodernists. Niels Bohr, for example, tried to stretch his concept of “complementarity” to fit not just particles and waves but psychology, government and love. In such ways, the authors show, the line between sound speculation and “fruitloopery” is often all but indistinguishable. While examining and celebrating the interplay between the sciences and humanities, Crease and Goldhaber do a first-rate job of explaining what quantum theory is all about—and why there are still bits that no one fully grasps. “Understanding and appreciating quantum language and imagery,” they conclude, “is part of what it means to be an educated person today.”
Read more books in brief
Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence by Karen ArmstrongThe Game of our Lives by David GoldblattThe Dog by Joseph O'Neill
This survey of the cultural reception of quantum theory since its inception at the start of the 20th century shows that, like any other branch of science, it serves up elegant metaphors for human experience. In the right hands—John Updike, Tom Stoppard, Michael Frayn—the ideas can be illuminated without distorting the technical meanings. And the abuses and over-extrapolations are not the sole preserve of flaky artists and pretentious postmodernists. Niels Bohr, for example, tried to stretch his concept of “complementarity” to fit not just particles and waves but psychology, government and love. In such ways, the authors show, the line between sound speculation and “fruitloopery” is often all but indistinguishable. While examining and celebrating the interplay between the sciences and humanities, Crease and Goldhaber do a first-rate job of explaining what quantum theory is all about—and why there are still bits that no one fully grasps. “Understanding and appreciating quantum language and imagery,” they conclude, “is part of what it means to be an educated person today.”
Read more books in brief
Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence by Karen ArmstrongThe Game of our Lives by David GoldblattThe Dog by Joseph O'Neill
