| A new paradigm — the central mystery — manifestation |
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| The real problem | |
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Page 1 of 2 There are three reasons why the foundation of the quantum world is "above":
It is therefore no longer appropriate to ask: "what are the ultimate building blocks, and how do they interact and combine?" The twenty-five centuries old buttom-up paradigm has passed its expiry date. It is true that "quantum mechanics makes absolutely no sense" (Roger Penrose) — as long as we try to force it into an outdated interpretational framework. Quantum mechanics calls for a new paradigm.
Transport II by Eric J. Heller. Here we see "a theoretical simulation of the flow pattern for electrons traveling over a nanoscale landscape. The electrons are trapped in a sheet at the interface between two solids. Such sheets of electrons are of great importance in cutting edge electronics, forming the basis for sophisticated transistors. The total area seen here corresponds in size to a typical bacterium. The bumpy landscape which the electrons must negotiate is caused by the irregular arrangement of positively charged “donor” atoms in a layer lying just above the flat interface in which the electrons are traveling. The electrons are attracted to regions with more positive charges nearby, and since these charges are randomly arranged the electrons feel hills and valleys of repulsion and attraction... The branching seen here was not anticipated; it was thought that the flow would be more evenly spread out some distance from the center. This has significant implications for small electronic devices of the future."
The macroworld is a substructure in two senses:
To my mind, the central mystery of quantum mechanics is not "the miraculous identity of particles of the same type" (Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler) nor the two-slit experiment with electrons (Feynman) nor Bell's theorem (Stapp) but the supervenience of the microscopic on the macroscopic. The properties of the microworld are what they are because the goings-on in the macroworld are what they are, rather than the other way round, as we are wont to think. The large cannot be understood in terms of the small; the whole cannot be explained in terms of its "parts." The primary explanatory concepts of the past — composition and interaction, plus the field-theoretic concept of instantiation (of physical properties by spacetime points) — are not up to the job of making sense of the quantum world. A straightforward analysis of the manner in which quantum mechanics assigns probabilities leads to the conclusion that ultimately there is only one substance, which we decided to refer to as Reality (with an uppercase R). I do not believe that we are equipped to say anything meaningful about "Reality itself." Our ultimate questions concern the relations that exist between Reality and the world.
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