I'm studying physics in college at the moment - no expert by any means but I intend to pursue particle physics in grad schoo l- and just a little clarification on the "observer effect" (which I believe you're discussing around 3:20), the state of the particle itself is independent of observation. The particle (or its associated field) does not "know" it is being observed and behave differently by virtue of "observation". I think a lot of confusion comes from the word observation, and that word doesn't do justice to the process that actually takes place. Observation, in the way that we broadly understand it, is an interaction. Specifically, with regard to subatomic particles, observation necessarily entails blasting these subatomic particles with other subatomic particles (photons, electrons etc) or measuring the disturbances they cause in fields (eg we generate a field, causing an interaction between the observed particle and the field), thus it is hard with current technology to distinguish a property inherent to the subatomic particle, and independent of the experimentation/measurement of its state, if that makes sense. Insofar as your further assertion that this wave-particle duality implies that two things can be true simultaneously, while I don't aim to argue with your rhetorical message as I am not religious and have no personal problem with religion so long as it is not detrimental to anyone, I will say that, at least how I understand it, the duality itself is emergent of our non-understanding. That the fact there seems to be two distinct sets of rules that dictate a particle's behavior and the fact that those sets of rules aren't fully consistent with each other, is a consequence of how we have to observe those particles. Human beings can observe things with our senses (touch, smell/taste, sight and sound) but the universe and broader laws of physics are transcendent of these things. We are outsiders looking in. The current thinking, as I understand it, is that there is some marriage between these two types (particle or wave) behaviors that we simply have not discovered yet. Is it God? Could be. But it could be anything else, too, which could also possibly be emergent of a God. The aim of physics as a discipline is to observe and empirically understanding the cause and effect behind those observations. Edit: ah. Should've watched the whole thing before commenting. Well done, this is a little more apt an analogy than I thought
Well, that was really well spoken, thoughtful, and graceful. I am very compelled by your message. My only God is the totality of all of nature, whether perceived by me or not; The Universe and all universes, simply the totality of it all, way beyond what I can even conceive . I used to be an Atheist, but now I am not...Although It's true that in college, 40 years ago, I also said that Physics was my religion so I guess it maybe started then. American Atheist meetings were just like any other organized religion. God is just everything.
I'm studying physics in college at the moment - no expert by any means but I intend to pursue particle physics in grad schoo l- and just a little clarification on the "observer effect" (which I believe you're discussing around 3:20), the state of the particle itself is independent of observation. The particle (or its associated field) does not "know" it is being observed and behave differently by virtue of "observation". I think a lot of confusion comes from the word observation, and that word doesn't do justice to the process that actually takes place. Observation, in the way that we broadly understand it, is an interaction. Specifically, with regard to subatomic particles, observation necessarily entails blasting these subatomic particles with other subatomic particles (photons, electrons etc) or measuring the disturbances they cause in fields (eg we generate a field, causing an interaction between the observed particle and the field), thus it is hard with current technology to distinguish a property inherent to the subatomic particle, and independent of the experimentation/measurement of its state, if that makes sense.
Insofar as your further assertion that this wave-particle duality implies that two things can be true simultaneously, while I don't aim to argue with your rhetorical message as I am not religious and have no personal problem with religion so long as it is not detrimental to anyone, I will say that, at least how I understand it, the duality itself is emergent of our non-understanding. That the fact there seems to be two distinct sets of rules that dictate a particle's behavior and the fact that those sets of rules aren't fully consistent with each other, is a consequence of how we have to observe those particles. Human beings can observe things with our senses (touch, smell/taste, sight and sound) but the universe and broader laws of physics are transcendent of these things. We are outsiders looking in. The current thinking, as I understand it, is that there is some marriage between these two types (particle or wave) behaviors that we simply have not discovered yet. Is it God? Could be. But it could be anything else, too, which could also possibly be emergent of a God. The aim of physics as a discipline is to observe and empirically understanding the cause and effect behind those observations.
Edit: ah. Should've watched the whole thing before commenting. Well done, this is a little more apt an analogy than I thought
Well, that was really well spoken, thoughtful, and graceful. I am very compelled by your message.
My only God is the totality of all of nature, whether perceived by me or not; The Universe and all universes, simply the totality of it all, way beyond what I can even conceive . I used to be an Atheist, but now I am not...Although It's true that in college, 40 years ago, I also said that Physics was my religion so I guess it maybe started then. American Atheist meetings were just like any other organized religion. God is just everything.
Have you ever stopped to think that God is the one determining the outcome of all your so-called "physics" experiments?