Here another note on quantum indeterminacy that complements what I've written over the years on the subject, especially in the Appendix to Movement and Time in the Cyberworld.
Quantum indeterminacy, as first introduced at the turn of the 20th century, is taken to be the impossibility of accurately measuring the position and the momentum of a quantum entity (photon, electron, etc.) together at the same instant of time. The Planck constant gets in the way. Either you measure its instantaneous position to a high degree of accuracy, and lose accuracy in measuring its instantaneous momentum, or vice versa. This is captured mathematically (initially by Heisenberg in 1925) by expressing the dynamics of such complementary quantum entities in matrices which, as is well known, do not commute. The product of the inaccuracy range measuring position and the inaccuracy measuring momentum, expressed as the commutator of two matrices, is equal to a non-zero multiple of the Planck constant, h.
This mathematical result has long since been experimentally confirmed, or rather, conversely, the mathematical result expresses what was found initially by experiment by Einstein in 1905 on Planck's insight that a quantization of the energy of light via the Planck constant would avoid grave antinomies in the theory of electromagnetism. Einstein followed Planck's hunch. This earth-shaking event in the history of modern physics, however, comes already late in the day, since the onset of the mathematization of physics eventuates already in the 17th century with Galileo, Descartes, followed, famously, by Newton.
Descartes' post-humus work Regulae ad Directionem Ingenii (Rules for the Direction of the Mind) already lays down the rules for how the phenomena are to be approached scientifically in the Modern Age, namely, quantitatively, mathematically. The phenomena themselves come to be denoted by mere algebraic symbols for magnitudes that appear in equations that have to be solved (cf. Movement and Time in the Cyberworld 2.7 Cartesian rules for an algebra of magnitudes in general as foundation for the modern mathematical sciences). Newton is inspired by this mathematical spirit of the age to find his three simple mathematical rules for governing the (loco)motion of physical entities. Without Newtonian mechanics we would not be living in the modern world. Without his predecessor Aristotle, Newton would have lacked key concepts for his theory. Crucially, Newton mathematized two concepts from Aristotle's ontology of productive movement: δύναμις (dynamis) and ἐνέργεια (energeia). Modern physics has thoroughly suppressed its ontological origins. Drunk on success, it has never looked back and today still claims to be the queen of the sciences with the key to providing the answers to the deepest questions of the universe, including its origins (Big Bang theory) and the secret of what life itself is (a complicated kind of organization of matter). It is still toiling at the coalface of quantum gravity that unfortunately turns upon understanding what curved, four-dimensional space-time is supposed to be in a quantized universe.
Quantum indeterminacy is a deep misconception resulting from the scientific compulsion to measure dynamic phenomena in order to be able to calculate and precalculate the motion of the relevant physical entities that are now deemed to be quanta, i.e. it is a product of the mathematization of physical movement for the very small. The drawback in the case of quantum entities is that their dynamics can only be precalculated probabilistically within a certain margin of error determined by the Planck constant. No worries. At least upon many repetitions of the same physical procedure, the statistical accuracy can be improved, and that's good enough for practical purposes. It's only with one-off experiments that strict efficient causality fails. Quantum computers still remain shining tantalizingly on the horizon offering the prospect of one day speeding up algorithmic calculation to unimaginable heights. Quantum physicists' eyes light up at the thought of being able to simulate any physical process on a quantum computer.
The mathematized approach to the dynamics of any physical phenomena whatsoever, and quantum dynamical phenomena in particular, requires that time itself, in which all physical movement must take place, be mathematized as a real variable in the pertinent equations. Even though complex imaginary variables crop up for some quantum phenomena, e.g. wave phase, time itself remains real, continuous, differentiable. Differential equations with respect to time abound, and they need to be solved to be of use. In particular, any (loco)motion of a quantum entity is presupposed to be accessible at a real instant of time, t. Without such accessibility, quantum indeterminacy would make no sense. Even a photon or electron is supposed to have an instantaneous position, velocity and momentum within a certain range, even when there are Planck limits to measuring them definitively as real observables at real, measured time, t. Taking this limitation into account, position, velocity and momentum are thus conceived mathematically as probability distributions. That time is conceived to be composed of consecutive instants, however, is a mathematical fiction dictated by the will to precalculate motion.
The truth of the phenomenon of time itself is not that it is one-dimensionally linear and composed of instants but, in its most elementary guise as an idea of the human mind, the interleaved open unity of the three well-known temporal dimensions of past, present and future, prior to any effort to mathematize them. The three empty dimensions enable simply a passing-through of essencing entities to the psyche in which they are interpreted and understood in some way. These three temporal dimensions are independent of each other insofar as they do not require or enforce any linear, controllable succession of events, whether they be physical or otherwise. In particular, the movement of the mind focusing on events in three-dimensional time is completely free, unbound by any physical, material constraints. To physics' dismay and consternation (if it were ever capable of dismay and consternation), three-dimensional time itself is non-, or rather, pre-material through and through.
In order for us humans to see, i.e. eidetically conceive and understand, any movement/change at all, including physical-material motion, as such, we must see trifocally, all at once, into all three temporal dimensions. We are endowed with trifocal mental vision. In particular, any physical entity, including a quantum entity, is not merely there in a present, so-called instantaneous position, but is, all at once, also where it was and where it will be, even if none of these wheres is determinable with any precision.
It is impossible for modern scientists, as such, to appreciate this because they have all been trained to approach the phenomena quantitatively, in obedience to Descartes' Rules. Stepping outside the Rules, thus leaving the fold, would render them to be non-scientists. The modern scientific mind can never accept the phenomenological interpretation of time as three-dimensionally open. Such a conception throws a spanner in the works for the precalculability of movement. Instead it contents itself with constructing hypothetical, theoretical models that are then experimentally tested to validate their predictive correctness, as a poor substitute for the truth of the phenomena concerned. The experiments are often designed in advance to empirically test predictions arising from the mathematical models of theoretical physicists, e.g. the existence of gravitational waves (a physical dynamical entity) was predicted by a mathematical model expressed in equations that gave directions to the scientific mind about how to detect them with appartuses gathering empirical data. The data gathered in a recent experiment were interpreted appropriately to confirm the existence of gravitational waves. This is the empiricist-positivist game that all modern science continues to play with sublime complacency, not to say arrogance.
The modern scientist is the agent, or rather, stooge of the unbridled will to power over all kinds of movement, physical or not. As loyal adherent to the empiricist scientific method, s/he is also imbued with the hubris of modern science to regard itself as being at the leading edge of human progress and human betterment. The modern scientist is a figure representing the quintessence of the subjectivist metaphysics of the Modern Age and as such cast historically as the subject underlying all movement in the world, obsessed with controlling it. It is thus blind to and overlooks the openness of three-dimensional time to which we humans belong. Three-dimensional time enables freedom of movement of the mind as well as our interplay with one another, phenomena that are only distorted and violated when subjected to the will to power over movement.
The way out historically is to (learn to) let go of this unbridled will to power, a step back which Heidegger calls Gelassenheit (letting-go). The step back gains distance from Western science (ἐπιστήμη), whose will to know, from the outset, was always a will to predict. Our stepping back from the will to power enables us to see the phenomena themselves more truly and perhaps even understand them, thus opening other, as yet unseen existential possibilities.
Movement and Time in the Cyberworld (2.7, Appendix) De Gruyter, Berlin 2019.
Descartes, René Regulae ad Directionem Ingenii Philosophische Schriften Meiner, Hmburg 1996.
Aristotle's "before and after" & quantum gravity.
On Human Temporality: Recasting Whoness Da Capo De Gruyter, Berlin 2024.
Martin Heidegger Gelassenheit Neske, Pfullingen 1959/1985.
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