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Unknowable Reality
Science, Mathematics and Mystery
Aleksandar I. Zecevic
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Santa Clara University
The Unknowable and the
Counterintuitive
A fundamental question in the debate between science
and religion has to do with the fact that all religious
traditions emphasize that certain aspects of reality are
beyond our grasp. They speak of a “cosmic mystery”,
and what they have to say about it is often thoroughly
counterintuitive. Can scientifically minded individuals
accept such claims, given that they are at odds with our
everyday experience and cannot be verified by
experiment or simulation? If they do so, are they in
danger of being “intellectually dishonest”?
Are Certain Aspects of
Reality Counterintuitive?
Does the fact that certain theological claims are counterintuitive suggest that religion and science are incompatible? The answer to this question depends on what we think reality is really like.
We can’t know that for sure, of course, but what we do know suggests that physical reality is certainly not intuitive, and that some of the laws that govern it are very different from the “tidy” laws of classical physics.
We will now look at several results from physics and mathematics that challenge our “usual” concepts, and seem to be at odds with our everyday experience.
Example 1: The State of Superposition
The “state of superposition” in quantum particle is highly counterintuitive. Perhaps the best way to describe what this means is to consider an analogy with a coin toss. In the case of a coin toss, there are only two outcomes that our instruments can record – heads-up or tails-up. But what “state” is the coin in while it is still in the air?
We could perhaps describe this state by saying that the coin “exists” as a collection of unrealized possibilities which are mutually exclusive. Such a description would be entirely consistent with quantum mechanics, where seemingly incompatible states such as “spin up” and “spin down” can coexist when the particle is in a state of superposition.
Example 2: General Relativity
Einstein’s theory of gravity (which is known as general relativity) assumes that space is an active entity, rather than a mere “container” into which material objects are placed. Einstein’s conjecture was that spacetime and matter actually interact, and that spacetime becomes curved in the presence of matter (or energy). Its geometric form is determined by the way in which the masses are distributed. “Spacetime grips mass, telling it how to move; And mass grips spacetime, telling it how to curve.” John Wheeler
Example 3: Infinity, Self-Similarity
and Timeless Knowledge
To see a world in a grain of sand,
and a heaven in a wild flower,
hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour.
William Blake
Blake’s poem is actually “scientifically correct” in several
ways. Fractals, for example, allow you to see a replica of
the “whole” in the tiniest part, and can fit in the palm of
your hand despite their infinite length. The phrase
“eternity in an hour”, on the other hand, makes sense in
the context of special relativity.
Special Relativity
Special relativity suggests that we must forego our natural tendency to treat space and time as separate entities, and should instead view them as components of a unified four dimensional spacetime. It also tells us that if we could move at the speed of light, the distinction between the past, present and future would disappear (this phenomenon is known as time dilation). For such an observer, there would only be an “eternal present moment”.
Fractals
A typical geometric figure has a “characteristic scale”, which corresponds to the size of its smallest feature. As a result, choosing a ruler length that is smaller than the characteristic scale ensures that we will accurately account for all the relevant details. In the case of fractals, we will fail to capture all the essential characteristics of the object no matter what resolution we choose, since new details are bound to emerge as we zoom in further. Such objects possess unlimited complexity.
The Koch Curve
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L = 1
STEP SEGMENT
LENGTH
NUMBER OF
SEGMENTS
n = 0 ε = 1 N(ε) = 1
n = 1 ε = 1/3 N(ε) = 4
n = 2 ε = (1/3)2 N(ε) = 42
L = 4/3
L = (4/3)2
Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand
The Koch curve actually has an "invisible" microscopic
structure whose cumulative length is infinite. Imagine
that we have a measurement device which can
distinguish segments that are as small as 10⁻¹⁵ meters
(this is roughly the diameter of an atomic nucleus). If our
initial line happened to be 1 cm long, such a device
would allow us to precisely record how the length of the
object evolves during the first 32 steps of the
construction process. The maximal length that we would
be able to measure in this way is (4/3)³², which is slightly
less than 100 meters. However, the length of the Koch
curve grows as L(n)=(4/3)ⁿ and therefore tends to infinity
as n increases.
What Can We Conclude
From All This?
Modern science clearly suggests that many aspects
of physical reality are highly counterintuitive, and
have little to do with the “tidy” Newtonian view of
nature. Mathematics tells us something very similar,
particularly when it comes to dealing with objects
such as fractals or infinite sets, whose properties
have no counterpart in our everyday experience. In
view of that, the theological claim that certain aspects
of “reality” transcend our usual concepts and
categories doesn’t sound unreasonable at all.
Does Science Leave Room for
a “Cosmic Mystery”?
Since all religious traditions emphasize the
importance of “mystery”, it would be interesting
to examine whether science leaves any room for
this sort of speculation. The answer to this
question hinges on what we can and cannot
know about the nature of reality. We must, in
other words, draw a clear distinction between
the unknown and the unknowable.
How Do We Acquire
Scientific Knowledge?
What does it mean to “know” or “explain” something in
science and mathematics?
• In physics, we usually formulate predictive models,
and verify them by experiments and/or simulation.
Alternatively, we make empirical observations, and
then construct models that explain them.
• In math, we prove new theorems by systematically
tracing them back to existing theorems and/or
axioms.
We will now consider several examples where these
techniques fail us, and where we actually know what
we cannot know.
Example 1: Chaos Theory
Chaotic systems are infinitely sensitive to
initial conditions and changes in parameters (a
phenomenon that is sometimes referred to as
the “butterfly effect”). As a result, after a
sufficiently long time the outcomes of two
seemingly identical experiments will necessarily
be very different. This means that we can
empirically confirm only the short-term
behavior of such systems.
The Chaotic Behavior of Long Term
Weather Patterns
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70-2.5
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Time
Sta
te x
1
Is Chaos Just Another
Form of Randomness?
What is the difference between throwing dice
and chaos? In the former case, there is
uncertainty from the outset, and we must use
probabilistic descriptions. In the case of chaos,
our models are completely deterministic. There
is short-term predictability, but long-term
unpredictability eventually prevails. Here we
have a mix of order and disorder, which is one
of the “trademarks” of complex dynamic
behavior.
Laws that can be “Broken”
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 5000.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
Numerical Simulation
If repeated experiments don’t work for chaotic systems, can
we use computer simulations instead? The difficulty here is
that we would need an enormous amount of input information
in order to maintain a given precision over longer simulation
intervals.
Simulation
Interval
Input Bits
(normal system)
Input Bits
(chaotic system)
[0 1] 10 10
[0 2] 20 102
[0 3] 30 103
: : :
[0 100] 1,000 10100
Example 2: Quantum Mechanics
Quantum mechanics is fundamentally indeterministic, since it cannot predict the outcome of a measurement. It only allows us to compute the probabilities of different outcomes when the experiment is repeated many times. Previous quantum measurements tell us nothing whatsoever about what will happen next (much like previous coin tosses have no bearing on future ones).
Do All Quantum Events Have a Cause?
The quantum state of superposition allows for the coexistence of many mutually exclusive possibilities. When we perform a measurement, we will see exactly one of them, but we can never know why that particular configuration materialized. It is entirely possible that another observer would see a totally different outcome under identical conditions. There is no “explanation” for this discrepancy – the concept of cause and effect does not apply in this case.
“Modern man has used cause and effect as ancient man used the gods to give order to the universe. This is not because it was the truest system, but because it was the most convenient.” Henri Poincaré
Example 3: Global Phenomena
Our understanding of the universe is inherently limited since all our observations are necessarily views from within. As a result, there may well be subtle regularities and global processes that we will never be able to identify.
Do we have any reason to believe that global processes and phenomena actually exist in the universe? Quantum mechanics suggests that we do.
Einstein’s Doubts about
Quantum Mechanics
Einstein never accepted the view that quantum
mechanics is inherently indeterministic. He voiced his
dislike for this interpretation with the famous phrase:
“God does not play dice with the universe.”
In the 1930s, Einstein and his two graduate students,
Podolski and Rosen, produced what they thought was
a decisive argument in favor of their view that quantum
mechanics is an incomplete theory.
The EPR Paradox
The EPR paradox is best described in terms of an
experiment in which an atom with spin zero disintegrates
into two smaller particles (say A and B) that fly off in
different directions. According to quantum mechanics, prior
to a measurement the state of each particle ought to be a
superposition of “up” and “down” spins.
If we happen to measure spin “up” for particle A, it is
guaranteed that we will subsequently measure spin “down”
for B, regardless of the distance between them (as a result
of a quantum property known as entanglement). This is
clearly a global phenomenon.
Spukhafte Fernwirkung?
Einstein referred to this phenomenon as “spukhafte
Fernwirkung” or “spooky action at a distance.” He
suggested that particles A and B were really subject to
“hidden” deterministic laws, and are both in a state of
definite spin which is decided at their “birth”.
Einstein was proved wrong, but not in his lifetime. The
decisive experiment was performed some 25 years after
his death by French physicist Alain Aspect and his
collaborators.
Quantum Mechanics is Non-Local
“As a result of Bell’s theorem and the experiments
it stimulated, a supposedly purely philosophical
question has now been answered in the
laboratory: There is a universal connectedness. …
Any objects that have ever interacted continue to
instantaneously influence each other. Events at
the edge of the galaxy influence what happens at
the edge of your garden.”
Bruce Rosenblum
Example 4: Unprovable
Propositions in Geometry
A
Implications of Unprovability
The existence of unprovable propositions presents us with
two logically equivalent options. We can either adopt
such propositions as axioms (i.e. truths), or we can choose
their opposites as axioms.
In making such decisions, it is completely irrelevant
whether one of the choices is less intuitive than the other.
The fact that non-Euclidean geometries seem to defy our
conventional understanding of spatial relationships doesn't
undermine their validity in the least.
An Alternative to Euclid’s Fifth Axiom
Example 5: Gödel’s Theorem
Mathematical knowledge is based on axioms and formal rules which allow us to derive theorems from them. Until the early1930s, it was almost universally believed that every formal mathematical statement can be classified as True or False (a property known as “completeness”).
Gödel showed that this is not the case, and that every sufficiently complex formal system necessarily contains unprovable propositions. This famous result is known as the Incompleteness Theorem.
The “Mystery” is Alive and Well …
These examples suggest that certain facts about
nature are unknowable. In that respect, science
is clearly open to the existence of a “cosmic
mystery”, and actually reinforces this idea. How
we interpret the mystery is a different matter –
we may embrace it and give it a “personal”
character, or we could adopt a “neutral” attitude
and simply recognize that we are not “in
complete control”.
Who is Being More “Rational” Here?
Would it be fair to say that one of these views is more
“rational” than the other one? Mathematics teaches us
that unprovable propositions present us with two
logically equivalent options. We can either adopt such
propositions as axioms, or we can choose their
opposites. In making such decisions, it is completely
irrelevant whether one of the choices is less intuitive
than the other.
If we apply this criterion to the nature of the “cosmic
mystery” (which certainly qualifies as an “unprovable
proposition”) the religious interpretation seems to be just
as acceptable as the secular one.
Religion and Knowledge
Whatever we may think of theological claims, it is important to remember that knowledge is not the enemy of religion - it is the enemy of superstition. Theology sees all knowledge as fundamentally good, but stresses that certain truths cannot be known by reason alone. The fact that science acknowledges that such unknowable truths exist can help remove certain perceived “barriers” to religious belief.
As we continue to learn more about the structure of the universe, we should never lose sight of the fact that a profound mystery lies at the heart of the cosmic order. This should instill a sense of awe and humility in all of us, regardless of whether our world view is religious or secular.
A Touch of Humility…
“Man, formerly too humble, begins to think of himself as almost God. … In all this, I feel a grave danger, the danger of what might be called cosmic impiety. The concept of “truth” as something outside human control has been one of the ways in which philosophy hitherto has inculcated the necessary element of humility. When this check upon pride is removed, a further step is taken on the road towards a certain kind of madness. … I am persuaded that this intoxication is the greatest danger of our time.”
Bertrand Russell