QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

independent system. 700 For his part, Bohr saw that quantum mechanics demanded change in the
whole of classical physics’ causal space-time description. 701
Observations concerning the atomic level cannot be objectivised in as simple a manner as was
thought in classical physics. Bohr saw that humans observing the microscopic world are bound
to a macroscopic measuring device and are only able to observe phenomena which are dependent
on the measurement system. Our description of the quantum world is unavoidably based solely
on the macroscopic properties of the measurement equipment and the observation of permanent
marks formed therein, which must be directly definable in either everyday language or on the
basis of the terminology used in classical physics. The quantum features of phenomena are
revealed in the information which can be derived from atomic objects on the basis of these
observations. 702
Since the results of measurement are based on stable evidence such as the dots left by photons or
electrons on a photographic plate, measurement requires irreversible physical or chemical
reactions, and at the most fundamental level this reveals the irreversible nature of observation
itself. 703 This implies that qualitative change in reality can be brought about by human activity.
The course of so-called objective reality is actually changed in the different processes which
follow from our divergent choices and actions. Choices related to different kinds of measurement
methods and apparati are part of our irreversible activity. Bohr actually said that in the
framework of complementarity, the idea of universal predestination should be replaced by the
concept of natural evolution. 704
Bohr’s starting point was that man does not have an external point of observation from which he
could view the world as it is. To him, the purpose of measurement is not to check a value of
some pre-existent quantity but rather to obtain information and knowledge about reality by
participating in its processes. When the system under study is not unambiguously separable from
the measurement apparatus during the measurement process, the system is not closed and,
accordingly, human impact on the observed reality does not create any physical problem. When
seeking knowledge, humans are tied to experiences in the macroscopic world and the device
699 Bohr 1958, 73, 90, 101.
700 Bohr 1958, 27.
701 Folse 1985, 68-70.
702 Bohr 1963, 3-4. If reality is described by a reversible theory, it cannot change or develop in a qualitative manner
because phenomena must be similar when proceeding forwards or backwards in time.
703 Bohr 1963, 25, 61 & 92.
704 Bohr, 1958, 81.
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