edgar-mitchell

136
The Way of the Explorer
when viewed from a broader philosophical viewpoint. Three generations
of physicists have used these interpretations with few questions, because
quantum mathematics works like a cookbook recipe when applied to practical
problems. Philosophy is not required. But the map is not the territory,
and mountains still lie beneath the clouds even though the pilot can’t see
them. It has taken several decades of experimental evidence to demonstrate
what is required to restore a degree of coherence to the meaning of
quantum mechanics. The fundamental message here is that mathematical
descriptions are not embedded in nature, but are created by mind. The
differences between existence and knowing must be carefully observed
when considering the larger viewpoint.
In the early days when scientific tools were relatively crude and simple,
scientific observation and the measurement of results were a single event.
Observation and measurement were, in a broad sense, synonymous. But
today that’s no longer true.
Take for instance the ancient philosophical question of whether a tree
falling in the forest makes a sound if there is no one there to hear it. The
mind game has a new spin today. The question must be answered differently
with the availability of modern technology, particularly with the advent
of remote recording devices. The falling tree creates a pressure wave,
which a pressure-sensitive instrument can record if tuned to the proper
frequencies. But that is neither hearing nor sound. Hearing and sound
relate to the subjective experience of a living organism.
However, according to quantum theory, if neither the person nor the
device were there, one could not know or say what is happening with the
tree and its pressure wave. By one radical interpretation, the tree doesn’t
even exist unless it’s being observed. The beauty of the scientific method is
that if we were to study many falling trees we might gather subtle clues as
to what happens when trees fall, and then deduce what happens when the
tree falls in the middle of the forest without an observer or a recording
device. But is deducing the same as knowing It certainly isn’t the same as
measuring.
Einstein criticized quantum theory when he stated that God doesn’t
play dice with the universe. In the metaphorical sense of the statement, he
was wrong: The universe does indeed obey the rules of quantum probability.
But with the knowledge we have today of the evolution of the universe,
its species, language, and the thought process, it can be said that he was
absolutely correct in the literal sense. God does not in fact play dice with
the universe, because dice, the rules of probability, and even the meaning
and nature of God are human creations of the last several millennia, and
the universe is apparently several million times older than that. The subtle