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Quantum Theology2

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QUANTUM THEOLOGY : M. M. NINAN<br />

to effect in the physical world. If this is known we can predict the<br />

future from the present.<br />

This led to the development of what is known as the Hidden<br />

Variable Theory. It assumes that if we had known the whole truth<br />

we could retain both realism and predictability. What is lacking<br />

in quantum theory is that we have only a part of the information.<br />

It is the hidden variable in our knowledge that causes the crunch.<br />

John von Neuman apparently proved through a slight twist in the<br />

mathematical formalism that no such theories could be<br />

developed. (This was later proved to be a false alarm based on<br />

a mathematical error by Bell)<br />

So Bohr put forward his complementarity principle, which led to<br />

the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory.<br />

5.3 The complementarity concept of Bohr<br />

This proposes that the state of the system is the complete only<br />

with the microscopic system plus the macroscopic measurement<br />

apparatus. Then the complementary nature of wave-particle<br />

duality, and the character of the uncertainty principle are an<br />

intrinsic property of the nature and not a peculiarity of the<br />

measurement process.<br />

In Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation, it does not make any sense<br />

to speak about characteristics of the quantum system in itself<br />

explicitly without the rest of the wider system including the<br />

measuring devices. It is therefore even more senseless to assign<br />

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