Time&Eternity

Time in the Formulation of Scientific Theory 159
In this sense, Bohr understood quantum mechanics as being an expression
of the boundary that nature itself sets for us with regard to the possibility
of speaking about the objective existence of phenomena. This boundary
certainly does not prevent further intellectual progress, but it constantly requires
increasing abstraction from the familiar concreteness in the description
of nature. 252
When one considers language, different basic positions become clear.
Expressed simply, Einstein emerges as a pessimistic idealist: If no strict
causality exists, then God is throwing dice, and that cannot be. On the other
hand, with his question about a highly complicated quantum logic,
Heisenberg is attempting to forge the link between idealism and realism,
while Bohr instead assumed the viewpoint of an optimistic pragmatism: Reality
is just as blurred, but its description works in spite of this; being conscious
of uncertainty, one indeed cannot live with exact precision, but one
can nevertheless live very well.
Stephen W. Hawking goes one step farther when he draws the conclusion
that God is an inveterate gambler and throws the dice on every possible
occasion. 253 In the game, God sometimes also throws the dice to a place
where they cannot be seen. 254 However, at least in Hawking, this apparent
vice of God stands in a constructive relationship with the virtue of the universe
to let itself be explored. We will deal with the context of cosmological
theories in the next section.
Cosmological Perspectives
If one is trying to understand what the theory of relativity and quantum
physics can jointly contribute to the understanding of time, then one can
hardly avoid dealing with the large questions of cosmology. At the forefront
of the formation of cosmological theory, one deals with possibilities for
uniting theories for the very large and the very small. One of the tasks of
this section is to describe the challenges related to this matter. In this context,
I will not deal with a systematic overview of various cosmological
models, but will rather present some theories and thoughts that have significance
for the understanding of time.
A Microsecond for One Person Is Infinite Time for Another—
Big Bang and Singularities
Up until now, it has not been possible to answer questions about the
past of the universe or its distant future conclusively. According to the cosmological
principle derived from observations, matter in the universe is