God does play dice

A recent discussion on the Guardian CiF site showed that people (particularly people of faith) are still having problems assimilating Quantum theory. Not its weirdness mind you (everyone struggles with that) but it’s very existence is taken as an affront to the natural order.

The problem for those who think that the “Copenhagen interpretation" is a blip, a temporary usurper of universal order, and that the indispensable norms of causality, symmetry etc. will soon be restored via string theory is that (as Peter Woit says) – string theory is so unscientific that it isn’t even wrong! As knowledge deepens it may well be that the weirdness of the revealed Universe will grow, not diminish.

Maybe God (as Capra has suggested) is a Zen Buddhist and has not provided us with a coherent universe of natural laws which harmonise one with another but with a koan – the universe as riddle.

The knowledge gained from our scientific attack on this riddle is beautiful in itself and is also incredibly useful (Copenhagen = computers) i.e. it satisfies both aesthetic and utilitarian requirements. What it is does not do (and perhaps can never do) is resolve all of its own contradictions. This may violate Plato but it vindicates Lao tzu and since Plato was a hyper authoritarian and Lao tzu was the prophet of tolerance what real harm is there in that?