1. How Science Challenges our Notions of Reality

2. The Parable of the Three Umpires …or three different views of reality

3. Umpire Number One The naïve realist I call them as they are!

4. Umpire Number Two The critical realist I call them as I see them!

5. Umpire Number One The “quantum” or anti-realist They ain’t nuthin until I call them!

6. We may believe in the existence of an external world but the real question is how do we acquire knowledge of this world? Naive Realist Critical Realist Other forms of “realist” positions Anti-realism

7. The “Folly” of Being Too Literal… Galileo and Joshua 10Joshua 10  If the Sun stood still If the Sun stood still Galileo’s argument did not contradict validity of scripture - it showed that the GEOCENTRIC view did! Is there more to seeing than meets the eye?

8. Newton’s Rules for Scientific Reasoning 1. We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances. 2. Therefore to the same natural effects we must, as far as possible, assign the same causes. 3. The qualities of bodies, which admit neither intension nor remission of degrees, and which are found to belong to all bodies within the reach of our experiments, are to be esteemed the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever. 4. In experimental philosophy we are to look upon propositions collected by general induction from phænomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses that may be imagined, till such time as other phænomena occur, by which they may either be made more accurate, or liable to exceptions.

9. The Hypothetico-Deductive Method Gather Observations/Data Formulate a hypothesis to explain the observations Deduce by logical extension a possible test ie – make a prediction Test the prediction NO – discard hypothesis YES - continue

10. The 19 th Century – Consolidation and Cracks! In the words of Thomas Kuhn a powerful paradigm (Classical or Newtonian Physics) had emerged … but just what does this mean? At its heart it means that you “see” the world through the paradigm This is a controversial idea! Not all (many) do not accept Kuhn’s position

11. Emergence of Chemistry, Physics and other Disciplines Priestly discovery of Oxygen and other unseen gases Dalton’s Law of Fixed Ratios – revival of the “atomic hypothesis” Phlogiston – explaining heat Charles Lyell Principles of Geology – introduces notion of deep time Darwin’s voyage on HMS Beagle

12. Maxwell combined electric and magnetic phenomena into one! Maxwell’s Great Synthesis (1864) The “world” was becoming increasingly mathematical and abstract

13. Problem of Realism Do scientific theories “mirror” the world? – Do atoms exist or are they theoretic constructs? How do minds influence theories which in turn influence observation which in turn… Is the world “real” and knowable – Is our knowledge gained through scientific observation accurately describing an underlying reality? Naïve realism – scientific theories and their constructs “map” directly to an independently existing world Critical realism - scientific theories and their constructs will always operate as metaphors or incomplete models of an independently existing world

14. Cracks in the Foundation! The persistent (and annoying!) problem of blackbody spectra Failure of the Michelson-Morley Experiment …building ein besser light bulb!

15. It’s Worse than They Thought! How Planck and Einstein “fixed” the cracks… The Michelson-Morley experiment revealed something startling about the nature of time!  Time and simultaneity were not “absolute” concepts but frame dependent - or – motion affects time!  Mass and energy are equivalent at a fundamental level

16. Discovery of the Quantum Even more deeply troubling was the discovery that the universe is quantized  Light is both a particle and a wave!  A first glimpse at Quantum Weirdness!

17. The Wave-Particle Duality At its core quantum physics exposes a deep puzzle - the “basic stuff” of the universe is, in a profoundly disturbing way, beyond our ability to capture or “enframe” in language. An electron, for example, can exhibit both “wave” or “particle” behaviour depending on how we interact with it.

18. The Birth of Quantum Theory… From 1925 – 1930 a radically new way to look at the physical world was developed Quantum Theory is one of the most successful theories ever devised It has yet to “fail” a test given it … but

19. Copenhagen Interpretation There is no underlying physical reality  We create reality through our interaction with the world  Physics cannot tell us what the world is “really made of” – Bohr would argue that this question ultimately has no meaning.  Quantum theory deals with possibilities and probabilities – the world takes on an indeterminacy  Despite this QT still is a mathematically precise (and in a new sense) can still be a deterministic theory

20. Some Highlights… Wave-particle duality Quantum Weirdness and Non-locality Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle Particle in a box Electron diffraction Compton scattering Schroedinger’s Cat entanglement ?

21. QT comes in Many Flavours!

22. Many-Worlds and the Cat!

23. What do we “make of this”? QT is the best physical theory we have ever devised! It forms the bed-rock on which modern physics, chemistry and biochemistry is built. QT cannot provide us with a picture of the quantum world that we can fully comprehend at a conceptual level – the “quantum world” is quite unlike the macroscopic world that we live in Is the material world fully comprehensible?

24. Realist Conceptions of the World The patterns and measurements of science, indeed what we “see” in the world, bear a relation to an underlying reality the existence of which is independent of human observers Quantum theory (certainly the Copenhagen view) seriously challenges this Anti-realism (including constructivism and “participatory realism”) What are the deeper implications for claims come from other field of discourse – Theology?

25. Schroedinger’s “thought experiment” to demonstrate the absurdity of the Copenhagen Interpretation Schroedinger’s Cat

26. An Epic Poem... Dear Cecil: Cecil, you're my final hope Of finding out the true Straight Dope For I have been reading of Schroedinger's cat But none of my cats are at all like that. This unusual animal (so it is said) Is simultaneously live and dead! What I don't understand is just why he Can't be one or other, unquestionably. My future now hangs in between eigenstates. In one I'm enlightened, the other I ain't. If you understand, Cecil, then show me the way And rescue my psyche from quantum decay. But if this queer thing has perplexed even you, Then I will and won't see you in Schroedinger's zoo. --Randy F., Chicago

27. An Epic Reply... Dear Randy: Schroedinger, Erwin! Professor of physics! Wrote daring equations! Confounded his critics! (Not bad, eh? Don't worry. This part of the verse Starts off pretty good, but it gets a lot worse.) When saw that the theory that Newton'd invented By Einstein's discov'ries had been badly dented. What now? wailed his colleagues. Said Erwin, "Don't panic, No grease monkey I, but a quantum mechanic. Consider electrons. Now, these teeny articles Are sometimes like waves, and then sometimes like particles. If that's not confusing, the nuclear dance Of electrons and suchlike is governed by chance! No sweat, though--my theory permits us to judge Where some of 'em is and the rest of 'em was." Not everyone bought this. It threatened to wreck The comforting linkage of cause and effect.

28. E'en Einstein had doubts, and so Schroedinger tried To tell him what quantum mechanics implied. Said Win to Al, "Brother, suppose we've a cat, And inside a tube we have put that cat at-- Along with a solitaire deck and some Fritos, A bottle of Night Train, a couple mosquitoes (Or something else rhyming) and, oh, if you got 'em, One vial prussic acid, one decaying ottom Or atom--whatever--but when it emits, A trigger device blasts the vial into bits Which snuffs our poor kitty. The odds of this crime Are 50 to 50 per hour each time.

29. The cylinder's sealed. The hour's passed away. Is Our pussy still purring--or pushing up daisies? Now, you'd say the cat either lives or it don't But quantum mechanics is stubborn and won't. Statistically speaking, the cat (goes the joke), Is half a cat breathing and half a cat croaked. To some this may seem a ridiculous split, But quantum mechanics must answer, "Tough @#&! We may not know much, but one thing's fo' sho': There's things in the cosmos that we cannot know. Shine light on electrons--you'll cause them to swerve. The act of observing disturbs the observed-- Which ruins your test. But then if there's no testing To see if a particle's moving or resting

30. Why try to conjecture? Pure useless endeavor! We know probability--certainty, never.' The effect of this notion? I very much fear 'Twill make doubtful all things that were formerly clear. Till soon the cat doctors will say in reports, "We've just flipped a coin and we've learned he's a corpse."' So saith Herr Erwin. Quoth Albert, "You're nuts. God doesn't play dice with the universe, putz. I'll prove it!" he said, and the Lord knows he tried-- In vain--until fin'ly he more or less died. Win spoke at the funeral: "Listen, dear friends, Sweet Al was my buddy. I must make amends. Though he doubted my theory, I'll say of this saint: Ten-to-one he's in heaven--but five bucks says he ain't." --CECIL ADAMS

33. I’m pretty sure It looks like Heisenberg - I think, I’m pretty sure, I’m not certain... The Uncertainty Principle