The Quantum Mechanics Level
Lee Smolin proposes a system of "knots and networks" such that "the geometry of space arises out of a … fundamental quantum level which is made up of an interwoven network of … processes". Smolin and a group of like minded researchers have devoted a number of years to developing a loop quantum gravity basis for physics, which encompasses this relational network viewpoint.
Carlo Rovelli and associated persons have, in parallel and in communication with Smolin and associates, begun to elaborate a system called Relational quantum mechanics, which has at its foundation the view that all systems are quantum systems, and that each quantum system is defined by its relationship with other quantum systems with which it interacts. Rovelli has proposed that each interaction between quantum systems involves a ‘measurement’, and such interactions involved reductions in degrees of freedom between the respective systems, to which he applies the term correlation.
These lines of inquiry are developed at more length by the authors and other investigators, and in the linked pages in this encyclopedia. The linked pages are more technical and detailed in nature than this very summary reflection of some of the central elements.
Though the proponents of these theories seem confident that they are on the right track, they are candid in reflecting that their work requires considerable investigation and elaboration in competition with and integration with other perspectives on quantum mechanics, Einsteinian relativity, string, and other fundamental theories of physics.
Read more about this topic: Relational Order Theories
Famous quotes containing the words quantum, mechanics and/or level:
“But how is one to make a scientist understand that there is something unalterably deranged about differential calculus, quantum theory, or the obscene and so inanely liturgical ordeals of the precession of the equinoxes.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)
“It is only the impossible that is possible for God. He has given over the possible to the mechanics of matter and the autonomy of his creatures.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“It is only for a little while, only occasionally, methinks, that we want a garden. Surely a good man need not be at the labor to level a hill for the sake of a prospect, or raise fruits and flowers, and construct floating islands, for the sake of a paradise. He enjoys better prospects than lie behind any hill. Where an angel travels it will be paradise all the way, but where Satan travels it will be burning marl and cinders.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)