It takes so long to train a physicist to the place where he understands the nature of physical problems that he is already too old to solve them.
Eugene WignerRead
It was not possible to formulate the laws of quantum mechanics in a fully consistent way without reference to the consciousness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Consciousness plays a crucial role in understanding quantum mechanics.
Eugene Wigner highlights the intrinsic connection between consciousness and the formulation of quantum mechanics, suggesting that our understanding of the quantum world is influenced by our awareness and interpretation. This perspective proposes that physical laws cannot be completely divorced from the observer's consciousness, pointing to a fundamental relationship between mind and matter in the realm of quantum physics.
Themes
Quantum MechanicsConsciousnessObserverScienceReality
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on the fundamental principles of quantum physics.
More from Eugene Wigner
All quotes βThe full meaning of life, the collective meaning of all human desires, is fundamentally a mystery beyond our grasp. As a young man, I chafed at this state of affairs. But by now I have made peace with it. I even feel a certain honor to be associated with such a mystery.
Eugene WignerRead
The great mathematician fully, almost ruthlessly, exploits the domain of permissible reasoning and skirts the impermissible. That his recklessness does not lead him into a morass of contradictions is a miracle in itself: certainly it is hard to believe that our reasoning power was brought, by Darwin's process of natural selection, to the perfection which it seems to possess.
Eugene WignerRead
The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve.
Eugene WignerRead
The simplicities of natural laws arise through the complexities of the language we use for their expression.
Eugene WignerRead
The unreasonable efficiency of mathematics in science is a gift we neither understand nor deserve.
Eugene WignerRead
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