Mystics understand the roots of the Tao but not its branches; scientists understand its branches but not its roots. Science does not need mysticism and mysticism does not need science; but man needs both.
Fritjof CapraRead
Subatomic particles do not exist but rather show 'tendencies to exist', and atomic events do not occur with certainty at definite times and in definite ways, but rather show 'tendencies to occur'.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that at the quantum level, the behavior of particles is probabilistic rather than deterministic.
Fritjof Capra's quote highlights the foundational concepts of quantum mechanics, where subatomic particles do not possess definite states or positions until they are observed. Instead, they exhibit tendencies or probabilities of existing in certain states as governed by the principles of uncertainty, which challenges traditional notions of causality and determinism in physics.
Themes
QuantumUncertaintyProbabilityPhysicsParticles
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on quantum mechanics, one could use this quote to emphasize the non-deterministic nature of subatomic interactions.
More from Fritjof Capra
All quotes →Both the physicist and the mystic want to communicate their knowledge, and when they do so with words their statements are paradoxical and full of logical contradictions.
Fritjof CapraRead
The more complex the network is, the more complex its pattern of interconnections, the more resilient it will be.
Fritjof CapraRead
During periods of relaxation after concentrated intellectual activity, the intuitive mind seems to take over and can produce the sudden clarifying insights which give so much joy and delight.
Fritjof CapraRead
The more we study the major problems of our time, the more we come to realise that they cannot be understood in isolation. They are systemic problems, which means that they are interconnected and interdependent.
Fritjof CapraRead
In the end, the aggressors always destroy themselves, making way for others who know how to cooperate and get along. Life is much less a competitive struggle for survival than a triumph of cooperation and creativity.
Fritjof CapraRead
Similar quotes
My whole interest is, how do you use evolution as an innovation engine? How does evolution solve new problems that life faces? And to have a system that can create a whole new chemical bond that biology hasn't done before, to me, demonstrates the power of nature to innovate.
Frances ArnoldRead
It is always noteworthy that all those who seriously study this science [the theory of numbers] conceive a sort of passion for it.
Carl Friedrich GaussRead
In Einstein's equation, time is a river. It speeds up, meanders, and slows down. The new wrinkle is that it can have whirlpools and fork into two rivers. So, if the river of time can be bent into a pretzel, create whirlpools and fork into two rivers, then time travel cannot be ruled out.
Michio KakuRead
There is much that science doesn't understand, many mysteries still to be resolved. In a Universe tens of billions of light-years across and some ten or fifteen billion years old, this may be the case forever. We are constantly stumbling on new surprises
Carl SaganRead
Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis: you can never prove it. No matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next time the result will not contradict the theory.
Stephen HawkingRead
What we want is scientists who don't become part of the policy discussion: All they do is produce science. If someone becomes an advocate, then I won't pay as much attention to their science.
George P. ShultzRead