An independant reality in the ordinary physical sense can neither be ascribed to the phenomenon nor to the agencies of observation.
Niels BohrRead
When asked ... [about] an underlying quantum world, Bohr would answer, 'There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about Nature.'
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that physics describes nature through abstractions rather than revealing an ultimate reality.
Niels Bohr's quote highlights the distinction between the tangible world of nature and the abstract representations that physics provides. He argues that physics should not be viewed as a means to uncover the true essence of reality but rather as a discipline focused on the predictive descriptions and relationships that we can observe and articulate about nature, suggesting that our knowledge is inherently limited to these abstractions.
In practice
In a science lecture discussing the philosophy of physics.
An independant reality in the ordinary physical sense can neither be ascribed to the phenomenon nor to the agencies of observation.
An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.
When searching for harmony in life one must never forget that in the drama of existence we are ourselves both actors and spectators.
And anyone who thinks they can talk about quantum theory without feeling dizzy hasn't yet understood the first thing about it.
Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.
Global warming isn't a prediction. It is happening.
Researchers have found that the brain definitely sends nerves directly to organs of the immune system and not just to the heart and the lower gut. In that way, too, the brain is influencing the body.
Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
Now we do have many examples of transitional sequences.
It doesn't matter what country or what political system you are from. Space brings you together.
And there is a lot of idiosyncrasy. But there are also regularities and phenomena. And what the data is going to be able to do - if there's enough of it - is uncover, in the mess and the noise of the world, some lines of music that actually have harmony. It's there, somewhere.
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