Hundreds
of experiments later (most famously the double-slit experiment) and the debate
may now be more muted, but unresolved. Depending upon the experiment, and
crucially, the observer, sometimes light behaved like a wave, and other times
like particles. To accommodate this apparent paradox, the scientific community
refers to this as the wave-particle duality.
Perhaps it
is truer to say that light is both a wave and a particle, and also that it is
neither. To many of us, if we think about it at all, light remains a mystery.
To those
of us in the lay community our most common way of thinking of waves is as a
series of ripples in a pond, with all parts of the ripple connected to all
other parts. A particle we conceptualise as a single entity occupying a
localised, unique space.
What are
we?
Can we
think of ourselves in the same way? Do we act as a wave, or do we act as
particles? I do not wish to take the analogy too far, except to make the
observation that we can detect both ideas in the way in which we act.
We act
like a wave when we act collectively, with a cultural heritage and mannerisms.
We act
like particles when we act as individuals, perhaps bucking the trend (ripple)
of the collective.
Sometimes
one way of acting is in our best interests, and other times the other way.
Sometimes acting as an individual can result in unhealthy or damaging outcomes.
For example, nowadays in a culture that understands the ill effects of smoking,
continuing to smoke can often result in lung cancer and other debilitative
outcomes.
Sometimes
our wave-like behaviour can lead us to a horrible outcome. This is what
happened in Germany during the Nazi regime, described so well in Wilhelm
Reich’s Mass Psychology of Fascism. This was a highly illuminating book,
given that it was published in 1933, prior to such atrocities as the holocaust and
concentration camps.
Thus, we
have the ability to act as both a wave and as a particle.
Again, as
with light, we might conclude that we are both and we are neither.
If we are
both, then we need to be mindful of the consequences of acting in one way or
the other.
If we are
neither, then we have an opportunity to explore something different; as
sometimes has been claimed, a new, expanded form of human consciousness.
No comments:
Post a Comment
This blogsite is dedicated to positive dialoque and a respectful learning environment. Therefore, I retain the right to remove comments that are: profane, personal attacks, hateful, spam, offensive, irrelevant (off-topic) or detract in other ways from these principles.