| Until Galileo and the Renaissance, man was firmly | | | | None other than man himself, this otherwise |
| at the center of his universe, as defined and | | | | despised and practically eliminated entity! |
| illustrated by scientists and philosophers alike. This | | | | Of course, mere observation is not enough. A |
| belief was perhaps best shown in the geocentric | | | | camera or a photographic plate also might be said |
| model of the solar system, started by the | | | | to make a record of an event. What is needed in |
| Egyptian astronomer, Ptolemy, nearly two | | | | addition is the human consciousness, and this is |
| thousand years ago, to which many others | | | | fully recognized in quantum mechanics. A popular |
| contributed before it became the officially | | | | book on the weirdness of quantum mechanics |
| accepted version, blessed by the Church, in | | | | puts it like this: |
| Galileo's time. This model placed a fixed Earth at | | | | "Quantum theory insists that our reasonable, |
| the center not just of the solar system but of | | | | everyday worldview [that objects are |
| the entire known universe, including the "sphere" | | | | independently real] is fundamentally wrong. |
| of the fixed stars, with everything else in the | | | | Different interpretations of what the theory tells |
| heavens rotating around it, just as it appears to | | | | us offer different worldviews. But every one of |
| anyone looking at the night sky. | | | | them involves the mysterious encounter of |
| This model meant that man, together with the | | | | consciousness with the physical world......The |
| Earth itself, occupied the most important position | | | | encounter with consciousness arises directly in the |
| in the whole of the divine creation. Then came | | | | quantum-theory-neutral experimental |
| Galileo, who championed the Copernican model of | | | | demonstration. No mere interpretation of the |
| the solar system, in which the center was | | | | theory can avoid the encounter." |
| occupied by the sun, not the earth. Man was not | | | | In the quantum mechanical universe, there is a |
| yet very far from the center, on the third | | | | disquieting speculation that man is not only |
| "sphere" from the central sun, but nevertheless | | | | important in the scheme of things but that he is |
| his importance in the scheme of things was | | | | apparently involved in the very appearance of the |
| greatly diminished. | | | | phenomena of the natural world. This is not only |
| The sciences of the new age, which started in | | | | an abrupt reversal of his diminishing importance |
| the seventeenth century, then conspired to | | | | since medieval times, it actually raises his |
| reduce man to ever greater insignificance. The | | | | importance far above that of merely placing him |
| only subjects of the new physics that Galileo | | | | in the center of the universe. When he occupied |
| recognized as fit for scientific inquiry were matter | | | | that central position, man was still very firmly a |
| and motion, precisely for the reason that (in his | | | | created being only and not involved in any way |
| opinion) man was not needed for their existence | | | | with the creation itself. In fact, above man and |
| in nature. They were independent of man. Then it | | | | reaching far into the heavens, were the "spheres" |
| became obvious that man was not nearly as old | | | | of the planets and the stars, each one under the |
| as the world. Far from being created only a few | | | | guidance (and motive power) of one of the |
| "days" after the rest of the world, he actually | | | | angelic hierarchies, from the lowest (or ordinary) |
| came into the picture at a very late stage of the | | | | angels, who guided the moon, to the mightiest of |
| earth's development. The rest of nature had an | | | | all, the seraphim, in charge of the "primum mobile", |
| independent history of its own, several billions of | | | | the region beyond the fixed stars. All these |
| years older than the earliest appearance of man. | | | | majestic hierarchies that stretched beyond lowly |
| Even more denigrating was the picture of man | | | | mankind and up to the divinity, were all still |
| that emerged from this scientific study of his | | | | created beings. Now quantum mechanics is not |
| origins. Far from being created "in the image of | | | | simply reversing man's insignificance, but raising |
| God" he was, it turned out, nothing more than a | | | | him up to levels never before dreamed of. What |
| slightly advanced ape. All science concentrated on | | | | is to be made of all these cross-currents? Where |
| finding similarities between him and this ancestral | | | | does mankind really fit into the overall picture of |
| ape, rather than fundamental differences. | | | | creation? |
| Later still came many theories questioning the | | | | Perhaps a review of our ideas of man's origin |
| uniqueness of our solar system, our galaxy or | | | | might be useful. At present, the conventional view |
| indeed the universe we can perceive. | | | | is that matter is the primary substance from |
| Mathematically, there were many other universes | | | | which everything else, such as life or |
| as possibilties. A recent article on string theory | | | | consciousness, evolved. Both modern physics in |
| had this to say about man's position in our world: | | | | general and quantum mechanics have come to |
| "The infinite number of solutions to string theory | | | | the conclusion that matter, as perceived through |
| points to the most mind-blowing possibility of all: | | | | the senses, is not independently real. It is no more |
| that the universe itself is not unique, but is just | | | | than a subjective appearance so that the creation |
| one example of a possibly infinite number of | | | | of life and man did not occur as a natural process |
| "universes". It would be the ultimate downgrading | | | | on this earth, based on the increasing complexity |
| of mankind. Far from being center-staged, as the | | | | of the protein molecule. If, as Heisenberg says, |
| first astronomers believed, humanity has already | | | | "the atoms or elementary particles themselves |
| been shuffled gradually out of the limelight by | | | | are not real; they form a world of potentialities or |
| each new consmological insight. An infinite number | | | | possibilities rather than of things or facts", then |
| of universes would reduce it to utter cosmic | | | | the origin of matter must be looked for |
| insignificance." | | | | elsewhere. And if this is true for the origin of |
| So here we have an apparently inexorable series | | | | matter, it must also be true for the origin of life |
| of diminishments of man, from a giant of | | | | and man, because these do not exist on earth |
| significance at the center of the entire creation, to | | | | without matter. |
| someone who could barely be found with an | | | | This whole argument from quantum mechanics |
| electron microscope in a corner of a minor sun | | | | presents a serious challenge to presently accepted |
| system, located in a rather dull and unspectacular | | | | thinking about the early ages of this earth, before |
| galaxy among billions of others, in one of an | | | | the appearance of man. According to this latest |
| infinite number of possible universes. Mankind, as | | | | thinking, there is an inherently close connection |
| an interesting species, seemed about played out. | | | | between man and nature. As one exponent put it: |
| The implications of quantum theory dropped into | | | | "Useful as it is under everyday circumstances to |
| this dispiriting scene, completely reversing its | | | | say that the world exists "out there" independent |
| trend. It seemed that reports of the death of the | | | | of us, that view can no longer be upheld. There is |
| significance of humanity had been greatly | | | | a strange sense in which this is a 'participatory |
| exaggerated. Quantum theory is not new: it | | | | universe'." |
| started at the very beginning of the twentieth | | | | The extreme weirdness of quantum mechanics |
| century, so its development was parallel to that | | | | and the newly unsatisfactory status of man can |
| of other branches of physics. It seems, however, | | | | be resolved only by a comprehensive review of |
| that nobody cross-checked the data about the | | | | reality in physics today, as the above quotation |
| importance of man in different parts of physics. | | | | indicates. For most of us today, if we think |
| The very puzzling and indeed absurd sounding | | | | casually, the independent existence of nature "out |
| consequences of quantum mechanics can be | | | | there" is still objectively real; it does not depend |
| found fully detailed in the literature on that | | | | on the presence of human beings and their |
| subject, so only the bare results will be mentioned | | | | senses. Although this is what we feel in everyday |
| here. One of these consequences states that | | | | life, physics no longer supports this view. |
| observation not only marks the objective | | | | "Participation", on the other hand, implies |
| observed, but actually brings it into existence. | | | | subjectivity, that is the presence of man and his |
| Before the observation, there was no physical | | | | senses. If objective reality can no longer be |
| objective. (Quantum experiments are usually | | | | applied to events and phenomena of the physical |
| conducted on subatomic particles, but the | | | | world, it might well be a property of a world of |
| implications are general, both in theory and in view | | | | origins, by definition beyond the reach of our |
| of the fact that large physical objects consist | | | | senses, but nevertheless real. Such an expansion |
| entirely of these small particles). As a leading | | | | of the framework within which physics operates |
| quantum cosmologist put it: "No microscopic | | | | might well be the essential step towards solving |
| property is a property until it is an observed | | | | the various difficulties and inconsistencies |
| property". And who does this vital observing? | | | | mentioned in this article. |