Causality and Chance in Modern Physics

Author: D. Bohm / Qin Kecheng / Hong Dingguo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1965-09-01
Features: In the course of the authors' research work, the time has come to critically review the nature of physical theories and the nature of various explanations that can elucidate natural phenomena at the level of modern scientific development. He compares the successive emergence of views such as the universal mechanicism, general field theory, and statistical theory during the development of classical physics with the introduction of a set of unique new concepts in quantum physics. He provides a sharp and meticulous analysis of the concept of chance and points out that whenever we are not yet aware that we are at the edge of a deeper level of objective reality that we have not yet grasped, the concept of chance arises at every stage of our knowledge growth. Bohm is convinced that theoretical physics has already and will continue to reveal ever deeper levels of the physical world, and this process will go on indefinitely. He concludes that quantum physics has no right to consider its current concepts as the final and definitive ones; it cannot prevent researchers from imagining realms of reality deeper than the areas already explored.