quantum mechanics: Kastner\'s brilliant blog (Introduction)

by rekastner , Friday, July 19, 2013, 20:02 (3935 days ago) @ David Turell

Thanks David -- you say-"This paper on the atom opens up the realization that we have only a partial view of 'real' things such as atoms, and they are not entirely real because we have to imagine what they are like. It is not surprising that Alice of wonderland fame is involved"- We have a partial view of atoms, yes, but I argue that that does not make them 'unreal'. The point is that reality can be more than what we can see -- i.e. there are (at least) two levels: -(i) the world of appearance -- what we can see
 
(ii) the underlying reality -- what we can't see, but can use reason, based on level (i), to gain knowledge of its structure. I argue that this is what QM offers us.