Quantum theory forces us to see the limits of our abilities to make images, to create metaphors, and push language to its ends. As we struggle to gaze into the limits of nature we dimly begin to discern something hidden in the dark shadows.
The golem is born of dust, and it is returned to dust when its creator deems that it has fulfilled its purpose. But, for the golem, the difference is that the creator in question is not supernatural, but natural, another of the created—a human being like you and me.
Molecules are the basis of life and molecules are quantum systems. We must, therefore, enter our knowledge of the quantum structure of molecules into the discussion of biology.
Responding to the question: What is the relation between quantum theory and religion or religious experience?
Despite its formidable achievements, there is no consensus what quantum theory tells us about Nature.
If God is everywhere, then why is God so hard to perceive? One could imagine a God more like a Chairman Mao or a Comrade Stalin with photographs of himself hung everywhere in nature and everywhere the secret police to enforce our acquiescence.
Presently, way too much of the science and religion discussion could be summed up in the “X-Files” slogan, “Trust No One.” I’d much prefer to move ahead in accordance with the other slogan: “The Truth Is Out There.”
Science fiction writer and anthropologist Mary Doria Russell is the author of “The Sparrow” and its sequel “Children of God.”
In considering this relationship between science and religion it is useful to turn to the life of Wolfgang Pauli, one of the most important physicists of the twentieth century.
Part of an ongoing discussion with serious thinkers about life, the universe, and everything.