Abstract
The presumptions underlying quantum mechanics make it relevant to a limited range of situations only1; furthermore, its statistical character means that it provides no answers to the question ‘what is really going on?’. In line with Barad’s discussions of the way quantum measurements introduce definiteness into previously indefinite situations, it is hypothesised that the underlying mechanics has parallels with human activities. We are led to consider a subtle type of order, different from those commonly encountered in the discipline of physics, and yet comprehensible in terms of concepts considered by Barad and Yardley such as oppositional dynamics or ‘intra-actions’2. The emergent organisation implies that nature is no longer fundamentally meaningless.
We are led to consider a subtle type of order, different from those commonly encountered in the discipline of physics, and yet comprehensible in terms of concepts considered by Barad and Yardley such as oppositional dynamics or ‘intra-actions’. The emergent organisation implies that nature is no longer fundamentally meaningless.
NB: the slides for this lecture are available separately at
http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10/Documents/Lindau2016-slides.pdf.
Clarifications added after lecture: agencies can be viewed as dynamical systems, so we are dealing with models involving interacting dynamical systems. The 'congealing of agencies' to whch Barad refers can equated to the presence of regulatory mechanisms restricting the range of possibilities open to the agencies concerned.
References
1 Limits to the Universal Applicability of Quantum Mechanics, https://arxiv.org/abs/1110.1768.
2 Three Minute Theory: What is Intra-Action? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0SnstJoEec