When Nanobots and Quantum Computers Become Part of Our Everyday Lives.
Quantum theory is the biggest scientific revolution of the twentieth century.
Furthermore, the notion that we live in an universe that is only ostensibly real and predictable is a total departure from our normal thinking patterns.
We still don't know how this revelation will influence our thinking in the future.
The philosophical implications of a breakdown of subject–object dualism in the microcosm, the laws of symmetry in theoretical physics, and the non-local effects of entangled particles have yet to pervade our daily lives and thoughts.
Despite this, quantum physics has already profoundly impacted our contemporary worldview.
Many individuals today have said their goodbyes to absolute certainty, whether religious, philosophical, or scientific in character.
They can cope with the ambiguity of contradictory facts (in the sense of Bohr1).
This isn't even the most impressive feature of quantum theory.
What else is there to look forward to? Great shifts in our perspective in the past have always profoundly altered our life, sooner or later: • The development of rational philosophical thinking in ancient Greece is the earliest historical example.
Traditional (religious) solutions to basic issues of mankind, such as how the universe came into existence, what happens to us after death, why this or that natural event occurs, and so on, were no longer sufficient.
The image of Zeus, the ultimate deity, pouring bolts of fire down to Earth was no longer sufficient; global events were increasingly subjected to rigorous examination based on logical rules and empirical observation standards.
It took many centuries for the “transition from myth to logos” to occur (from about 800 to 200 BC).
The synthesis of a naturalistic and rational view of nature that emerged at this period continues to influence how people think today.
Then, in the late Renaissance, came the creation of the scientific method.
People rediscovered the philosophers of Ancient Greece after one and a half millennia of religious rigidity, and they started to evaluate nature scientifically and logically once again.
What was new was that scientists were now attempting to explain nature using mathematical principles in a systematic and theoretical manner.
This resulted in significant intellectual, religious, social, and political shifts.
Humans quickly realized they were no longer at the mercy of the elements.
Their yearning for a unique way of life, economic independence, and the exploration of new horizons outweighed the intellectual and geographic limitations of the Middle Ages.
Scientists' efforts to comprehend the world resulted in a rising urge to change it.
During the Enlightenment, a new, critical style of scientific thought gained popular.
God was relegated to the position of watchmaker in Newton's mechanics.
The religiously justified legitimacy of political, social, and economic authority started to crumble since there was no longer an everlasting "Godordained" order.
Impenetrable walls between hierarchical social systems eventually become porous over thousands of years.
All of this led to a considerably higher level of human intellectual potential—what we now call "human capital." Albert Einstein, who was born in the early 17th century, would have most likely followed in his father's footsteps as a modest trader.
As a physicist in the twentieth century, he was able to alter our worldview.
Darwin's theory of evolution shifted man's place in the universe, making him the product of a process that all animals and plants had gone through.
As a consequence, God as Creator and other similar transcendent concepts were rendered obsolete indefinitely.
Darwin's assertion that each human being is evolutionarily distinct fueled the contemporary world's strong individuality.
The new picture of man had an effect on moral ideals as well: social Darwinism, which was widely accepted at the time, put self-preservation and personal achievement at the center of human ambition.
Darwin's ideas were quickly applied to the social and political fabric of human life, rather from being limited to physical survival and biological reproduction.
We may expect millennia-old principles of our existence and the way we perceive ourselves to be further revolutionized as a result of quantum theory's revelation that our reality in its microstructure is non-real and nondeterministic.
The shifts in our self-perception we've made so far are most likely harbingers of much more dramatic shifts to come.
The discovery of quantum physics was the most significant intellectual event of the twentieth century, and it is likely to alter our worldview much more than it has already.
~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan
You may also want to read more about Quantum Computing here.
