I am no friend of probability theory, I have hated it from the first moment when our dear friend Max Born gave it birth. For it could be seen how easy and simple it made everything, in principle, everything ironed and the true problems concealed. Everybody must jump on the bandwagon...
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
"The scientist's world-picture is of course not the only possible one. It is not even a complete one. It is just one, an important one, but it is not the whole truth."
"Needless to say, taken literally, this is just as absurd. For an adult organism the energy content is as stationary as the material content. Since, surely, any calorie is worth as much as any other ca…"
"The world is a puzzle, and we are here to solve it."
"The existence of life on Earth is just a fluke. There is no special reason for it."
"The more deeply we penetrate into nature, the more we find that it is full of mysteries."
Austrian physicist who shared the 1933 Nobel for the wave equation that bears his name and the famous cat thought-experiment. Closely associated with Werner Heisenberg (matrix-mechanics rival who reached the same physics by different math) and Albert Einstein (his pen-pal on quantum interpretation). For an intellectual contrast, see Niels Bohr, Danish physicist and architect of the Copenhagen interpretation — Schrödinger's cat thought-experiment was specifically designed to ridicule Bohr's 'observer-dependent reality' reading of quantum mechanics — Schrödinger thought the Copenhagen interpretation was absurd; the cat was meant as reductio ad absurdum.
Expressing his strong dislike for the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics.
Date: Undated, likely mid-20th century
Self-DeprecatingFound in 1 providers: gemini
1 source checked
The speaker rejects probability as a lazy intellectual shortcut that makes physics seem solved when it isn't. Probability smooths over genuine mysteries rather than resolving them, and its rapid adoption by physicists felt like groupthink — everyone jumping aboard because it was convenient, not because it was truly satisfying or complete as an explanation of physical reality.
Schrödinger invented wave mechanics as a deterministic alternative to matrix mechanics, hoping to restore classical continuity to physics. He despised Born's probability interpretation of his own wave function, famously devising the cat paradox to expose its absurdity. His lifelong battle against the Copenhagen interpretation drove much of his later philosophical writing, including 'What Is Life?' and his essays on consciousness.
The late 1920s saw quantum mechanics crystallize around the Copenhagen interpretation, with Bohr, Heisenberg, and Born declaring probability fundamental and questions about underlying reality meaningless. Einstein shared Schrödinger's discomfort. The physics community rapidly consolidated around this view, marginalizing deterministic alternatives — making dissent feel professionally and socially costly even for founders of the field itself.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].
Your cart is empty
