Only A Few Know, How Much One

In The Strict Formulation Of The Law Of Causality—if We Know The Present, We Can Calculate The Future—it Is Not The Conclusion That Is Wrong But The Premise. On An Implication Of The Uncertainty Principle.

The Solution Of The Difficulty Is That The Two Mental Pictures Which Experiment Lead Us To Form - The One Of The Particles, The Other Of The Waves - Are Both Incomplete And Have Only The Validity Of Analogies Which Are Accurate Only In Limiting Cases.

The Incomplete Knowledge Of A System Must Be An Essential Part Of Every Formulation In Quantum Theory. Quantum Theoretical Laws Must Be Of A Statistical Kind. To Give An Example: We Know That The Radium Atom Emits Alpha-radiation. Quantum Theory Can Give Us An Indication Of The Probability That The Alpha-particle Will Leave The Nucleus In Unit Time, But It Cannot Predict At What Precise Point In Time The Emission Will Occur, For This Is Uncertain In Principle.

Many People Will Tell You That An Expert Is Someone Who Knows A Great Deal About The Subject. To This I Would Object That One Can Never Know Much About Any Subject. I Would Much Prefer The Following Definition: An Expert Is Someone Who Knows Some Of The Worst Mistakes That Can Be Made In The Subject, And How To Avoid Them.

Nature Allows Only Experimental Situations To Occur Which Can Be Described Within The Framework Of The Formalism Of Quantum Mechanics