That matter is sometimes regarded as a primordial
material substance is no doubt a materialistic tinge in Heisenberg's
thought, but his view is ordinarily of a different nature: "The
concept of nature dissolves thus, at the lower limit, i.e. in
the domain of the smallest space dimensions, into the concept
of mathematical form. This form replaces the law of nature in
the subsequent physics, since it characterizes, with no explicit
reference to the temporal process, the tendencies in the behavior
of matter" (p. 233). "The underlying
structure***
of phenomena is not given by material objects, as are Democritus'
atoma, but by the form determining the objects. Ideas are
more essential than objects" (p. 233).
The above lines are apparently a lesson of
pure, objective idealism in the manner of Plato. Like formulations
may however also relate to profound material realities and may
be justified in the light of the materialistic insight given in
this book. For Heisenberg, like for the author, the world in its
profundities, outside space and time, is associated with two principles:
the energymatter, which is structureless in itself, and
is an energy source which might possibly be a form of energy,
for one cannot be sure that it is so; and the informatter,
in which the informational structures, the programs and laws of
the world are inscribed. These concepts are derived from a philosophical
edifice grounded in simple philosophical experiments involving
the human being and mind. Experiments like those on existence
or on consciousness are not infrequent in philosophy, but they
have not been lucidly treated as experiments in their own right.
To raise a philosophical edifice on the grounds of like experiments
turns out to be insufficient. One should additionally work in
consonance with the scientific standards of one's time, while
advancing, if necessary, hypotheses beyond the data furnished
by that science. The author's ideas, which are largely influenced
by the information science, computer science, neurocybernetics
and the research in the field of the brain, find - against a materialist
philosophical support - an indirect, capsized image in Heisenberg's
view. It may be interesting to notice that the whole edifice raised
in this book, though employing ordinary language, comes to several
concepts similar with Heisenberg's but in a materialist interpretation.
Additionally, these concepts are elaborated not after having
worked through the whole range of abstractions in quantum mechanics,
on their operators, groups and symmetries. They are phenomenally
approached, using roughly ordinary reason in order to have a first
breakthrough. Abstractions cannot be solely mathematical, they
are also of a physical order (as if the phenomenon could occur).
It would be illustrative in this respect to recall that Faraday
used the concept of field line to finally derive the idea of electromagnetic
wave itself without recourse to the mathematical treatment. On
the other hand, Maxwell's mathematical treatment was an equally
celebrated event. It became even more important to scientists
as soon as the electromagnetic waves were experimentally validated.
However, Maxwell's first ideas sprang from Faraday's intuitive,
somewhat vague, physically oriented ideas on several phenomena
that were immediately unobservable. That is way we should not
dispense with abstractions of a phenomenal and perhaps phenomenological
order when approaching the profundities of the world. Quantum
mechanics is itself replete with abstract physical images - hence
intuitive phenomenological images - and mathematical abstractions,
which may be said to go hand in hand. Heisenberg places the emphasis
on the mathematical abstract, which makes him cherish the pure
form of the mathematical edifice as an ultimate reality. However,
he has to accept also an energy source, and though these two principles
are not entirely united in his view, their complementarity pervades
throughout his thought.
For a deep-going insight into the material
world, one should work with new mathematical and physical abstractions.
This is only natural given that our brain is prepared to cognize
the world beyond immediate phenomena. The history of science itself
confirms this fact. Decoding the brain mechanisms, we might find,
and this seems to be plausible, that the brain connection with
the material world is made by means of an immediate informaterial
connection, which we imagine nowadays as a mental field or wave.
Several details and justifications of such a standpoint could
permit us to form a ring-like image of the material world, whose
profound structures may be reached via the informatter.
Plato's Idea and Heisenberg's mathematical form become statical,
informational structures which might lack consciousness in their
profundities. The informaterial structures may become dynamical
and assume perhaps consciousness only in the universe where they
are associated to space-time structures. However, as has already
been observed, the statical structures may be also changed by
the available material devices or those to be produced and employed.
*** The Italics are ours.
What Physics, Informationand the Living have in Common
25
