Quantum

What if science—indeed, the very physics we’ve been slogging through—is actually the locus of God’s action?

Is the world fundamentally determined or undetermined?… All of these possible interpretations point to the enigma of the way the world really is. Does God play dice? Is there a reality to things before we observe them? Are there many worlds? Are there hidden variables that still elude us nearly a century after Einstein postulated them?

Let’s face it: Physics is hard—both for me the guide and for you the reader. But it’s also fascinating, and this week we will consider some of its wackiest ideas.

Quantum mechanics is so weird, so counterintuitive, and so poorly understood at the most fundamental level—dozens of interpretations exist trying to make sense of it—that it is risky to draw theological conclusions. Does God play dice? Do duality, observer effects, and probabilities truly describe the world God created? Or do they point to a veil that hides the microscopic world from us?