The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Physics

PART 4

Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Cosmology

If the difference between Newtonian and Einsteinian physics is great, quantum mechanics seems separated from both by a chasm. Most accounts of it, however, do not question the framework, essentially absolute space and time, in which it was formulated. They describe how very small systems – mostly atoms and molecules – behave in an external framework. This may make quantum mechanics appear more baffling than need be.

If quantum mechanics is universally true and applies not only to atoms and molecules but also to apples, the Moon, the stars and ultimately the universe, then we ought to consider quantum cosmology. What does the quantum mechanics of the universe look like? It cannot be formulated in an external framework. Like classical physics, quantum cosmology needs a description without a framework. We shall see that many apparent differences between classical and quantum mechanics then appear in a different light. What remains is one huge difference. We shall soon begin to get to grips with it.