Religion
In reply to the discussion: Can you give an example of an argument against religion that is ... [View all]tama
(9,137 posts)a great experimentalist, has shown that macroscopic molecules can also show quantum behaviour - wave pattern - in double slit experiment. Uncertainty principle is closely related to information entropy and macroscopic notions like Bekenstein bound etc. Decoherence is not fully understood, but theoretical physics is abandoning the view that quantum behaviour is limited to microscopic levels only.
Cultural relativism and localism is philosophical and ethical position with information limits - what is it like to be and perceive and experience as member of Amazon tribe, bat or ant, ask the questions they ask? You say that "just because people ask different questions or perceive things in a slightly different way doesn't make those ways equally valid without objective evidence.", but the point was and is that there is no universal "objective(-subjective)" measure of value to judge validity, or in stronger form, attempts to dictatate and force universal measures of value is *evil* in regards of respecting difference and freedom of experience.
What is considered "objective" in terms of Newtonian mechanics (a very limited theory in regards to contemporary understanding) cannot be extrapolated as universal measure of value - or if it is, it's in ethical conflict with cultural relativism and localism and also scientific ideals. Smolin's "participatory quantum" objectivity is not. At least philosophically.
Last, I agree that all-knowing external god that can view universe fully objectively is just a thought-experiment that disproves itself - that was and is the whole point of that thought experiment. Smolin among many others is suggesting that in participatory universe for a local system to receive valid infromation about the larger whole that it is part of, some form of holographic principle is needed, and that is where theoretical physics is going by asking commonly shared questions.