A QUANTUM PARADIGM FOR PUBLIC POLICY ____________________________________ by Christopher Wilson, Faculty of Administration, University of Ottawa April 1996 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 SECTION 1 ................................................................................................................................................................. 2 CLASSICAL PHYSICS ..................................................................................................................................................... 2 SUMMARY OF CLASSICAL PHYSICS PARADIGM ............................................................................................................... 3 QUANTUM REALITY ....................................................................................................................................................... 4 Nature of Matter .................................................................................................................................................... 4 Nature of Events ................................................................................................................................................... 6 Discreteness Not Distinctness ............................................................................................................................ 6 Uncertainty Not Determinism .............................................................................................................................. 7 Non-Linear Events ................................................................................................................................................ 8 Interconnectedness of Everything ..................................................................................................................... 9 The Quantum Field ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Symmetry ............................................................................................................................................................ 10 Four Basic Conservation Laws ..................................................................................................................................... 11 Mutual Exchange vs. Force ............................................................................................................................... 12 Virtual Reality ...................................................................................................................................................... 13 Quantum Knowledge Framework ..................................................................................................................... 14 Human / Quantum Connections? ..................................................................................................................... 16 Macroscopic Quantum Phenomena ................................................................................................................. 17 Superfluidity .................................................................................................................................................................... 17 Superconductivity........................................................................................................................................................... 18 Super Radiance .............................................................................................................................................................. 18 Self-Organizing Dissipative Structures ............................................................................................................ 18 SUMMARY OF THE QUANTUM PARADIGM ...................................................................................................................... 20 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................................................. 49 SECTION 2 ............................................................................................................................................................... 22 NEED FOR A NEW PARADIGM IN PUBLIC POLICY ........................................................................................................... 22 A QUANTUM MODEL OF PUBLIC POLICY ...................................................................................................................... 24 Wholeness ........................................................................................................................................................... 24 Uncertainty .......................................................................................................................................................... 25 Context Dependent ............................................................................................................................................ 27 Interdependence of Observer, Process and Outcomes ................................................................................. 28 Space & Time Impact Events ............................................................................................................................ 31 Non-Linearity & Opposite Logics ..................................................................................................................... 32 Fields of Force .................................................................................................................................................... 34 Ecology & Environmental Harmony ................................................................................................................. 40 SUMMARY OF QUANTUM PARADIGM & PUBLIC POLICY ................................................................................................. 42 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................................................. 50 i INTRODUCTION "Common be the prayer of these assembled worshippers, common be the acquirement, common the purpose, associated be the desire. I repeat for you a common prayer, I offer for you with a common oblation. Common, worshipers, be your intention; common be the wishes of your hearts; common be your thoughts, so that there may be thorough union among you." Rig Veda, 10th Mandala, X.12.40 verse 3-4. In the last verses of the oldest text known to man, I find it remarkable that there are recurrent parallels between issues of public policy concern and physical descriptions of fundamental reality, especially quantum realities. The quantum universe is not the comfortable, clearly defined place we often think the world to be. It is full vagaries, contradictions, and complex patterns of behaviour that, like a magician’s handiwork, create wondrous things before our very eyes, as long as we don’t look too closely. And when we do look closely, those wonders dissolve into thin air, leaving us all marvelling at the magician’s skill. Quantum physics and social governance seem so far apart that one might expect only coincidental relevance between them. Quantum physics represents the pinnacle of scientific thought -- objective, exact, and predictive -- yet those achievements are obtained through its reliance on more characteristically subjective qualities -- dynamism, uncertainty, and non-linearity (Davies, 1984:104- 112). On the other hand, the study of social governance is an inexact science, that attempts to describe the collective behaviours of unpredictable, often irrational human inclinations in the context of rational objective framework. What we perceive as two decidedly different phenomena, might they be two complementary expressions of the same underlying homology? A constant theme in physics is that Nature is intelligent, it expresses order in every event no matter how big or small. According to Nobel physicist Stephen Hawking, “the whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order....” (Hawking, 1990:122). That order may not always express itself in terms of linear causality, as quantum physics has clearly demonstrated, but it is orderly none the less. Considering that social governance falls within the domain of the universe and is therefore subject to its laws, it is only sensible to believe that an economical Nature might apply some of the same rules to organize society as it does to organize the physical universe. In this paper I wish to examine this possibility. The task I have set for myself is twofold. In Section 1, I will present a review of some of the basic ideas of quantum physics and some of the generally accepted ideas among those at the cutting edge of physics. I will explore the character of quantum reality and the rules of intelligence which govern it without going too much into rigorous mathematical detail. In Section 2, I will examine some of the shortcomings of the social governance paradigm in common currency and see if a comparison with the quantum paradigm provides any advantage. Finally, I will examine the possibility of some cross over between physics and public policy that might provide a better