Using Swedenborg to Understand the Quantum World I: Events
By Ian Thompson, PhD, Nuclear Physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
从史威登堡来理解量子世界（一）：事件
作者：伊恩·汤普森博士
劳伦斯·利弗莫尔 国家实验室核物理学家
翻译：迂夫
For the last hundred years, physicists have been using the quantum theory about the universe, but they still do not properly understand of what the quantum world is made.
在过去的一百年里，物理学家们一直在使用关于宇宙的量子理论，但是他们仍然不能正确地理解量子世界是如何形成的。
The previous physics (referred to as “classical” and started by Isaac Newton) used ideas of “waves” and “particles” to picture what makes up the physical world. But now we find that every object in the quantum world sometimes behaves as a particle and sometimes behaves as a wave! Which is it? In quantum physics, objects behave most of the time like waves spreading out as they travel along, but sometimes measurements show objects to be particles with a definite location: not spread out at all. Why is that? It is as though their size and location suddenly change in measurement events. This is quite unlike classical physics, where particles exist continuously with the same fixed shape. In quantum physics, by contrast, objects have fixed locations only intermittently, such as when they are observed. So they only offer us a discrete series of events that can be measured, not a continuous trajectory. Quantum objects, then, are alternately continuous and discontinuous.
以前的物理学(被称为“经典”，由艾萨克·牛顿开创)使用“波”和“粒子”的概念来描绘构成物理世界的东西。但现在我们发现，量子世界中的每一个物体有时表现为粒子，有时表现为波！到底是哪一个呢？在量子物理学中，物体大部分时间都像波一样传播，但有时测量结果显示物体是具有一定位置的粒子：一点也不扩散。这是为什么？就好像它们的大小和位置在测量事件中突然发生了变化。这与经典物理学完全不同，经典物理学中，粒子以相同的固定形状持续存在。相反，在量子物理学中，物体只是间歇性地有固定的位置，比如当它们被观察时。因此，它们只提供给我们一系列可以测量的离散事件，而不是一个连续的轨迹。因此，量子物体交替地是连续的和不连续的。
Why would we ever expect such a fickle world? Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) has some ideas that might help us. He describes how all physical processes are produced by something mental, or spiritual, and this can be confirmed by reason of the similarity in patterns between the physical processes and their mental causes. In Swedenborg’s words, thereare correspondences between the physical and the mental—that they have similar structures and functions, even though mind and matter are quite distinct.
为什么我们会预期这样一个变化无常的世界呢？以马内利·史威登堡(1688-1772)有一些想法可能对我们有帮助。他描述了所有的物理过程是如何由某种心理或灵性的东西产生的，这可以通过物理过程与其心理原因之间的模式的相似性来证实。用史威登堡的话说，物质和心理之间有对应关系-它们有着相似的结构和功能，尽管心性和物质是非常不同的。
I need to state what correspondence is. The whole natural world is responsive to the spiritual world—the natural world not just in general, but in detail. So whatever arises in the natural world out of the spiritual one is called “something that corresponds.” It needs to be realized that the natural world arises from and is sustained in being by the spiritual world . . . (Heaven and Hell §89)
我需要说明什么是对应。整个物质世界-不仅仅是总体上，而且在细节上，都对灵性世界有反应。因此，出自灵性世界而呈现在物质世界中的任何东西，都被称为“对应之物”。要知道，物质世界源自灵性世界，并靠灵性世界维持，以致持续存在，两者恰如因果的关系。。。(天堂与地狱第89节)
Although these ideas are not part of present-day science, I still hope to show below that they may have some implications for how science could usefully develop.
虽然这些想法不是当今科学的一部分，但我仍然希望在下面展示它们可能对科学如何有效地发展有一定的意义。
Swedenborg’s theory of mind is easy to begin to understand. He talks about how all mental processes have three common elements: desire, thought, and action. The desire is what persists and motivates what will happen. The thought is the exploration of possibilities for actions and the making of an intention. The action is the determined intention, the product of desire and thought that results in an actual physical event.
史威登堡的思想理论很容易理解。他谈到了所有的心理过程都有三个共同的要素：愿望、思想和行动。愿望是持续存在的东西，也是将要发生之事的动力。思想是对行动可能性的探索并形成意向。行动是决定了的意向，是目的和起因的产物，导致实际的物理事件。
The [actions] themselves are in the mind’s enjoyments and their thoughts when the delights are of the will and the thoughts are of the understanding therefrom, thus when there is complete agreement in the mind. The [actions] then belong to the spirit, and even if they do not enter into bodily act still they are as if in the act when there is agreement. (Divine Providence §108)
[行动（结果）]本身就处于心灵的愉悦和思想中，当快乐出于意志，而思想出于意志所产生的认知时，它们就在心灵中达到了完全一致。[行动（结果）] 于是成为灵性的成分，即使它们没有成为身体的行为，只要它们是一致的，就似乎仍然是在行动。(天命，108节)
All of the three spiritual elements are essential. Without desire (love), or ends, nothing would be motivated to occur. Without thought, that love would be blind and mostly fail to cause what it wants. Without determined intention, both the love and thought would be frustrated and fruitless, with no effect achieved at all. In everyday life, this intention is commonly called will, but it is always produced by some desire driving everything that happens. Here is the pattern:
这三种灵性要素都是必不可少的。没有愿望(爱)或目的，任何事情都不会发生。如果没有思想，那爱将是盲目的，并且大部分都无法导致它想要的东西。如果没有坚定的意向，爱和思想都会受挫，没有结果，达不成任何效果。在日常生活中，这种意向通常被称为意志，但它总是由某种愿望产生，愿望驱使一切发生。下面是模式：
Spiritual灵性的→Natural物质的
Desire + Thought愿望+思想→Mental Action (Intention) 心智结果（意向）→Physical Action, or Event, in the World世上的物理结果或事件
Swedenborg summarizes the relationship between these elements as follows:
史威登堡把这些元素的关系总结如下：
All activities in the universe proceed from ends through causes into effects. These three elements are in themselves indivisible, although they appear as distinct in idea and thought. Still, even then, unless the effect that is intended is seen at the same time, the end is not anything; nor is either of these anything without a cause to sustain, foster and conjoin them. Such a sequence is engraved on every person, in general and in every particular, just as will, intellect, and action is. Every end there has to do with the will, every cause with the intellect, and every effect with action. (Conjugial Love §400:1–2)
宇宙中的所有活动都是从目的，经由起因，到结果。这三个要素本身是不可分割的，尽管在观念和思想上它们似乎是区分的。然而，即便如此，除非同时看到预期的结果，否则目的什么也不是；如果没有起因来维持、培育和结合它们的话，目的和结果也无从谈起。这样的顺序刻在每个人身上，无论是总体上，还是每一个细节上，就像意志、智识和行动一样。于是，每个目的都关乎意志，每个起因都关乎智识，每个结果都关乎行动。(婚姻之爱第400：1-2节)
Now consider Swedenborg’s theory of correspondences mentioned above. He says that there is a similar pattern between the details of the effects and the details of the causes. ”As above, so below,” others have said. So if mental action produces some effect in the physical world, then, by correspondence, we would expect a similar pattern between that physical effect and each of the three elements common to all mental processes. We would expect something physical like desire, then something physical like thought, and finally something physical like mental action. Do we recognize these patterns in physics? And if so, do we recognize them better in classical physics or in quantum physics?
现在看看史威登堡上面提到的对应理论。他说，在结果的细节和起因的细节之间有着相似的模式。就如有人说的“因为有上，所以有下”。因此，如果心理活动在物质世界中产生某种效果，那么，通过对应，我们可以期望相似的模式发生在物质效应和心理过程共有的三个要素的每一个之间。我们会期待一些实际的东西，比如欲望，然后是一些实际的东西，比如思想，最后是一些实际的东西，比如心理活动。我们能在物理学中认识这些模式吗？如果是的话，我们是在经典物理学还是量子物理学中能更好地认识它们呢？
I claim we do recognize them in physics:
我认为我们确实经由物理学认识它们：
·We recognize the “something physical like desire” as energy or propensity. These are what persist physically and produce the result, just like desire does in the mind. They are in both classical and quantum physics.
·我们认识到“某种实际的东西，如欲望”是能量或倾向。这些东西实际上能持续存在并产生结果，就像愿望在心灵中的运行。它们既有经典的，也有量子物理学的。
·We recognize the “something physical like thought” as the wave function in quantum physics. This describes all the possibilities, propensities, and probabilities for physical events, just like thought does in the mind.
·我们认识到有些“实际上的东西，如思想”就如量子物理学中的波函数一样。它描述了物理事件的所有可能性、倾向和概率，就像思想在头脑中的运行。
·We recognize the “something physical like mental action” as the actual specific physical outcome, a selection of just one of the possibilities to be made actual. This is a measurement event in quantum physics, the product of energy or propensity and the wave function, just like the product of desire and thought is the mental action.
·我们认识到“某些实际的东西，如心理活动”类似事实上的具体的物理结果，只是诸多可能成为现实的选择之一。这是量子物理学中的一个测量事件，能量或倾向的产物以及波函数的产物，就像欲望和思想的产物是心理行为一样。
We will discuss energy and wave functions in later posts, focusing here on the final step of mental actions and physical events. According to Swedenborg’s ideas, the structure of mental processes and the structure of physical events should be similar. So, too, the function of mental processes and the function of physical events should be similar. Can we tell from this whether we should expect a classical world or a quantum world?
我们将在以后的文章中讨论能量和波函数，这里我们将重点讨论心理行为和物理事件的最后阶段。根据史威登堡的观点，心理过程的结构和物理事件的结构应该是相似的。因此，心理过程的功能和物理事件的功能也应该是相似的。从这一点我们能否判断我们应该期待一个经典世界还是一个量子世界？
One feature of thought and mental action with which we should be familiar is time. That is, we always need time to think! Without any time gap between desiring and intending, we would be acting instinctively and impulsively. Sometimes that works but not always (at least in my experience!). Most often, there has to be some delay, even some procrastination, between having a desire and fulfilling it. That delay gives us time to deliberate and decide on the best action to select. And, most importantly, if it is we who decide when to act, we feel that we act in some freedom. It feels better.
我们都熟悉的思想和心理行为的一个特征是时间。也就是说，我们总是需要时间去思考！如果愿望和计划之间没有任何时间间隔，我们就是本能地、冲动地行动。有时，这是可行的，但并不总是如此(至少在我的经验中是如此)。最常见的情况是，在产生愿望和实现愿望之间，必须有一些延迟，甚至是一些拖延。这种拖延使我们有时间考虑和决定要选择的最佳行动。而且，最重要的是，如果由我们决定什么时候行动，我们会觉得我们有行动的自由。这样的感觉较好。
If the physical world corresponds to those mental processes, according to Swedenborg, what hypothesis do we reach about physics? It is that there will be corresponding time gaps between the beginning of some persisting energy or propensity and the selection of physical outcome. Remember that quantum objects are selected and definite only intermittently—when measured, or observed—while classical objects are continuously definite with no gaps. All this leads us to expect that physical events should not be continuous; that is, we should expect a quantum world rather than a classical world.
如果物质世界与这些心理过程相对应，根据史威登堡的说法，我们将如何认识（假设）物理学呢？那就是，从某些持续的能量或倾向开始，与选择出实质结果之间，存在相应的时间间隔。请记住，量子物体只是间断地处于被选择和确定态-当测量或观察时-而经典的物体是连续确定的，没有间隔。所有这一切使我们期待物理事件不应该是连续的，也就是说，我们应该期待一个量子世界，而不是一个经典世界。
Ian Thompson is also the author of Starting Science from God, as well as Nuclear Reactions in Astrophysics(Univ. of Cambridge Press) and more than two hundred refereed professional articles in nuclear physics.
英文原文链接：Using Swedenborg to Understand the Quantum World I: Events