Question

Briefly explain the following statement from the text.

“The lack of determinism in quantum theory!”

Answer 1

The statement occurs in the text Adventure by Jayant Vishnu Narlikar. This statement is made by Prof. Gaitonde in response to the explanation of Catastrophic theory as explained by Rajendra. Rajendra was trying to rationalise the experiences of Prof. Gaitonde in which he witnessed an altogether new version of Indian History. According to the revelations made to Gaitonde, the Marathas emerged as victorious in the Battle of Panipat and extended influence over the entire country making India self-reliant in all respect. The Maratha Peshwas were gradually replaced by democratically elected bodies. Rajendra tried to explain this varied version by applying the catastrophic theory. The catastrophic theory postulates that there can be many alternative realities existing simultaneously. This theory has been developed on the basis of experiments on small systems like atom and their constituent particles. The physicists have observed that the behaviour of these systems cannot be predicted definitively even if all the physical laws governing those systems are known. That means there is a lack of determinism. This theory has been developed in Quantum physics and wonderfully explains phenomena like that experienced by Prof. Gaitonde was convinced by the explanation offered by Rajendra which could resolve the perplexities as presented before him in the face of two different versions of Indian history.