What does it mean when Einstein said that God does not play dice?

Answer 1

Einstein was referring to the notion held by quantum physicists that at some level, nature is indeterminate; that is, there's an inherent level of uncertainty in things. There is this principle in physics called the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which says that you cannot know the position of velocity of a particle at the same time (with any precision). Einstein didn't like the idea that there was a stochastic (statistical), unpredictable nature to the universe; thus the comment. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

"God does not play at dice with the universe."

Einstein was referring to the tension between the "deterministic" view of the universe versus the "probabilistic" view. Einstein was an adherent to the "deterministic" school of thought, which held that if we had a complete understanding of the underlying physics of the universe, we could precisely determine outcomes, i.e., what will occur if one performs a particular experiment.

At the time, the emerging quantum physics (which is based on probability mechanics) tended to indicate that everything that occurred at the atomic/molecular level was based on probability distributions until an observer made a measurement, at which point the distribution would become fixed. For example, the concept of electrons with determinable orbits was replaced with an "electron cloud" which was merely a probability that the electron could be in any location.

Scientists of the time came up with a number of "mind experiments" and debated what the outcome would be in an effort to understand the deterministic versus probabilistic concepts of the universe. A popular theory at the time was that "probability functions" exist until the observer makes a measurement, at which point these probabilities become determined. One example of an experiment that refuted the idea that the universe was merely a "probability" until an observer made a measurement was "Schroedinger's cat." See the reference below.

Einstein rejected the idea that the universe was just based on "probabilities." He believed that at some level, the underlying physics could be known exactly, so we could know and determine precisely what will occur.

Answer 3

Quantum mechanics says that nothing can ever be known exactly, that there is an unpredictable randomness built into the universe, at least at the subatomic level. Einstein never accepted that idea and that statement was his way of voicing his dislike of the theory. Here is a snippet from the source:


In a 1926 letter to Max Born, Einstein made a remark that is now famous:

Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the Old One. I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice.

Answer 4

Einstein did not believe in a personal god; he was an atheist. When he used the term "god" he used it as a metaphor for the structure of the cosmos. The metaphor has become common with other modern cosmologists (Hawking, for example).

This quote was Einstein's way of expressing skepticism about quantum mechanics, which relies on probabability: dice rolls, so to speak, determine how particles behave at any given moment.

Answer 5

No, folks. Einstein said "God does not play dice with the Universe" as a way of saying that the theory of Quantum Mechanics was flawed in his opinion.

Answer 6

This common quote is a paraphrase from a letter Einstein wrote to Max Born in 1926. He is commenting on the "uncertainty principle" and other aspects of Quantum Theory.

"Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the Old One. I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice."

Einstein is making a statement on physics--basically saying any theory that relies on chance for results is not a good theory.

Answer 7

The actual quote was 'It seems hard to sneak a look at God's cards,but that He playss dice and uses telepathic methods ...is something I cannot belive for a single moment'

Einstein said that nothing can exceed the speed of light(3x10^8 meters per second) but quantum physicists were saying that at the subatomic level, information could so therefore Einstein was not impressed and said the above lines

Answer 8

Einstein was voicing his opposition to the emerging field of quantum mechanics, which suggested that the exact location, speed, or state, or all of the above, of a subatomic particle cold only be approximated by using probability theory (the mathematics of chance). Einstein thought that quantum mechanics did away with the basic scientific idea of cause and effect (causality) since quantum mechanics introduced a random factor in the equations that determined how particles behaved.

Einstein didn’t like the idea that it was impossible to predict precisely where a particle would be at exactly when, like one could predict the flight of a basketball.

Answer 9

Einstein meant that he believed in God. Thus, he believed in "perfect clockworking" theories and chaos theories wouldn't make sense to him. That only goes to show that Einstein was human, therefore not entirely rational.

EDIT: I'd like to add that in the event of there being a God in charge of everything, dice wouldn't roll randomly either. So, Einstein was mistaken at that point in any way.

Answer 10

If God play dice,This means that the entire world it is over.If the man spend the time,also the world may be over,we loose the life.