Quantum theory and its philosophical implication in simple terms?

Answer 1

I think Einstein better described the implications with his famous words: "God does not play dice with the universe".
Classical physics and the theory of relativity both are supposed to be able to accurately predict things. If a planet has a mass of "x" and a spacecraft of mass "y" approaches it, the gravitational pull will be exactly "n", which means it will be in at point (a,b,z) at time "t". It is exact.
Quantum theory is based on probability. At the sub-atomic level, there exists the "uncertainty principle", which state that you can know a particle's position or momentum with accuracy, but not both. This means that, for example, if you try to figure out where an electron is, you can find that out, but from that finding you cannot "predict" were it will be the next second. What is more, some experiments seem to show that the existence of the electron itself is probabilistic.
This leads to Schrodinger Cat dilemma. You put a cat in a box with a jar of poisonous gas, a Geiger counter and a radioactive material and close the box. If the radioactive material decays, the Geiger counter registered the radiation and breaks the jar, killing the cat. Let's say that the probability of decay is 50%. Without opening the box, is the cat alive or dead? Logic dictates that the cat is either alive or dead, but Quantum theory states that the cat is 50% alive and 50% dead (at the same time). How about that implication????

Answer 2

The significant implication of QM to philosophy is that the world is not deterministic. Initial conditions do not specify final conditions.

This upsets the deistic world-view held by a lot of scientists and philosophers of Newton's era. They viewed the universe as a giant mechanism. Like a watchmaker, God set it all up and then just let it rip. There is no place for divine intervention or miracles in their world-view, because that would imply that the mechanism was somehow flawed to begin with.

If you discard determinism, though, you can't really buy into this view of the universe as God's mechanical masterpiece. You either have to go back to a more traditional theism or, like most scientists, move on to a purer naturalistic, materialistic world view. This is what upset Einstein (and many of his contemporaries) about QM. He refused to accept that God played dice with the universe, that there was an unresolvable randomness about outcomes. Eventually, though, the scientists of that generation died, and we are perfectly happy today to accept that God (if He exists) plays dice.

Answer 3

It was just one more blow to the arrogance of man who thought he understood everything. It showed there was a limit to how small things could get. And a limit to what we could measure at those dimensions.