Thirty-one years ago [1949], Dick Feynman told me about his 'sum over histories' version of quantum mechanics. 'The electron does anything it likes,' he said. 'It just goes in any direction at any speed, forward or backward in time, however it likes, and then you add up the amplitudes and it gives you the wave-function.' I said to him, 'You're crazy.' But he wasn't.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Quantum mechanics allows particles to take multiple paths and directions, a counterintuitive but valid scientific model.
- In plain terms
- Particles can go any way in time, and that is how the world works.
- What can you take from it?
- Accept surprising truths even if they seem crazy.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What seems impossible but is true?
- How do you handle counterintuitive facts?
Another view
This model is mathematically complex for most people.
More from Richard Feynman
Shut up and calculate!
Permalink to quote #85 If that's the world's smartest man, God help us.
Permalink to quote #87 I am not happy with all the analysis that go with just classical theory, because nature is not classic, dammit, and if you want to make a simulation of nature …
Permalink to quote #84
Related quotes
Maybe that is our mistake: maybe there are no particle positions and velocities, but only waves. It is just that we try to fit the waves to our preconceived id…
Stephen HawkingStephen Hawking quote #33 He's a Platonist and I am a positivist. He's worried that Schrodinger's cat is in a quantum state, where it is half dead and half alive. He feels that can't co…
Stephen HawkingStephen Hawking quote #43 I just want to explain what I mean when I say that we should try to hold on to physical reality. We are ... all aware of the situation regarding what will turn…
Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein quote #73