Quote of the Week...

...is from Michael D. Fayer’s illuminating book, Absolutely Small: How Quantum Theory Explains Our Everyday World:

The uncertainty principle says that you can know something about the momentum of a particle and something about the position of a particle, but you can’t know both the position and the momentum exactly at the same time. This uncertainty in the simultaneous knowledge of the position and the momentum is in sharp contrast to classical mechanics.

…

In classical mechanics, you can know x and p. In quantum mechanics, you can know x or p. Generally for quantum particles, absolutely small particles, you know something about p and something about x, but you can’t know both precisely simultaneously.

As the above quote demonstrates, even in physics, true uncertainty exists at absolutely small levels. More importantly, the persistence of uncertainty at a micro level does not prevent greater clarity from being achieved at a macro level. In fact, the different levels may operate under entirely different organizational principles. Unfortunately economics has not yet come to terms with the scientific advancements of quantum theory. If economics truly wishes to mimic physics, than as a science it has fallen even further behind.  


Bibliography
FAYER, Michael D. (2010-06-16). Absolutely Small: How Quantum Theory Explains Our Everyday World (Kindle Locations 1223-1244). Amacom - A. Kindle Edition.