Quantum Physics: A Revolution? On Jean-Pierre Pharabod and Gérard Klein’s Heurs et malheurs de la physique quantique

Pierre Papon provides an analysis here of Jean-Pierre Pharabod and Gérard Klein’s book Heurs et malheurs de la physique quantique [Joys and Woes of Quantum Physics]while, at the same time, giving us a remarkably clear and informative text on developments in quantum physics, telling us what it is, how it overturns hitherto dominant conceptions in physics and our ideas about the universe, and how it may lead to important technological change in the future.

Though his text may seem tough going to those of our readers with no scientific background, it provides a wealth of information, including for those concerned with forecasting and foresight studies. They will discover how, in the absence of absolute determinism, any simulation of the future of systems, including in the hard sciences, involves a degree of randomness and uncertainty, and they will find how far we really are from simple causal relations of the kind that econometric models often rely upon. Papon’s review explains how quantum physics throws the laws of classical physics into question, while setting out the “incredible truths” it reveals, which may be a source of major scientific and technical developments in years to come.