Chapter 64 The shape of the sky

One can describe the same thing in two completely different ways, and both descriptions may be correct, but neither is complete. In the field of physics, there is a well-known story, which is a seaside conversation between the Nobel Prize winner Brock and Heisenberg many years ago. One day Bloch and Heisenberg were walking along the beach. Bloch kept talking to Heisenberg about a new theory about the mathematical structure of the sky. Heisenberg listened and finally looked up and said : The sky is blue and the birds are flying in the sky. This story is repeated because it provides scientists with a philosophical perspective. The dialogue between Block and Heisenberg vividly presents the essence of the theory of complementarity: one can describe the same thing in two completely different ways. Things, these two descriptions are irrelevant and even contradict each other, but both may be correct; and in this correctness, we see that neither description is complete.

The term complementary comes from the phenomenon of complementary colors in colors.If we combine red light and green light, it becomes white light, and red and green are complementary colors to each other.Complementary colors exist at the same time, giving people a harmonious aesthetic feeling, such as the red flowers and green leaves we often say.But there is not a little bit of green in red, and vice versa; and only by combining the two colors of light can it become natural white light; if the red light is extracted from the natural white light, it remains Therefore, the so-called complementary color or complementary component is actually a residual part that we must not observe when we understand the truth of nature in a certain way.

The same is true for the understanding of people. People have their spiritual ideals, values, consciousness, etc., as well as their material cells, nerves, hormones, etc. These two aspects seem to be irrelevant or even contradict each other, but they are always the same. Just like red flowers and green leaves, just like the sky is blue and the mathematical structure of the sky complements each other, we can only have a closer and complete understanding of human nature if we accept the two at the same time and make them stand apart from each other. understanding.