A Commonplace Book

Proceeding with all caution into uncharted territory, one must nevertheless be aware that the conclusions one is reaching and the questions one is asking at a given stage of the analysis may be only stepping stones on the way to still more penetrating questions and an even more remarkable picture.

To speak of "reprocessing and selection" may only be a halfway point on the road toward thinking of the universe as Leibniz did, as a world of relationships, not a world of machinery.

Far from being brought into its present condition by "reprocessing" from earlier cycles, may the universe in some strange sense be "brought into being" by the participation of those who participate?

On this view the concept of "cycles" would even seem to be altogether wrong.

Instead the vital act is the act of participation. "Participator" is the incontrovertible new concept given by quantum mechanics: it strikes down the term "observer" of classical theory, the man who stands safely behind the thick glass wall and watches what goes on without taking part. It can't be done, quantum mechanics says.

Even with the lowly electron one must participate before one can give any meaning whatsoever to its position or its momentum. Is this firmly established result the tiny tip of a giant iceberg? Does the universe also derive its meaning from "participation"? Are we destined to return to the great concept of Leibniz, of "preestablished harmony" ("Leibniz logic loop"), before we can make the next great advance?