Back when I was a freshman in 1980 at the University of Colorado, I read a book called the Tao of Physics. Written by Fritjov Capra, its basic idea was that modern physics was rediscovering truths Buddhism had known for 2000 years.  Another book during that time made a similar argument and was even more popular, the famous  The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav.  Together, these works solidified a link between Quantum Physics and a certain kind of New Age thinking which I want to push back on for two important reasons.

First, I’m a physicist and second, I’m a Buddhist.

After Capra and Zukav, a kind ‘Quantum Spirituality’ took off. It got pushed pretty hard by folks like Deepak Chopra with his 1989 book Quantum Healing.  Today you can find the word ‘Quantum’ attached to a whole mess of fuzzy pseudo-mystical  ideas like Quantum Love, Quantum Soul and Quantum My Dog Really Loves Me (OK, not the last one).  There’s lots of problems with these books but for the ones linking Buddhism and Quantum Physics, a fundamental mistake gets made right at the start of the project.

At the heart of Capra’s book was the role of measurement in quantum mechanics.  In classical physics - the stuff you get with Newton and his buddies - measurement was not really important. Of course, if you wanted to get data about particles bouncing around in a box you did have to make a measurement. But in Newtonian physics getting the data i.e. making a measurement, didn’t change anything.

The deep weirdness of quantum mechanics is you can’t talk about atoms without talking about measuring atoms.  In quantum mechanics measurements and those who make them (observers) are inseparable.  This is the source of the famous phrase ‘the observer affects the observed’.  Capra then went on to claim that this emphasis on measurement was just like what happened in Buddhism’s idea of  ‘co-dependent arising’ where nothing exists independently of anything else.  Capra was arguing that in Buddhism and in Quantum Mechanics everything is connected.

The mistake Capra makes in this connection is that there is no single interpretation of either Quantum Mechanics or Buddhism.  Buddhism is a religion (though it’s an a-theist one. There is no God in Buddhism).  Like every religion, however, there are lots of different ways to interpret its various scriptures and philosophies.  Capra was choosing the one he liked best.  Quantum mechanics also has multiple interpretations. That’s what makes it so weird and so frustrating. We know how to use the mathematics of quantum physics to build something like a computer, but we don’t know what the mathematics tell us about the nature of reality.  There are many interpretations of quantum mechanics that don’t match any version of Buddhism.  Once again Capra was choosing the Quantum interpretation he liked best.

That’s why this version of ‘quantum mysticism’ simply doesn’t work. Capra was selecting just one way of looking at Buddhism and Quantum Physics.  Then along came folks like Deepak Chopra who muddled things even more.  These days what you get with most New Age stuff is a deep misunderstanding of quantum mechanics and a misunderstanding of the source materials - like Buddhism - it’s trying to draw from.

I will end by saying that, at the time, I really liked Capra’s book and it taught me a lot. In the end though, it led places that were simply a mistake. But this does not mean Science and Buddhism can’t have great discussions. I will definitely be returning to this topic because it’s super exciting to me. There is so much to unpack in thinking about where science and human spiritual aspirations (for lack of a better phrase) overlap and where they don’t..  

— Adam Frank 🚀