雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第3章:思考什麼是思考(24)

The new quantum physics offered such a reconciliation, because it seemed that certain phenomena were absolutely undetermined.

新興的量子理論，則提供了一個協調的機會，因爲該理論認爲，一個事件是絕對不確定的。

If a beam of electrons were directed at a plate in which there were two holes, then the electrons would divide between the two, but there seemed no way of predicting the path that any particular electron would follow, not even in principle.

如果一道電子被引導至有兩個孔的盤子上，這些電子將會分別通過兩個孔，而且似乎無法預測某個電子將會通過哪個孔，整個路徑也無法預測。

Einstein, who in 1905 had made a very important contribution to the early quantum theory with a description of the related photo-electric effect, was never convinced that this was really so.

愛因斯坦圍繞這一現象，在1905年描述了光電效應，這對早期量子力學做出了非常重要的貢獻，但卻從未有人相信事實真的是這樣。

But Eddington was more readily persuaded, and was not shy of turning his expressive pen to explain to a general audience that determinism was no more.

不過愛丁頓欣然接受了，而且不憚於用它富有表現力的筆，將它傳播給大衆，來證明決定論是錯誤的。

The Schr?dinger theory, with its waves of probability, and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (which, formulated independently, turned out to be equivalent to Schr?dinger's ideas) gave him the idea that mind could act upon matter without in any way breaking physical laws.

薛定諤的概率波，和海森堡的不確定原理，使愛丁頓認爲，思維作用於實體，並不違反物理規律，

Perhaps it could select the outcome of otherwise undetermined events.

它也許可以決定那些不確定事件的結果。