Physicist Fritjof Capra explains in his book, The Tao of Physics, a new paradigm for thinking in science. Quantum mechanics is changing the way we view the world, no longer that of classical Newtonian mechanics.

Philosophical Engineering

Fritjof first examines the relationship between the part and the whole. Newtonian mechanics, though sufficient to explain our practical interactions with the world, are proven unsatisfactory at lower levels. Newtonian mechanics, when studied and applied to solving problems, suggests that the world we live in is determined by causal mechanisms that can be seen and understood easily. The nature of this study implies the world can be reduced to its parts and put back together like an engine in a car. However, when one wishes to further understand the mechanics at the atomic level, this notion of cause and effect disappears, as fields and correlating antiparticles now come into the picture. Interpreting these findings forces us to understand the world as more of a network of relations and not as fundamental building blocks. We need two approaches to interpret our world, the smaller building blocks and the “bigger” picture that determines the relations among them.