The Range of Binary Units
Hans Christian von Baeyer, 'Markus Fierz: His Character and His Worldview',1 in The Pauli-Jung Conjecture and Its Impact Today2, 2014, 72:
Fierz implies that by suitably moving the location of this split3 we can apprehend the world either physically or psychologically. But I don’t understand that last step of his argument – how he jumps from the mobility of the split4 to the complementarity of physics and psychology.
Let a spectrum be defined by its two ends in 'all physics' and 'all psychology'.5 Let every point on the spectrum between these two ends be defined by “the mobility of the split” between physics and psychology such that each point represents a ratio of the two of them. On the physics side of the spectrum, the ratio would always favor physics but would gradually diminish in the emphasis on physics relative to psychology towards the midpoint of the spectrum. At the midpoint, the ratio would begin gradually to favor psychology relative to physics and would do so more and more towards its end of the spectrum. The exact midpoint would, of course, be the complementarity of the two where physics and psychology are in balance.
The ratio points along the spectrum can be called ‘binary units’, that is, ‘bits’. What is at stake in the spectrum is the range of bits as the fundamental structures of what Marshall McLuhan termed ‘second nature’.6 This is ‘first nature’ in the myriad ways it appears in experience: phenomenology.7
McLuhan was clear about this spectrum of ratios or bits. The midpoint he called 'inclusion' or 'the electric', the two sides of the midpoint he called 'exclusion' or 'the mechanical'.8 Of course he characterized the spectrum in many other ways as well. For example, Marconi (the electric/inclusive midpoint) vs Gutenberg (the two mechanical/exclusive sides). But McLuhan knew (as did Plato) what physicists seem yet to learn, namely, that the spectrum of experiential bits can never be defined by some part of it!9
Markus Eduard Fierz (1912-2006) was a Swiss physicist who spent most of his career in Zürich as Pauli's longtime assistant and eventual successor. He and his family had close ties to Jung over many years. His mother, Linda Fierz-David (1891-1955) was a Jungian analyst who was active in Analytic Psychology organizations. Markus’ twin brother, Heinrich Karl Fierz (1912-1984) was a psychiatrist who wrote a number of books on Analytic Psychology.
Von Baeyer’s paper was originally published in Quantum Theory: Reconsideration of Foundations v6, December 2012.
The split referenced by von Baeyer is between physics and psychology, but the point at stake in his excellent essay concerns oppositions, alternatives, ‘binary units’ in general.
McLuhan on “the mobility of the split”: “Our man-made visual environment (...) has persisted with various modulations of stress since the fifth century B.C.” (War and Peace in the Global Village , 1968, 13) “The mobility of the split” and the “modulations of stress” name the same fundamental phenomenon.
'All physics' and 'all psychology', or, generalized, ‘all X’ and ‘all Y’, are what Harold Innis called “monopolies”. The relativization of monopolies is one of the great themes of human history, Heraclitus’ ὁδός ἄνω kᾆτω μία kαὶ ὡυτή.
Towards the end of his life McLuhan said that he was thinking of changing the title of Laws of Media, which was subsequently published under this title posthumously, to ‘Phenomenology of the Media’.
The interjection here (what physicists seem yet to learn) is doubtless a misstatement since the question of the interrelation of classical and quantum mechanics remains central to fundamental physics. This must be a topic for a future post or posts …