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representing active information which gives form to the motion of particles that, however, move under their own energy. There are numerous bits and pieces of Bohm's theories that have parallel expression in The Urantia Book.
R.I.P. Schrodinger's cat?
Whereas Bohr's quantum theory is indeterminate, Bohm's is fully deterministic. Bohm also denies that there are any such things as superpositions (i.e. dead and alive cats). The Urantia Book agrees: "Aside from the presence of the Unqualified Absolute, electrical and chemical reactions are predictable." (738)
Einstein was right? Photons are particles?
Bohr's theory says light is both particle and wave at the same time, until observed. Bohm and The Urantia Book treat light as particulate. Discussing his theories, Bohm says: "...considering a single particle of matter (e.g, an electron), according to the quantum theory such a particle shows wave-like properties as well as particle-like properties. I propose to explain this by assuming that while the electron is a particle, it is always accompanied by a new kind of wave field determined by Schrodinger's equation. The electron must be understood in terms of both the particle and the field which always accompanies the particle.... the Schrodinger equation, expressed in terms of this model...needs an additional new kind of force derivable from what I call the quantum potential... which does not depend on the intensity of the wave but only on the form....We can regard the quantum potential as containing active information, potentially active everywhere, but actually active only where and when there is a particle. (An analogy would be radio waves directing the flight path of an aeroplane on automatic pilot.)
"We may illustrate what this means by considering what happens to a statistical distribution of electrons that pass through a system of two slits and are detected on a screen...Suppose we consider a specified particle so located that it goes through one of the slits. Afterwards it will follow a complicated path so that it is significantly affected by a quantum potential determined by the interference of waves from both slits....In this way, we understand that the path of each particle depends very much on whether one slit is open, or both are open. This is the proposed explanation of how the electron can behave in some ways like a particle and in others, like a wave...depending strongly on the information in the form of a wave that reflects the whole environment. Nevertheless, it ultimately arrives at a particular point on the screen, thus demonstrating the particle nature of the electron. Yet, in a random statistical distribution of electrons with the same Schrodinger wave, all these particles bunch to produce a fringe-like distribution on the screen (interference pattern). The field of information in the Schrodinger wave is thus reflected in the statistical distribution, and in this way we understand how the dependence of each particle in this field of information brings about the wave-like behavior of a statistical distribution of such particles."
Do photons run on autopilot?
Photons of light would, of course, behave in the same way as the electrons described above. Compare Bohm's idea (only the wave went through both slits) to one in The Urantia Book. "Energy, whether as light or in other forms, in its flight through space moves straight forward. The actual particles of material existence traverse space like a fusillade...Solar energy may seem to be propelled in waves, but that is due to the action of coexistent and diverse influences. A given form of organized energy does not proceed in waves but in direct lines, The presence of a second or a third form of force-energy (Bohm's quantum potential?) may cause the stream under observation to appear to travel in wavy formation, just as, in a blinding rainstorm accompanied by a heavy wind, the water sometimes appears to fall in sheets or descend in waves." (461)
Electrons have a sub-structure?
Bohm believes that electrons must have a sub-structure. Discussing his explanation for apparent particle-wave duality, he says, "This model implies that an electron is not a simple billiard-ball entity, but that it may have an inner complexity comparable to that of a radio set or a vessel guided by an automatic pilot....Current theoretical notions suggest that an electron cannot be larger than something in the order of 1/1016 cm...Between this and the Planck length of 1/1033 cm, there is a range of scales as great as that between every-day dimensions and the presumed size of the electron. Thus, there is ample room for the possibility of the requisite structural complexity." The Urantia Book tells us, "Mutual attraction holds one hundred ultimatons together in the constitution of the electron; and there are never more nor less than one hundred ultimatons in a typical electron." (476)
So did Bohm get his revolutionary ideas from The Urantia Book? Not likely, for they were first published in 1952. So are they the mental meanderings of just another nut case? Again not likely for speaking about them, John Bell (1987) said, "Bohm's 1952 papers on quantum mechanics were for me, a revelation. I have always felt, since, that people who have not grasped the ideas of those papers (and unfortunately they remain the majority) are handicapped in any discussion of the meaning of quantum mechanics." And in his review, David Albert (1994) states, "Bohm's theory accounts for all the unfathomable-looking behaviors of electrons every bit as well as the standard interpretation does. Moreover, and this point is important, it is free of any of the metaphysical perplexities associated with
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