Science and 'One Country, Two Systems'

摘要

On 1 July 1997, following the handover to China, Hong Kong entered the era of "one country, two systems." An imaginative group in Hong Kong thought that scientists might have something relevant to say. The notion was not entirely fanciful. Scientists live with dualities—and struggle against them. Probably one of the most revolutionary innovations in science during this century was the recognition of the duality of matter; that is, in some aspects of its behavior matter is best described as a particle, and in other aspects as a wave. This revolution in scientific thought took place almost three-quarters of a century ago. By now most scientists have come to accept it. But, happily for science, there are still some who are convinced that they can uncover a deeper level of truth in which the coexisting systems of thought will be replaced by a unified view.