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Quantum mechanics tries to describe the events and mechanisms by which energy is emitted and absorbed in discrete amounts by atoms and other nanoscopic entities. I use the term here, however, to denote the underlying collective behaviour these little mechanisms exhibit when unperturbed by thermal agitation.
At the temperatures with which we are familiar, the molecules of matter move or vibrate vigorously. Their motions are random and chaotic. They are free citizens - independent spirits. Each can take his own unilaterally-determined path within the bounds of physical law. All are free to mix and interact. It is only in this benign state that matter is able to host the processes of life.
But when a fluid like helium is cooled to within a few degrees of absolute zero, roughly -273°C, its molecules seem to lose their independence. Each no longer follows his own unilaterally decided path. All molecules seem to move together in unison. They become like a flock of sheep, all following whichever of their number happens to move first. This gives rise to strange effects. For instance, liquid helium starts to crawl up the side of its container. Independent complex dynamical behaviour has broken down.
Purists may disagree, but I do not think these quantum mechanical effects are limited to the nanoscopic world of molecules and elementary particles.
A few of generations ago, the pendulum clock was the norm. It was then that clock makers witnessed a remarkable phenomenon. The pendulums of a group of identical clocks on a shelf, after they had been together for some time, would be seen swinging in perfect synchronism. It is very unlikely that they would have started off that way. The clock maker could only set the clocks going one at a time. The swing of each pendulum would therefore start off in a random phase with respect to any of the others. It was as if there were some kind of mysterious linkage between the pendulums which gradually pulled them into synchronism.
I think that the essence of quantum-mechanical phenomena is linkage. In other words, quantum mechanical effects are observed when the linkage between the elements of a complex system is great. Chaotic effects are observed in the microscopic world when that linkage is reduced by thermal agitation.
Linkage must not here be confused with communication bandwidth. Communication bandwidth concerns the ease and rapidity with which independent systems are able to exchange information. Linkage is the degree to which the individual has relinquished independent control of himself and passed it to the collective of which he is a part.
In the animal kingdom, one may cite the sheep as a quantum mechanical animal. When one moves, all its peers move with it. The one that moves is not in any sense a leader. It is simply the one that moves first in response to a noise or movement which it perceives as a signal of danger. A cat, on the other hand, is fiercely independent. It does not tend follow the crowd. It thinks for itself. It takes unilateral action.
The human can be either. Each is equipped with a 100 billion neurone brain. It can think for itself at practically any level from the trivial and mundane to the exotic and abstract. It can choose, in any instance, to go its own way or to follow the crowd. The societies it forms can therefore exhibit complex dynamical and quantum mechanical behaviour.
In the realm of political opinion, I think, most members of the human race behave like sheep. They become over-connected to their so-called leaders. This is not through lack of intellectual freedom or mental dexterity. Under capitalism, each has to work all hours to gain the basic means to perform acceptably as a member of the socio-economy in which he is trapped. At the end of his stressful day, he has no time, energy or inclination to ponder the rights and wrongs of moral and political issues. All he can manage is to imbibe the oven-ready propaganda which spews continually from the mass-media spin machine, which his leaders use to keep his mind imprisoned within their web of deceit.
His political opinions are thus formed for him. They are shaped by the constant drip, drip from the pages of his politically aligned newspapers and establishment-influenced broadcasts. Sadly it is few who dare to think for themselves and question the status quo.
Consequently, each political bloc on this planet is a quantum mechanical fluid - a society of mindless sheep. The myriad individuals within it move as one - like the molecules of super-cooled helium. Politically, therefore, global society comprises a mere handful of independent blocs. Their number is too small to be statistically significant. In any case, it is dominated - nay monopolised - by just one: Western Capitalism. Whatever the merits or faults of Western Capitalism, this unhealthy configuration is in itself the harbinger of a dark age.
To be healthy and fulfilling for each individual, society needs to be complex dynamical in character right down to the level of the individual. Each must be connected to society, but not to the extent of relinquishing his independence of thought and action. Society must allow him to determine his optimum proportions of socialisation and solitude - of conformity and diversity. This prerogative must be upheld by the very protocol through which all individuals in society interact with each other. And that protocol is summarised perfectly in the words "love thy neighbour as thyself".