teaspoon and balloon

[T]he world is a continuous, restless swarming of things, a continuous coming to light and disappearance of ephemeral entities. A set of vibrations... A world of happenings, not of things.

[...]

At first glance, the idea that our ignorance implies something about the behavior of the world seems irrational: the cold teaspoon heats up in hot tea and the balloon flies about when it is released regardless of what I know or don't know. What does what we know or don't know have to do with the laws that govern the world? The question is legitimate; the answer to it is subtle. 

Teaspoon and balloon behave as they must, following the laws of physics in complete independence from what we know or don't know about them. The predictability or unpredictability of their behavior does not pertain to their precise condition; it pertains to the limited set of their properties with which we interact. This set of properties depends on our specific way of interacting with the teaspoon or the balloon. Probability does not refer to the evolution of matter in itself. It relates to the evolution of those specific quantities we interact with. Once again, the profoundly relational nature of the concepts we use to organize the world emerges.

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics | Carlo Rovelli