Is one difference in the analogy that individual humans have independent agency and do concrete things in the world, where particles don't have agency, and don't really 'do' actions in a sense that is meaningful outside of the system they're in?
I guess by questioning the analogy I get back to my point. Things don't happen in history because of (truly) random behaviours converging on some emergent effect, like in a system of particles. They happen because specific unique (wrt the system) individuals make decidedly non-random decisons to affect reality on purpose (even if cause and effect are not that predictable it still holds that the actions are purposeful and do affect reality) in some way.
I question your assumption that in history “things don't happen in history because of (truly) random behaviors converging on some emergent effect.”
Firstly there is currently a debate among quantum physics as to the true randomness of what we observe[1][2]. Turns out we don’t actually need true randomness in our models, they just need to appear as if they are random, in other words, the chaotic nature of the system is more important than true randomness.
Secondly, society is an emergent effect of individuals behaving in a chaotic manner. So is zeitgeist. To study history without looking at societal changes over time, and without accounting for zeitgeist, is bound to yield a pretty limited insights.
I am aware that my analogy between quantum mechanics and the study of history is flawed. The latter is infinity more complex than the former, and deriving laws and creating models is a good fit to study the former but extremely difficult to study the latter. However my point is merely pointing to the fact that atomism (and holism for that matter) is an incomplete philosophy of science, that doesn’t even work in our most fundamental scope. One should be cautious when applying it to the study of history.
Or to put it in other words: While ρ(λ | ab) ≠ ρ(λ) is a real possibility in quantum physics likewise it is highly likely that the probability of individual acting in society is not independent from the probability of the same individual acting outside of the influence of that society. In your original point government may very well be like the ab in this famous conjecture. I would be careful when removing it’s influence.
PS: Sorry to cite youtube videos, but I’m not a physicist and these videos are the only way for me to understand the science. Otherwise I would be citing something I don’t understand, which I don’t want to do.
I guess by questioning the analogy I get back to my point. Things don't happen in history because of (truly) random behaviours converging on some emergent effect, like in a system of particles. They happen because specific unique (wrt the system) individuals make decidedly non-random decisons to affect reality on purpose (even if cause and effect are not that predictable it still holds that the actions are purposeful and do affect reality) in some way.