Weird as they seem, the following "quantum phenomena", in layman's terms, have been widely observed and lab proven to be as true and indisputable as ever:
Quantum Duality: An object can behave like a particle or like a wave
Quantum Uncertainty: An object's exact location and/or movement can only be measured up to a certain accuracy
Quantum Superposition: An object can be both here and there, or anywhere; a "wave function" can only be used to predict how likely it might appear somewhere
Quantum Entanglement: Two objects' states can be somehow related or complementary to each other even though they are spatially separated
Non-locality: Objects can have instantaneous communication without any exchange of signals through space-time
De-coherence: An object can lose its superposition ambiguity and "collapse" into a specific time and space of the "classic" world
Also, instead of the "two physics" scenario that uses classic (Newtonian) physics to describe the macro world we encounter in our everyday life, and quantum physics for the sub-atomic, micro world where photons and electrons behave, more people nowadays agree that the latter--quantum physics--is the single physics that can describe both the macro and micro worlds in one comprehensive theory.
Which means, for example, even the moon is a quantum object; it's just so massive that its quantum uncertainty and wave property become so minuscule and negligible that we can treat it like a classical object, just like we can look at the area around us and think it's flat even though we know the Earth as a whole is round.
Now, the million dollar question, "What causes a quantum object to de-cohere, to shake off its quantum ambiguity and pop into a classic-world being?"
The "observation" does it, experiments say.
What is an "observation"?
It's a measurement by one or a few physical apparatuses such as photon splitting mirror, detecting screen, etc., that is eventually observed by the perceiving mind of a human being.
So a human mind is involved with the behavior of the last, tiniest pieces of matter of the world, when it all comes down to it?!
Western philosophers and metaphysical and ontological thinkers--people who have been pondering on the issues of what the universe is made of, the nature of things, the human conditions--have long adopted a dualistic view that treats mind and matter, soul and body, as two separate entities; or a monistic but materialistic view that sees the mind as the epiphenomenon--the emergent phenomenon or derived effect--of the matter, especially since the Enlightenment times and along with the development of modern sciences.
But what if it's the other way around, that mind is the real thing, and matter is the derivative or the emergent phenomenon of it?
Imagine one unitive, omnipresent consciousness, roaming in a quantum universe, drawn and exercised by every sentient being, to knock the ever-so-elusive quantum objects it pays attention to into concrete, material existence...
And since all sentient beings share one unitive consciousness, once an object is materialized by your consciousness it is perceived similarly by me as well (so you won't see a dead cat while I see it as alive); and collectively our consciousness forms some universal psyches, or the so-called "unconscious archetypes" suggested by Carl Jung.
The consciousness has absolute latitude in choosing what state to crash things into existence (thus our free will), but such choosing takes active efforts (awareness, contemplation) to execute, and due to our inertia or myriad of previous choices we made in similar situations we keep in our mental store, we tend to instantiate the "old and true" ways of thinking and live life as one routine after another.
However, once in a while, a brisk, eruptive "quantum jump" of our conscious choice triggers a creative thinking that gives rise to our aha moments in life!
Paranormal experiences, such as telepathy, distant viewing, extra sensory perception (ESP), etc., could be instances where the non-local (transcending space-time) communication between entangled parties is at work.
Far fetched? All these just another fancy way of explaining many phenomena we observe in the world--another "poetic naturalism" talk, except this time it tells the story from the mind's vantage point instead of the matter's, like the naturalists usually do?
It might well be. But as a sentient being myself, I must say I hold an inborn bias that rather gives the mind an upper hand over the matter, than the other way around
And have you heard of the "quantum computers" companies like Google and IBM are building? They make use of the multi-possibilities of the superposition state of the "quantum bits" to do super fast parallel processing, and the non-local communication between entangled secret keys to create unbreachable encryptions!
Even in the field of psychological study, they find some quantum truth in human behavior. "The making of a decision collapses a thought wave into a particle," according to Jerome Busemeyer and Peter Bruza’s book "Quantum Models of Cognition and Decision". "The wave nature of an indefinite state captures the psychological experience of conflict, ambiguity, confusion, and uncertainty; the particle nature of a definite state captures the psychological experience of conflict resolution, decision, and certainty," they write.
So, for example, if I’m telling a friend about a "Man of the Year" award I am about to receive, and I’m not sure how I feel about it, if he asks me “Are you nervous?” that might get me thinking about all the reasons I should be nervous. I might not have been nervous before he asked me, but after the question, my answer might become, “Well, I am now!”
You might know nothing about quantum physics before, but you do now
No comments:
Post a Comment