
One of the many joys of the Internet age is serendipity—serendipity in finding things that captivate you. For me, one happened yesterday on YouTube when I chanced upon a video by the popular Caltech physicist Sean Carroll.
To quote what he calls his “stuffy official bio” he “is a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in 1993 from Harvard University. His research focuses on fundamental physics and cosmology, especially issues of dark matter, dark energy, spacetime symmetries, and the origin of the universe. Recently, Carroll has worked on the foundations of quantum mechanics, the arrow of time, and the emergence of complexity.”
In short, the man knows what he is talking about. A Ph.D. in physics from anywhere is hard enough. One from Harvard should count for much more.
Speaking of someone who knows what he is talking about with a Ph.D. from Harvard, me, as in someone who does not know what he is talking about and has a lowly B.Sc. in chemistry and physics from the Gujarat University, not quite world famous. Of course, that has never been a hindrance for me to put forward ideas about quantum physics for over three and a half decades and ponder over them since early teens.
While watching Dr. Carroll’s scintillating video, in the 20th minute I came upon this observation, “What if we just said the world is a quantum system, the world has a wave function and the world obeys the Schrodinger equation? That’s all that ever happens.” My ears perked up and I had an immediate sense of having been there. I also sensed that he might be coming to a theme I have talked about for a long time.
An accompanying slide of his presentation mentions, “Treat both the cat and the observer as quantum.” He says along with it, “You have to gird your loins for this. This is saying that you have a wave function. You obey the rules of quantum mechanics. It’s not that crazy. After all, you are made of atoms and everyone thinks that atoms obey the rules of quantum mechanics. Maybe you do too.”
That started ringing all kinds of bells in my brain. I remembered having written a post along a broadly similar theme although given that I am not a physicist it was more philosophical than quantum mechanical. However as you will see below it touches upon some of the same broad ideas even as it departs somewhat in its grasp. A quick search of my blog revealed that indeed there was a post on November 25, 2016 with the headline “Humans as quantum particles in all possible states until measured.”
I republish that piece. In the interest of clarity, it is absolutely not my claim even remotely that what I have written is at all original. The only claim I make is that the idea of humans as quantum particles has been bouncing around in my mind for over three decades and longer. It is always heartening to know that one's ideas, as random as they are, have some intellectual resonance and that too with someone of the caliber of Dr. Carroll's. I am claiming a tiny portion of reflected glory here.
November 25, 2016
For as long as I remember, I have considered humans as quantum particles in relation to the universe. Just consider this one fact. If the sun was hollow, it could fit 1.3 million earths inside. Now imagine an average human’s size in relation to earth within those 1.3 million earths inside the sun which is but a mediocre star as stars in our Milky Way galaxies go. You begin to get some measure of how minuscule an average human is. We are quantum particles in relation to our own galaxy, let alone our galactic neighborhood and eventually the entire universe.
Having established that scale, now on to a theory I have long nurtured. If humans are quantum particles, they ought to display quantum characteristics, a fundamental one of which is quantum superposition. We all live in the human version of quantum superposition. I define human superposition as living in all possible emotional or unemotional states at all times until such time as an external stimulation triggers a response. Then we assume a specific state the way quantum particles do. (Note inserted today: In Dr. Carroll’s explanation, the many states already exist and do so independent of one another without the ability to ever communicate with one another.)
When we are measured (interacted with) in a manner of speaking, we reveal a specifically identifiable state which collapses into superposition as soon as that act of measurement or interaction stops. Until such time as I am interacting with a particular individual I can never tell what state that person is in. That means the person is in all possible states, including dead, without my interacting (measuring) them. It is only when specific information related to that specific person is accessed by an act of measurement or interaction, do we get to access one particular state. The idea that from one’s extremely limited knowledge, the rest of the universe is a mere speculation can be an unsettling one.
In a strange way I am reminded of my theory when someone famous or accomplished passes away; someone whose existence I was not aware of to begin with. It is only because I came to measure or interact or to be revealed to of that person’s death, do I know that that person existed. I say famous or accomplished because those deaths are publicly reported. Millions of people die every day whose lives or deaths we are not aware of and hence their existence remains speculative for us for all practical purposes.
Coming back to my idea of human superposition, once you apply that theory to humans you can explain a lot of what goes on in the world. Some human particles jiggle much more than the others and therefore reveal their existence more assertively. Most lead an existence of low energy and therefore tend to fade away without making much impact beyond their immediate neighborhood.
There is some comfort—at least for me—in thinking of ourselves as quantum particles in relation to the universe. In some sense, the state of being human quantum particles liberates oneself from being tethered to value judgment. If I reveal something of my existence or a particular state, it is only because someone, somewhere measured it.
I must clarify I use measure not in a literal sense of measuring something the way physicists measure the quantum world but as an act of human interaction.
As useful ideas go, what I have just written about is rather useless in so much as it affects one’s daily life. On the other hand though, the moment you look at fellow human beings as fellow quantum particles forever in all possible states they can be until such time they are measured, life becomes easier.