This morning while reading excerpts from the well-known theoretical physicist Sean Carroll’s new book ‘Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime’ I came upon a particular passage that triggered a memory of something I had written on November 25, 2016.
The passage goes: “So the reality of a quantum system, according to austere quantum mechanics, is describe by a wave function or quantum state, which can be thought of as a superposition of every possible outcome of some observation we might want to make. How do we get from there to the annoying reality wave functions appear to collapse when we make such measurements?”
Along those lines, Carroll talks about macroscopic things needed to make those microscopic measurements such as people and cameras. He then says this, “If atoms obey the rules of quantum mechanics and cameras are made of atoms , presumably cameras obey the rules of quantum mechanics too. For that matter, you and I presumably obey the rules of quantum mechanics. The fact that we are big, lumbering, macroscopic objects might make classical physics a good approximation to what we are, but our first guess should be that it is really quantum from top to bottom.”
It is that observation that took me back to my post from nearly three years ago. I think it merits republication. I had headlined it, “Humans as quantum particles in all possible states until measured.”
It turns out I had cited this very post of mine on June 21, 2019, after watching a video by Prof. Carroll. What it means is that this has been on my mind quite a bit.
Here is the original post of mine on 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.
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.
