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Quantum Philosophy
Over the last few months I have been writing about thought, thinking and questioning. These are the basic tools we humans have been given to discover what we can about the environment we live in. Once we have established the tools we have and how they work then we can proceed to discover what we can know about Life, the Universe and Everything. Those of you who recognize this phrase need no further explanation, however the rest of you may want to look up Douglas Adams and his "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy." What Douglas tells us in his very entertaining way is everyone in the Galaxy and beyond really wants to know the Answer to the Meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything. Before we can ever know the answer to the major question we need to answer many little questions.
In review, the last few months I have presented the necessity of questioning, how society pressures us not to question, and how the brain retains information. The most difficult question of all is how do people have "free will." Most people assume "free will" a priori, but if we want to understand the tools we have, namely our brain, we need to understand how it works. Without understanding "free will" our observations may be flawed. For example, we know politics can effect social sciences, and internal morality can effect our critical observations.
Two hypothesizes for "free will" are suggested here. One is the quantum uncertainty principle, the other is chaos theory. I'll discuss quantum mechanics here, and only mention that chaos theory also leads to a similar uncertainty in a different way. Because each brain cell is actually a very small structure which holds information in a very unstable way "free will" somehow arises out of this uncertainty. Of course we don't know what that "somehow" may be, but since quantum mechanics underlies our understanding of the universe I'll explore it first.
Many philosophers have tried to answer the question "What does quantum mechanics tell us about reality?" Very few Physicists have tried to answer this question. To a physicist quantum mechanics is a mathematical model used to predict the outcome of an experiment with observables in the quantum realm. This means quantum mechanics can tell us the equation used to predict what will happen to the electron's orbit about the nucleus in an atom or what will happen when electrons pass through a slit. The physicist will insist Quantum Mechanics doesn't tell us what causes quantum behaviour.
Quantum behavior gives us insight into our universe at very small lengths. After many experiments we are now sure quantum behavior is described by quantum mechanics.It tells us how to measure the properties of quantum objects. Quantum mechanics tells us we can never know the position and momentum of a particle exactly, because to measure the position of a particle exactly we need a very high momentum probe. A high momentum probe will impart an unknown amount of momentum into the system. Quantum Mechanics tell us about quantum energy states. It tells us about angular momentum, and how some observables are the mixture of quantum states.
Quantum mechanics does not tell us why nature behaves this way, only how to predict the quantum behavior we will observe when we plan an experiment. Once we have established this quantum mechanics can be used to form hypotheses about the underlying structure which causes the quantum effects we observe.
One strange effect is the interference pattern. An interference pattern can be described classically with optics as a combination of adding two wave fronts as they emerge through two or more sources. One way to create an interference pattern is to shine light on two slits which are cut very close to each other on a piece of paper. If the light is made of a single wavelength or color, this will work much easier. When the light passing through the slits is shown on a screen the result is a pattern of light and dark spots on the screen. By using optics we can predict exactly where the light and dark spots will be, and how bright and dark they will be. That is a classic optical interference pattern.
When we look at quantum behavior we can extend this experiment in two very unexpected ways:
First, if we do this same experiment with electrons instead of light we find an interference pattern as well. By using optics and measuring where the spots are and their intensity we can calculate a wave length for the electrons. This is known as the wave nature of a particle.
Second, if we again use light, but we turn the intensity very low we find the light will still pass through the slit and on to the screen, but the intensity is so low we can not see the pattern. If we use photo graphic film and develop the film after different exposure times we find another amazing thing. We will see spots on the film from each photon or particle of light as it passes through the slit, and if we increase the exposure length, a pattern will emerge. This is known as the particle nature of light.
The proper thing to do at this point is to ask questions:
1) How can a particle behave like a wave?
2) How can a wave behave like a particle?
Quantum mechanics can not answer these questions, it only tells us what we observe.
Another quantum behavior is the quantum energy state of a particle in a potential well. An example of a particle in a potential well is an electron in an atomic orbital. Another example is an electron trapped in a semiconductor potential well.
Now, if we recall the uncertainty of knowing the position and the momentum of the particle trapped in the potential well we can imagine there is some probability the electron can be found outside the well.When the particle is outside the well it could emit a photon and drop to another energy level. This is how an excited particle can decay into a lower energy state, and eventually into the lowest energy state.
If we consider the mind, and how it works, the current theme of this column, we can actually ask quite a few questions. People assume they have "free will", but physical property allows the mind to function with "free will?" Classical mechanics tells us if we know the initial conditions then we can predict the out come. This implies we are forced to act the only way we know how. This could mean we respond to the environment without choice. If this is so, we would respond to similar situations in similar ways, but we know this isn't so. The question then becomes, is quantum uncertainty somehow responsible for free will? Or, is free will an illusion? By the nature of quantum mechanics we can not know the initial conditions of anything exactly, only within the quantum uncertainty in which we can measure these conditions.
If we build on last months column we can ask: Do metaphors somehow decay or morph in our memory? Are our actions based on the metaphors that morph in our memory? Why do some metaphors remain intact, while others change with time? Does the sensing of our environment correct the errors in our metaphors? Do quantum fluctuations in our metaphors effect the way we choose to use our free will? With all of this uncertainty, how do we know we have free will? Is the free will we observe only our imagination suggesting we have a free will, but our actions are actually based on metaphors which randomly change in our mind over time.
Keep all this in mind, and next month I'll begin to explore how our mind's interaction with the environment and the memes which are passed through the social infrastructure effect how we behave. Do all these interactions create the illusion of free will, and how can we create an experiment to determine if we really do have free will?
Michael Forbush5-20-99
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