Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia; Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.
Post 125. June 27, 2022
Quantum Weirdness
Iffy Is-ness
Another queer concept in QT, is the status of a waveform before measurement, known as : “superposition”. That doesn’t mean supernatural, but merely “in addition to”. Not just one or two states, but all possible states (condition of being) [German : overlapping]. Neils Bohr, explained that “the wavefunction of superposed states doesn’t say anything about what the photon is ‘like’. It is a tool for letting you predict what you can measure”. Hence, the “particle” in question is not Actual, but Potential⁶. Which means only that it can be mathematically predicted because it is lawful : one of the states allowed by Nature under the current conditions. That’s why photons (Energy) have the Potential for both particle and wave behaviors, depending on prevailing circumstances. As I understand it, measurement by an observer disentangles the holistic wave into reductive particles, by extracting a bit of Information⁷.
One kind of information is a definition, describing what a thing is. So, Ball asks a typical philosophical question : “what do we mean by ‘is’?” That’s an ontological inquiry into a state of existence (being), or an epistemological query about defining properties (essence). But he doesn’t like the “cold & formal” term “state”, used to describe certain conditions of existence. Normally, a “state” is a snapshot of properties, but a quantum state depends on who’s looking, and what they are looking for. Which brings a subjective element into the presumably objective methods of science. And which allows a quantum element to be in more than one state at a time, as if viewed from many perspectives simultaneously. Consequently, to define the mode-of-being for a quantum particle brings us back to the spooky term “superposition” (everywhere, all at once). Yet some scientists have become so accustomed to that counter-intuitive concept that they are comfortable with the contra-factual notion of Many Worlds, existing simultaneously & invisibly, in the ether around our universe.
However, a more meaningful, and less mysterious, label for such anomalous is-ness, is “Potential” (the power to become). Potential is not yet Actual, but it can be reliably predicted mathematically due to the “laws” of statistics (Probability⁸). And it’s predictable because it’s lawful — and natural. So, superposition is not some alternative reality, it’s merely the unseen underside of our normal reality, the queer quantum realm of reality. For example, a superposed photon (bit of energy) has the statistical potential for both particular & holistic states & behaviors, depending on circumstances — including who’s looking. What’s weird about that ambiguity of outcomes is that, as Ball says – perhaps with a perverse smile – “the mere act of making a measurement . . . . appears to turn a wave into a particle” — as if by magic (apple into orange).
Blog Post 125 continued . . . .
SIDEBAR NOTES
6. Potential : Unrealized or unmanifest creative power. For example, the Voltage of an electric battery is its potential for future current flow measured in Amps. Potential is inert until actualized by some trigger.
7. Information : It’s equivalent to Energy, in that it has the ability to “make a difference”, to cause change. [Bateson] Those bits of causation are measured in terms of numerical values or semantic meaning.
Sci-fi writers portray those alternative realities as actually Real for the sentient inhabitants of each variation. But, quantum superposition was never intended to be taken literally. It’s a metaphor — an analogy — to clones or carbon copies. All it means is that alternative properties of particles are statistically possible. Which means they are Potential, not Actual. But that’s no fun for fiction writers. So lets allow them their little imaginary worlds, that are harmless, because they are not real.
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