quantum mechanics – Harmonia Philosophica

Quantum cognition… Quantum cosmos… Classical humans…

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By examining our minds at a quantum level, we change them, and by changing them, we change the reality that shapes them. At least this is what the theory of quantum cognition says about what thinking is all about. (1)

A weird idea. But not less weird than quantum mechanics itself.

We constantly think.

And then think about what we think.

Watching the cosmos.

And changing it at the same time.

The first time we thought, we also thought about what we… thought!

Looking into the mirror, which reflected nothing more than us.

And what are we, than imperfect mirrors of the cosmos itself?

Empty your mind.

Think.

What are you thinking?

Quantum… time? Quantum… cosmos?!

An international group of physicists led by Stevens Institute of Technology, University of Vienna and University of Queensland reveal the quantum properties of time, whereby the flow of time doesn’t observe a straight arrow forward, but one where cause and effect can co-exist both in the forward and backward direction.

To show this scenario, researchers merged quantum mechanics and general relativity to conduct a Gedanken experiment.

To illustrate what happens, imagine a pair of starships training for a mission. They are asked to fire at each other at a specified time and dodge the fire at another time, whereby each ship knows the exact time when to fire and when to dodge. If either ship fires too early, it will destroy the other, and this establishes an unmistakable time order between the firing events.

If a powerful agent could place a sufficiently massive object, say a planet, closer to one ship it would slow down its flow of time. As a result, the ship would dodge the fire too late and would be destroyed.

Quantum mechanics complicates the matter. When placing the planet in a state of superposition near one ship or the other, both can be destroyed or survive at the same time. The sequence of events exists in a state of superposition, such that each starship simultaneously destroys the other. (1)

An interesting idea.

But why stop at the spaceships?

Why not extrapolate to planets?

To the cosmos?

To existence itself?

Look around.

So many things to doubt. And yet you know you shouldn’t.

Close your eyes.

There is nothing there. And yet, you know there is…

Once upon a time you were born.

Once upon a time you have died.

But it matters not.

For you will always be here now.

Look around.

So many things to believe. And you know you should.

Close your eyes.

Everything is there. And yet you know nothing is…

Once upon a time you died.

Once upon a time you were born.

But it matters not.

For you were never here anyway.

N-problems… Understanding nothing…

Physicists are proposing a new model that could demonstrate the supremacy of quantum computers over classical supercomputers in solving optimization problems. They demonstrate that just a few quantum particles would be sufficient to solve the mathematically difficult N-queens problem in chess even for large chess boards. (1)

Solving problems with less.

Reaching at the end without leaving the beginning.

Dying before ever living.

That is the essence of life.

That there is no essence.

Look into the void. Rendering any problem meaningless.

Including life. The biggest problem of them all.

For in this perfect world you should know.

That everything which cannot be understood, should not…

Going back in time… With no change…

We cannot reverse the arrow of time any more than we can erase all our wrinkles or restore a shattered teacup to its original form.

Or can we?

An international team of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory managed to return a computer briefly to the past.

To achieve the time reversal, the research team developed an algorithm for IBM’s public quantum computer that simulates the scattering of a particle. In classical physics, this might appear as a billiard ball struck by a cue, traveling in a line. But in the quantum world, one scattered particle takes on a fractured quality, spreading in multiple directions. To reverse its quantum evolution is like reversing the rings created when a stone is thrown into a pond.

In nature, restoring this particle back to its original state – in essence, putting the broken teacup back together – is impossible, since you would need a ”supersystem” to manipulate the particle’s quantum waves at every point. The time required for this supersystem to properly manipulate the quantum waves would extend longer than that of the universe itself.

The team managed to overcome this complexity, at least in principle. Their algorithm simulated an electron scattering by a two-level quantum system, “impersonated” by a quantum computer qubit and its related evolution in time. The electron goes from a localized, or “seen,” state, to a scattered one. Then the algorithm throws the process in reverse, and the particle returns to its initial state – in other words, it moves back in time, if only by a tiny fraction of a second. (1)

Going back in time.

By returning to the original state.

Because time is defined by change.

But what does this mean?

This doesn’t mean they go back in time.

But that time wasn’t there in the first place…

The 2^nd law of thermodynamics.

The arrow of time.

The fate of the universe.

Everything will be back to their original state at the end.

And the end will be the new beginning.

Going back in time.

Where time is nothing but a fleeting feeling.

Open your eyes.

Can you dream of how you started dreaming?

Life. Existence. Quantum mechanics.

We’re a little closer to explaining life with quantum mechanics thanks to research carried out with an IBM supercomputer.

Encoding behaviours related to self-replication, mutation, interaction between individuals, and (inevitably) death, a quantum algorithm has been used to show that quantum computers can indeed mimic some of the patterns of biology in the real world. This is still an early proof-of-concept prototype, but it opens the door to diving further into the relationship between quantum mechanics and the origins of life.

The same principles governing quantum physics may even have had a role to play in forming our genetic code. (1)

Life is weird.

We are not sure what it is.

But we are sure it is something (good).

Death is weird.

We not sure what it is.

But we are sure it is something (bad).

But could both perceptions be wrong?

Look through the mirror of existence.

Life as a result of death.

Death as a result of life.

A cosmos balancing between existence and non-existence.

For Being is neither…