Wednesday, August 1

Quantum Physics or Duh!

I love quantum physics, everyone thinks it strange, mysterious and confusing. Even physicists! But sometimes it seems pretty apparent what's going on. I came across this puzzling video. I was not aware of the wave function (whatever it is) until I saw this but the idea that it could be real makes complete sense to me.

Years ago when I worked at the YMCA and waited for the light bulb guys to come with a delivery I sat in the office reading an article in the Smithsonian Magazine. it was about the weird behavior of electrons, they don't go through a wall, they hit it and just appear on the other side of it. If you affect the spin ( not literally a spin, that's just what they call it -play along) of an electron in space A, the spin of an electron in space B - maybe somewhere on the moon will also be affected.

Wow, man the author opined, electrons and the world of quantum mechanics was very strange, like totally weird. I just shook my head. How this "spooky action at a distance" works was pretty obvious to me: the two electrons are in communication with each other as everything in the universe is connected, duh. When the light bulb guys arrived I showed them this article and they agreed with me, as if I explained to them that the earth revolves around the sun. So there we were, a bunch of non scientists who thought the weirdness these people were freaking out about made sense.

Now I'm sure my opinion is simplistic but I'm a big fan of metaphysics, and I'm beginning to see the shaman, mystic and zen Buddhists are talking about the same thing as physicists and mathematicians, they are merely using a different language to describe their observations. Even the average person like myself is capable of grasping these ideas.

The newest thing is the "string theory" that speculates about multiple dimensions and everything being composed of tiny little string of energy that vibrate. Well yeah. Admittedly there is a LOT about physics that completely eludes me and I have no illusions of understanding anything but sometimes I feel I get a glimpse behind the veil before the weight of logic and the voice of "what the hell do you know punk?" slams me down. But I continue to study physics, the universe and the "unfathomable mystery" of life as Carlos Castaneda's  Don Juan put it. That's OK, It gives me something to ponder while drinking my morning cup of tea.

No comments: