Quantum Entanglements

The feature article in the "Canvas" insert in the Weekend Herald this week is a sort of "whatever became of....." about the Apollo astronauts who walked in the Moon almost 40 years ago. The experience seems to have profoundly affected these men, one way or another. Not hard to imagine how it might.

Part of the article was about Edgar ("Ed") Mitchell, who landed on the Moon during the Apollo 14 mission. On the way back from the Moon, he had what he called an "epiphany". A 'stardust moment' of realisation the matter composing he and his crew and their ship and the Earth had been forged in the heart of long-dead stars. Since his return, he has tried to put that sense of oneness with the Universe into a scientific context.

Quantum theory provided the answer he was looking for. All matter is simply dense energy and at the sub-atomic level - the quantum level - the usual rules we are familiar with don't apply. Particles have "entanglements" with other particles they have been in contact with that transcend time and space. These entanglements constitute a "quantum hologram" - a four dimensional "image" of the history of all quantum states an object has ever known. This, in turn, is "information" that is exchanged as part of the energy / matter interaction that is known to go on all the time at the quantum level.

Mitchell and others are of the view that this "information" is knowable by living organisms. Indeed, they say any object may have some level of quantum 'mind' as well as matter. That the quantum hologram can be perceived and that our own brains use this mechanism as a critical part of their normal, everyday function.

Mitchell is careful to make it clear this is all hypothesis and that it should be investigated to determine whether it is valid or not. But he also makes it clear that he thinks it will be found to be valid.

It's a fascinating story. When I picked "Canvas" up earlier today, I didn't realise I would be spending the next several hours Googling and reading scientific papers watching tutorials on YouTube, learning about quantum physics.

I particularly liked this series of videos on YouTube:

Basic quantum theory



and quantum entanglement



G'won. Ask me anything.

Looking around the Net, it's apparent that the core ideas of quantum theory have been embraced by a some dubious folk who want you to believe you can consciously will yourself into being rich just by thinking about it and taking advantage of entanglement. For a few dollars, they'll share the "secret" with you. I wonder how many people stump up with the cash?

Others see these concepts as proof of spirituality and / or a deity. Certainly the implications of this can be expressed in spiritual terms. The way I read it, Mitchell says his aim is to help develop the scientific vocabulary to enable these concepts to come into the mainstream as the common understanding of the nature of reality.