Do things or information ever really disappear?
Earth Cat Zero ™ Prelaunch – Part Two
As I countdown the launch to my forthcoming novel EARTH CAT ZERO: LAST CAT MEOWING ™ © – I am excited to illuminate some of the quantum science theories that may soon – oddly enough – become our reality.
Have you ever felt strongly about an observation of someone or something and then changed your mind over time about it? If you did, would your current observation be then considered reality and the former observation a mistake? In quantum mechanics, observations of microscopic things – mostly particles – allows for a lot of this wiggle room. Well, unless you’re a staunch supporter of Copenhagen Theory which I’ll try to outline today using simple examples – like my favorite (you guessed it) – a cat.
The very idea that a particle can behave as a particle and a wave form at the same time would seem to lead to confusion but not in quantum physics. If Miranda sees her orange cat with blue eyes sitting on her desk and then it hops off to go into another room and Caron sees it with green eyes, which is the correct observation? Amazingly, both of these observations could be correct if you consider the argument against the Copenhagen Theory: Many Worlds Theory.
In my forthcoming novel: Earth Cat Zero: Last Cat Meowing, a collider acceleration disrupts the normal wave form which allows all domesticated cats to exist in the states that we have categorized them. While particles seem to be responsible for the physical makeup of our universe (including ourselves and all those cats) it is actually their corresponding wave form that creates our physical realities.
Different particles like Baryons, Quarks and Higgs-Boson behave differently depending on their charges and are considered responsible for making up mass. Yet mass – while seemingly solid to us – can exist in both particle and wave form. In this case ‘seeing is believing’ is a tricky subject as we cannot see many of these microscopic particles let alone their corresponding probability waves. If the makeup of the wave determines existence could this be altered? Physicists use collider accelerations – where particles are smashed together – to study this possibility.
Quantum tunneling and quantum entanglement seem daunting to understand by name but what they describe can be simplified into this notion: when a particle behaves as a wave, matter can be moved instantaneously from one place to the next instantaneously. It’s kind of like calling your cat to eat, in most cases the feline seems to be instantaneously at the bowl without having traveled any distance.
Waves would be the instant gratification of the universe as opposed to particles which do move around from location-to-location as well but not as breathtakingly. So how do we make sense of all this movement and change? Proponents of the Copenhagen Theory would run an experiment to determine if the blue-eyed cat is the correct observation and to disprove all other possibilities – like the cat having green eyes – to fade away like mist on a sunny day.
But subscribers to the Many World Interpretation would want to tell Miranda and Caron that both versions of their feline do actually exist – just in other universes. While a particle is thought to be positioned in one particular place, its wave counterpart is characterized by frequency. The energy of a wave depends on its frequency and amplitude – both which could be manipulated as in Earth Cat Zero. This is why the wave form can seemingly be in two places at once as in superposition which is like having a single cat exist in two places – in both a particle and wave state – each separated from each other. But no matter how far apart they are, each of their actions can instantaneously affect the other. If distant particles can affect each other, can people or even cats be linked in this fashion?
Although the blue-eyed cat exists very clearly in Miranda’s world, when it is observed by Caron in another room with green eyes – it could be in yet another particle state. Both are valid realities in quantum physics. In terms of the Copenhagen Theory, it is thought the observers – either Caron or Miranda – actually collapses the wave function meaning – for Miranda – only the blue-eyed version of her cat exists and that Caron’s green-eyed cat would not exist. It would seem the power of the observer affects the very reality of the cat. But Caron could argue her point or observation as valid as well – just by using another theory. We may all come to agree that these conundrums fail to explain how we as humans must all have a singularly-shared observation making up all our collective realities.
The Many Worlds Interpretation is more forgiving to Caron and allows the version of her green-eyed cat to exist as well. A particle’s initial probability wave is allowed to change over time and is best illustrated in Schrodinger’s thought experiment where a cat – laying poisoned in a box (this actually didn’t happen – it’s only a thought experiment) is both alive and dead. In this scenario – as with Caron’s observation -measuring the quantum object doesn’t force it into one state or another. Instead, a multiple universe is created and both observers – Caron and Miranda – are correct. In one universe, the cat has blue eyes and in the other – it has green. But even weirder, there could be many other universes each giving the cat a different trait in each corresponding one.
So, does something out of sight or line of observation – like Caron’s green-eyed cat – really disappear from the original observer’s reality? In the case of the Copenhagen Theory, probability waves collapse. But do they really dissipate into nothingness having once contained information?
Information Theory proposes that data is never destroyed just like energy is never destroyed. It is possible these probability waves can continue to exist as data even when not seen. Does this mean that there are alternative versions of people or even cats – with distinct trait differences – ‘existing’ out there somewhere? Some scientists argue we live in a conscious universe which is made up entirely of information. Even though it is hard for our eyes and minds to comprehend, quantum physics argues for a universe consisting of energy and information – but not solid objects.
Can this be? On one hand, we are each an observer responsible for creating our realities. On the other hand – or paw – it would seem we only see a fraction of our reality. Following this line of thought, the universe may consist of binary numbers and function much like a computer. And if that’s the case – are we – and our cats – living in a simulation?
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EARTH CAT ZERO: LAST CAT MEOWING ™ ©
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