Quantum Physics May Defend Your Home From Lethal DOR

This really is overview of a guide by two physics professors titled, "Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness." I argue that to know quantum mechanics you'll need to know the difference between science, metaphysics, and philosophy.

Humans have a push to know and understand everything, Quantum Interference and you can find two methods of inquiry that stand side-by-side as equals: metaphysics and science. Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness demonstrates deficiencies in comprehension of metaphysics is a stumbling block in understanding science. Metaphysical questions arise from our transcendence, that's, our ability to make ourselves the main topic of our own knowledge: What is the conscious knowledge of humans in place of the sense knowledge of animals? What is an actual being? What are mental beings (images, concepts, past, future, dreams)? What is truth? What is causality? What is free will? What does it mean to know something? May be the universe intelligible?

Basically, the answer to all the above questions is that there is no answer. They are mysteries. We are able to comprehend what an individual is because we know everything we do and everything that occurs to us, but we can't define or explicate what an individual is. Quite simply, humans are embodied spirits. Utilizing the categories of metaphysics, the human soul is spiritual. Assuming or hoping that the universe is intelligible leads to the existence of a transcendent reality that's called God in Western religions. God is not a free image, like Santa Clause, but an actual being, such as for instance a beloved friend who gets in your nerves from time for you to time.

In science, you can find no mysteries because science has a tremendous history of success. You can find only unanswered questions. It can be said of metaphysics that there is no record of success. An example of metaphysical wisdom is that knowledge could be the openness to be to the self-manifestation of being. In metaphysics, if the universe is intelligible is definitely an open question. In science, it is not. If Johannes Kepler thought for 1 minute the universe wasn't intelligible, he wouldn't have spent 10 years trying to understand why the planets move as they do. What caused the Big Bang is not a mystery. What is consciousness is a mystery. Calling both questions mysteries indicates you don't understand the difference between metaphysics and science.

A quantum enigma arises from the question of why the isotope cobalt-60 decays into nickel-60 with a half-life of 5.27 years. Utilizing the probability waves of quantum mechanics, physicists can calculate the half-lives of isotopes. A certain cobalt-60 atom may decay in 10 minutes or 10 years. There's a 50% probability that it will decay in 5.27 years. This raises the question: What causes a certain cobalt-60 atom to decay at this time it will? With this present state of knowledge, there's no hope of answering this question. This really is an enigma or puzzle because we understand so much about isotopes from quantum mechanics, but not this.

The authors agree with the nonsense that there is a connection between human rationality (consciousness and free will) and quantum mechanics. I do believe this idea arises from deficiencies in comprehension of the difference between science, metaphysics, and philosophy. Philosophy is a technique of inquiry that arises above another approach to inquiry. How should scientists do science is a philosophical question. The scientific method is an answer to the question. The various interpretations of quantum mechanics are part of the philosophy of quantum mechanics as they are attempts to answer questions about quantum mechanics.

One way we obtain knowledge and understanding is through analogies. In the event that you poke a lion in a cage with a stick, it'll roar and make an effort to claw you. We realize by analogy that the lion is angry because this is the way we would feel if it was happening to us. There's an analogy that's utilized in quantum mechanics to answer the question: What are quantum mechanical waves?

To answer this philosophical question, look at the decay of cobalt-60. In the event that you observe a cobalt-60 atom for 5.27 years it may decay (D) or may remain stable (S). Repeated observations will provide you with a series of S's and D's. You receive, put simply, a set: (S,S,D,D,D,S,..). The fraction of times you receive S or D approaches 1/2 in the limit as the number of elements in the set increases. I'm using set theory because you'll need set theory to know a statement analogous to the decay of cobalt-60: Flipping a coin full of the air together with your thumb and fore finger and getting heads (H) or tails (T). With coin tosses you receive the same kind of set as you receive observing cobalt-60 atoms. The possibility of getting heads or tails is 1/2 because that's the fraction you receive from the set and all possible subsets. In case of the coin, you can find two events (flipping and landing head or tails), the subtle proviso that the calculation is performed for several subsets to eradicate the possibility that there is a demon or hidden variable affecting the results, and the fact that we understand why we get heads (or tails) half of the time. In case of cobalt-60, there's just one event: the decay of the atom. They're two different phenomena. Saying, "1/2 could be the possibility of a cobalt-60 atom decaying in 5.27 years" is an analogy or even a philosophical comment. I think, calling the quantum mechanical waves probability waves is a typical example of philosophizing.

The foundation for thinking there's a connection between consciousness and quantum mechanics could be the double-slit test out particles (photons, electrons, or atoms). A type of the experiment is on YouTube.com ("Double-Slit Experiment-Water Wave Interference Pattern"). The double-slit creates two water waves and a very visible interference pattern. The exact same interference pattern occurs with particles. The probability waves of quantum mechanics explain this and it is another triumph for quantum mechanics.