The consequences of Quantum Physics theory are still unfolding. As theorists explore the implications of various discoveries, further exploration takes place seeking proofs. Some scientists question if this is really science as some of the ideas are technically unprovable. Plus, they seem to hold to equations past their due date, even if they require things like undetectable (dark) matter that is much greater than observable matter.
At the same time, the theories are bringing science progressively closer to fundamental reality as posited by the seers of old. Some scientists have seen this and it’s “loony” consequences. But they still tend to hold on to parts of a materialist perspective, leading to some curious distortion.
For example, in the following article in Scientific American, they explore free will and determinism from a quantum mechanical perspective.
Free Will and Quantum Clones: How Your Choices Today Affect the Universe at its Origin
(I’ve written on this subject previously)
The logic is interesting. He suggests that to determine if our choices are deterministic (driven by the past, etc) or are actual free will requires that we’re able to map the brain. However, the brain is increasingly understood to be quantum mechanical itself. As a quantum state is a probability, you can’t precisely map it. (wave vs particle) If you can’t accurately map brain activity, you can’t predict choice.
That leads to the point that it’s more a matter of degree of choice than a black and white division. And this leads to an explanation for “spooky action at a distance.” It’s not so much that your choice instantly changes particles at a great distance but that your choice and the particle are intertwined. The outcome is prearranged in the past. Everything “…can all be traced to the initial state of the universe.”
“…in a deterministic universe, those [sic] is no justification for saying that the initial state caused the decision; it is equally valid to say that the decision caused the initial state. After all, physics is reversible. What determinism means is that the state at one time implies the state at all other times. It does not privilege one state over another. Thus your decision [now], in a very real sense, creates the initial conditions of the universe.”
This is known as backward causation or retro-causality, one of the consequences of Quantum theory. While we experience time and causality flowing forward, there is no reason to suggest there is a physical law that constrains this. There have been experiments that suggest the future can influence the past and I’m seen experiences of the same.
“What you are is the confluence of countless chains of events that stretch back to the dawn of time. Every decision you make depends on everything you have ever learned and experienced, coming together in your head for the first and only time in the history of the universe. The decision you make is implicit in those influences, but they have never all intersected before. Thus your decision is a unique creative act.
This is why even the slightest violation of free will in a quantum entanglement experiment beggars belief. “Free will” in such an experiment means simply that your choice of what to measure is such a distant cousin of the particle’s behavior that the two have never interacted until now.”
Ironically, quantum mechanics has a principle of unitaryness (hence quantum) implying determinism. Determinism is thus the foundation of choice or free will. And as he observes, predictability doesn’t mean unfree. “compatibilism: I see no contradiction whatsoever between determinism and free will, because they operate at two different levels of reality. Determinism describes the basic laws of physics. Free will describes the behavior of conscious beings.”
It should be noted that science assumes complete free will in order to have objective results in experiments. They also assume life and consciousness are emergent properties from “particles’ collective behavior“. Essentially, that our awareness is accidental.
The model is still upside down as compared to the sages of old. In that perspective, particles and indeed the entire Unitary quantum state is an emergent property of consciousness. This can be verified by direct experience through systematic research in consciousness.
The article also implies the profound intelligence of creation in that every choice in all history is contained within its initial intention to be. Although I would suggest it’s better to think of it as containing every experience it wished to have. Does that sound accidental?
The article suggests your unique role in having unique experiences of creation, the core of your purpose I’ve spoken about here before.
Davidya.