Quantum Mechanics as an Analogy for What it Means to be Alive
I just read idea number 27, entitled "Copenhagen Interpretation" in a book called "50 Physics Ideas You Really Need to Know" by Joanne Baker.
In the likely case you're unfamiliar with it, the Copenhagen Interpretation is one of the most widely discussed interpretations of quantum mechanics. Okay, but what exactly is an interpretation of quantum mechanics to begin with? Well, my understanding of interpretations of quantum mechanics is that they are people's attempts to corroborate our mathematical and observational understanding of things on the smallest physical scales with our actual experiences in the world as humans (Here's the Wikipedia article on "Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics").
Anyhow, in the book Baker writes these thought-provoking sentences: "According to Bohr, the original wave function for a beam of light contains all the possibilities within it, whether the light appears in its wave or particle guise. When we measure it, it appears in one form, not because it changes from one type of substance to another but because it is truly both at the same time." (I added the bold emphasis.)
Don't get intimidated by the physics-y words in these sentences. What is being described is light. You are likely familiar with light if you can read these words. Are you curious about what light is? Do you ever stop and just admire how beautiful light can be? Have you ever had questions about light that you didn't know the answers to? If you haven't (or if you have), maybe take a moment now to close and open your eyes and think about light. What is it made of? What does it look like? How does it behave? What else in the world is like it? Is light like an elephant? Is it like a waterfall? Is it like a famous rapper? In what ways is light like and not like these things?
So, what is light? Though this may have been your first time thinking about what light is and what it is not, it turns out a ton of people have tried really hard to understand what light is, building an understanding off of one another for centuries. Turns out, however similar light is to elephants, waterfalls and famous rappers, people have realized light also happens to act an awful lot like little bouncy balls and ripples of water on the surface of a pond. Here's a little on the history that has led us to these two most profound of understandings:
Newton is famous for having discovered in the 17th century that sunlight is composed of a bunch of different colors of light, using his handy prism. He also described a lot of situations in which light actually acts as if it is a bunch of tiny little balls (aka particles) that you can't see (obviously, you can see light; not as obviously, you can't see light. Whoah.), bouncing off of things and traveling in straight lines and sticking to stuff and doing all sorts of other things that balls love to do. Over a hundred years later, though, Thomas Young (an early 19th century English doctor who played an important role in deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and studied all sorts of other fascinating stuff) showed how light acts just like the ripples (aka waves) on the surface of a pond in certain situations, and not at all how a bunch of tiny balls would act. A lot of other incredibly fascinating things have been discovered about light too, including James Clerk Maxwell's discovery in the 19th century that the light we see with our eyes is actually just a small band of frequencies in a much wider spectrum that includes radio, microwave, infrared, ultraviolet, and X-rays! His theoretical prediction of radio waves led to their actual discovery a few years later by Heinrich Hertz, who made the first radio. That's incredibly sick. That's like doing so much thinking that you see something in your mind that's really there that no one can see but you. And then someone else tries to make it visible because you told them it's there, and they work really hard until they are able to see it too--not just in their mind, but with their ears! And now, anyone who has a radio can see radio waves with their ears whenever they want! That is so unbelievably, fricking sick!!!! Anyway, that's just a short primer on some of the developments in people's understanding of light. The story of how people discovered the speed of light is also ridiculously interesting, but I won't go into it here.
So, in that paragraph, I bolded particles and waves for a reason. The reason is that, historically, the analogies that physicists have used to describe what light is has fallen into one of those two categories. Particles or waves. Is it a bunch of tiny things that we can't see bouncing around all over the place? Or is it something even more ephemeral, like the waves on the surface of a pond of water? Though most people I've come across in the physics community will answer these questions by saying something along the lines of "light exhibits wave-particle duality", I think this sentence is opaque and doesn't really capture the understanding that has been developed. My favorite answer to the question "is light a wave or a particle?" was given by the late, great Paul Doherty, MIT-trained PhD physicist and educator extraordinaire at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It may be the most brilliant sentence I've ever heard. He said:
"Light is light."
That's right. Light acts like light. There is no perfect analogy. It's not exactly like a wave or exactly like a particle. Depending on the situation, it does act like one or the other, but inherently how it will act is undetermined until the specifics of a situation arise. It's also worth mentioning that, though the discussion until now has focused on light, it turns out all things (not just light!) at the teensiest scales exhibit this indeterminism! Which brings me back (at long last, sorry!) to the original topic of this post: quantum mechanics as an analogy for what it means to be alive.
In the quote from Baker from before, I bolded "a beam of light contains all the possibilities within it". You may see the spirit of this post now. Light contains all the possibilities within it (particle and wave) until a specific situation arises and it becomes one or the other. Similarly, you contain all the possibilities within you (of what to do next) until you make a choice in whatever situation you're in. That's my interpretation of Joanne Baker's interpretation of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, anyhow. And it just so happens to also explain how one talented, devoted actor can portray so many (seemingly) different characters in a lifetime. There are endless possibilities within us.
In the words of Natasha Bedingfeld,
"I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned...
...Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten".
And that's quantum mechanics as an analogy for what it means to be alive, friendjamins.
You get to make choices in every moment.
HAVEPHUNCHOOSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Elan
In the likely case you're unfamiliar with it, the Copenhagen Interpretation is one of the most widely discussed interpretations of quantum mechanics. Okay, but what exactly is an interpretation of quantum mechanics to begin with? Well, my understanding of interpretations of quantum mechanics is that they are people's attempts to corroborate our mathematical and observational understanding of things on the smallest physical scales with our actual experiences in the world as humans (Here's the Wikipedia article on "Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics").
Anyhow, in the book Baker writes these thought-provoking sentences: "According to Bohr, the original wave function for a beam of light contains all the possibilities within it, whether the light appears in its wave or particle guise. When we measure it, it appears in one form, not because it changes from one type of substance to another but because it is truly both at the same time." (I added the bold emphasis.)
Don't get intimidated by the physics-y words in these sentences. What is being described is light. You are likely familiar with light if you can read these words. Are you curious about what light is? Do you ever stop and just admire how beautiful light can be? Have you ever had questions about light that you didn't know the answers to? If you haven't (or if you have), maybe take a moment now to close and open your eyes and think about light. What is it made of? What does it look like? How does it behave? What else in the world is like it? Is light like an elephant? Is it like a waterfall? Is it like a famous rapper? In what ways is light like and not like these things?
So, what is light? Though this may have been your first time thinking about what light is and what it is not, it turns out a ton of people have tried really hard to understand what light is, building an understanding off of one another for centuries. Turns out, however similar light is to elephants, waterfalls and famous rappers, people have realized light also happens to act an awful lot like little bouncy balls and ripples of water on the surface of a pond. Here's a little on the history that has led us to these two most profound of understandings:
Newton is famous for having discovered in the 17th century that sunlight is composed of a bunch of different colors of light, using his handy prism. He also described a lot of situations in which light actually acts as if it is a bunch of tiny little balls (aka particles) that you can't see (obviously, you can see light; not as obviously, you can't see light. Whoah.), bouncing off of things and traveling in straight lines and sticking to stuff and doing all sorts of other things that balls love to do. Over a hundred years later, though, Thomas Young (an early 19th century English doctor who played an important role in deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and studied all sorts of other fascinating stuff) showed how light acts just like the ripples (aka waves) on the surface of a pond in certain situations, and not at all how a bunch of tiny balls would act. A lot of other incredibly fascinating things have been discovered about light too, including James Clerk Maxwell's discovery in the 19th century that the light we see with our eyes is actually just a small band of frequencies in a much wider spectrum that includes radio, microwave, infrared, ultraviolet, and X-rays! His theoretical prediction of radio waves led to their actual discovery a few years later by Heinrich Hertz, who made the first radio. That's incredibly sick. That's like doing so much thinking that you see something in your mind that's really there that no one can see but you. And then someone else tries to make it visible because you told them it's there, and they work really hard until they are able to see it too--not just in their mind, but with their ears! And now, anyone who has a radio can see radio waves with their ears whenever they want! That is so unbelievably, fricking sick!!!! Anyway, that's just a short primer on some of the developments in people's understanding of light. The story of how people discovered the speed of light is also ridiculously interesting, but I won't go into it here.
So, in that paragraph, I bolded particles and waves for a reason. The reason is that, historically, the analogies that physicists have used to describe what light is has fallen into one of those two categories. Particles or waves. Is it a bunch of tiny things that we can't see bouncing around all over the place? Or is it something even more ephemeral, like the waves on the surface of a pond of water? Though most people I've come across in the physics community will answer these questions by saying something along the lines of "light exhibits wave-particle duality", I think this sentence is opaque and doesn't really capture the understanding that has been developed. My favorite answer to the question "is light a wave or a particle?" was given by the late, great Paul Doherty, MIT-trained PhD physicist and educator extraordinaire at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It may be the most brilliant sentence I've ever heard. He said:
"Light is light."
That's right. Light acts like light. There is no perfect analogy. It's not exactly like a wave or exactly like a particle. Depending on the situation, it does act like one or the other, but inherently how it will act is undetermined until the specifics of a situation arise. It's also worth mentioning that, though the discussion until now has focused on light, it turns out all things (not just light!) at the teensiest scales exhibit this indeterminism! Which brings me back (at long last, sorry!) to the original topic of this post: quantum mechanics as an analogy for what it means to be alive.
In the quote from Baker from before, I bolded "a beam of light contains all the possibilities within it". You may see the spirit of this post now. Light contains all the possibilities within it (particle and wave) until a specific situation arises and it becomes one or the other. Similarly, you contain all the possibilities within you (of what to do next) until you make a choice in whatever situation you're in. That's my interpretation of Joanne Baker's interpretation of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, anyhow. And it just so happens to also explain how one talented, devoted actor can portray so many (seemingly) different characters in a lifetime. There are endless possibilities within us.
In the words of Natasha Bedingfeld,
"I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned...
...Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten".
And that's quantum mechanics as an analogy for what it means to be alive, friendjamins.
You get to make choices in every moment.
HAVEPHUNCHOOSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Elan
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