I
am a curious speculative man
Ricardo López Llópiz
I wonder what
relationship, if any, could Quantum Mechanics have with a Black Hole? I’m not a
scientist, physicist or astronomer; but I am a curious speculative man. Talking
about the weird world of quantum mechanics, about how quantum biology may be present
in our evolution, quantum tunneling, Max Plank and the ultraviolet catastrophe,
the uncertainty principle, the Copenhagen interpretation, the Schrödinger's Cat,
antimatter and dark matter, the chats between Einstein and Gödel, the arguments
amid Neil Bohr and Einstein’s, the idea that nature at its most fundamental
level is governed by chance; were daily conversations between my friend Mario
Palou and I. Now he is in a place probably beyond all that, or he may be part
of all that. Are we insignificant? Does the explanation of it all escape us? Are
we prepared for it? Is it all beyond our understanding? Are we part of the
mystery or part of the explanation? What portion of the uncertainty do we play a
role in? What share do we have in the infinitesimally small building blocks of
matter, or in the outrageously big immensity of the Universe? Are we too
arrogant, pretending to explain and assign meaning to everything? To paraphrase
one of the founders of quantum mechanics Niels Bohr: “Everything we call real
is made up of things that cannot be themselves regarded as real” We are part of
a journey down into the strange, amazing and the bizarre until we die, without been
able to understand how things could be in two places at once and fate dictated
by chance. My friend Mario was fascinated about the ultraviolet light higher
frequency controversy, about the light waves that became the photo electric particles
effect and the quantum theory. Frequently we used to talk about the trajectory of
thought at the begging of the 20th century, or the beginning of
modern physics. All starting even before, from Newton and Laplace, from light
waves, to particles and to quanta, explaining the photoelectrical effect and
the Ultraviolet Catastrophe. Then the paradox of the nature of reality itself! While
big social events, in Humanities’ insignificant scale started in the western
world’s 20th century, a battle of changes in the world of physics eclipsed
it all. Niels Bohr said: “Everything we call real is made of things we cannot
call real” and the voice of reason, Albert Einstein then started a controversy about
the reality of the quantum world that lasted decades. Then John Bell said: “Bohr
was inconsistent, unclear, willfully obscure and right, Einstein was
consistent, clear, down-to-earth and wrong” Particles behaving like waves and
waves behaving like particles, even one electron at the time which is the signature
wave pattern. Quantum mechanics, the crazy theory of light and matter contradiction,
was embraced by humanity. The Quanta like God, will be everywhere at once until
only by looking, we can invoke solid reality into its existence. As per Niels
Bohr, things or quantum reality, can only get real when we measure or observe
them. Then, Einstein used to say: Does the Moon cease to exist when we are not looking
at it? Neil Bohr and Einstein argued about this quantum mechanics vs. reality
issue for years. And then Einstein took hold of the “spooky” Entanglement
Theory across space and time. He thought there was a simpler interpretation,
that the destiny of the entangled particles was already fixed, and it’s just hidden
from us. So, which is the true description of reality, Bohr’s coins which only
become real when we look at them, or Einstein’s hidden globes boxes which are predetermined
and hidden from us. Is there an objective reality or not? So, how to understand
the nature of reality, the infinitesimally small, or immensely big? Is there a
black hole or not? If I don’t look at it, is it there? was it there? John Bell may
have proved with a deck of cards that reality is tricky; but it has an objective
existence. Nevertheless, at the quantum level, is truly unknowable how two
particles communicate with each other thru time and space. Although somehow all
particles do. Neil Bohr was right, you can’t cheat nature, and quantum
particles are only summoned into existence when we observe them. Is there a predictable,
irreducible and Irreconcilable difference between the quantum reality and the reality
of the infinite universe? Or are they both the same? If something suggests that
the Moon does not exist if we are not looking, then is there a beginning? Is
there an end? Maybe not, until we observe it! “All these 50 years of conscious brooding
have brought me no nearer to the question – what are light quanta? Every Tom
Dick and Harry thinks he knows it. But he is mistaken” A. E. DON’T STOP
LOOKING! Keep looking up! Keep looking in for the truth!
Magnífico!
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