Re: A Question about The Tzimtzum...

[ Moderator's Comment: Can we get back on topic? This fascinating
discussion of quantum mechanics seems to be straying far from Judaism.
Moadim lesimcha HPG ]

Rafael wrote:
> Micha Berger wrote:
> > On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 10:10:17 +0000 (UTC), PatrickDHarrington@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > : Because Einstein described space-time as being without any missing
> > : points either spatial or temporal. Therefore, the future is just as
> > : much a fixed part of the whole of space-time as is the past....
> >
> > Fixed? In what way would you expect the future to move?
> >
> > IOW, once you go outside of time, of course change is impossible! The
> > notion of change and choice only makes sense from within time, relative
> > to a given moment.
> >
> > If Einstein reduced the universe to a 4D sculpture, then "free will"
> > translates to saying that no point in some part of the sculture can
> > be fully known given only information about points in the "earlier"
> > direction on it.
> >
> > BTW, how do you think non-determinism in QM does it?
>
> To quote physicist Brian Greene (The Fabric of the Cosmos, pp.455-6):
>
> "..if you know the quantum wavefunction right now for every particle in
> the universe, Schrödinger's equation tells you how the wavefunction
> was or will be at any other moment you specify. This component of
> quantum physics is fully deterministic, just as in classical physics.
> However, the act of observation complicates the quantum mechanical
> story and, as we've seen, heated debate over the quantum measurement
> problem still rages. If physicists one day conclude that Schrödinger's
> equation is all there is to quantum mechanics, then quantum physics, in
> its entirety, would be every bit as deterministic as classical physics.
> As with classical determinism, some would say this means free will is
> an illusion; others would not. But if we're currently missing part of
> the quantum story - if the passage from probabilities to definite
> outcomes requires something beyond the standard quantum framework -
> it's at least possible that free will might find a concrete realization
> within physical law. We might one day find, as some physicists have
> speculated, that the act of conscious observation is an integral
> element of quantum mechanics, being the catalyst that coaxes one
> outcome from the quantum haze to be realized. [Note: John Wheeler,
> among others, has suggested a possible central role for observers in a
> quantum universe, summed up in one of his famous aphorisms: 'No
> elementary phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is an observed
> phenomenon.'] Personally, I find this extremely unlikely, but I know of
> no way to rule it out."
>
> Okay, so much for modern physicists' settling the matter. Perhaps, for
> the foreseeable future, we'll just have to rely upon our intuitions -
> and, fwiw, mine is sympathetic with Wheeler's view (over Green's)
> inasmuch as a phenomena can only be said to exist because observers
> like ourselves (or, by inference, an Observer) exist to experience
> them.
>
> Shavuah tov,
> Rafael

So what is different when an event is observed? Some photons are
directed into the retina and absorbed/reflected by it. This causes a
stimulation along the optic nerve and so on into our brain where we
form a picture. There is a LOT of energy involved in this process.
Even if the observation is strictly mechanical, there is enough
deflection and reflection and absorption to, quite probably, account
for the difference. Could this be enough movement of the whole to
cause that which is observed to appear slightly differently than when
we calculated it out sans observation? I would think so. And, if we
were able to calculate how much an observation tweaks the whole, I bet
we'd find that it was all very determinable. But we're not very good
at understanding how our brain operates, so, until we get a good grasp
of that, the world might retain its appearance of indterminable
quantities/qualities. I won't even bother going into the differences
involved between a normal observer of "stars at night through a
telescope" as compared to an observer with red/green colour-blindness.
The differences involved in how the observation is consciously
interpreted would be different enough, I think, to illustrate the
complexity of the problem. And, even the consciousness required to
read and understand a mechanical observation, could be incalcuably a
factor in the equation. Has anyone ever noticed the difference between
a calculated quantum event and a mechanically observed and recorded
quantum event of which humans were never made aware? I know this is
impossible (because you'd notice it!), but I bet there'd be less
difference than if the mechanically observed event entered the records
of human consciousness.

.

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