Watching two movies tonight, Back to the Future and Ghostrider, causes me to think about two notions: that of the soul and that of time travel. My mind oddly relates these two inner discussions and brings me to a couple of interesting ideas that I’ve been tossing around for awhile.
In Quantum Physics, the principle of Superposition says that any object, event, or entity can span multiple realities or universes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superposition). Quantum Physics, as so eloquently described by the thought experiment: Schrödinger’s Cat, insists that a particle does not exist absolutely in time and space independent of the act of observation. In essence, the way I understand it at least, there are infinite possible future placements of a particle, event, or entity each described by a discrete probability. All possible arrangements of a particle’s position in space-time are described by a probability distribution function (physicists chime in here) and a particle’s position is realized only at the time of observation based on these probabilities. The act of observation influences… even determines that actual measured position.
With my layman’s interpretation, I want to make the jump that there are infinite possible futures for us based on the possible placement of cosmic “mojo” described by the probability clouds alluded to in the above. If superposition applies to one particle, it must apply to all particles and at the same time. Doesn’t this imply that there are multiple, N-number of possible future quantum arrangements that comprise our possible future? Through life – the act of observation – we realize our future. And prior to observation, all possible futures (and all possible Universes) exist.
There is another argument taking place in the scientific community right now. It’s a long-running argument, actually. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity theorized – later proved through experimentation – that space and time do not exist independent of one another. This is a familiar concept to many of us, the space-time continuum. Einstein also postulated that time is not an arrow. Other scientific principles (save one notable exception – the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics) support this idea in that the rules hold up whether time moves forward or backward (+/- t). In summary, our notion of a past, present, and future that we observe in everyday life really could be an illusion.
Some new experimental evidence seems to suggest that our understanding of time is, at best, still very underdeveloped (http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jun/in-no-time/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C=). Apparently there are experimental scientists who spend their lives trying to set the record for measuring the shortest span of time ever recorded. This to me sounds about like trying to set the record for longest fingernails ever grown, but it’s obvious that the significance of the former record setting effort carries a bit more levity. These experimental scientists have established that there is some evidence to suggest that at very small sizes and for very small increments of time, there may be a limit. A limit that suggests that as we approach the smallest fundamental dimensions, time may cease to exist. Some of these scientists hypothesize that when reached, a unified theory that explains the ultra-small dimensions AND ultra-large dimensions together (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_unification_theory) will ultimately change our understanding of time.
Interesting.
If time is not as we perceive it. If time is not a unidirectional phenomenon… If our “time as an arrow” interpretation of the world is just that: our cognitive interpretation of reality, then maybe, just perhaps, there are an infinite number of possible PASTS as well as possible futures. If time is multi-directional, or even nonexistent, then is it not likely that all of the possible quantum arrangements of the Universe – all of the possible real universes – exist at the same “time” or instant? I’m not saying simply that time cuts across all possible universes making super-dimensional cross sections of reality pie. I’m saying that all possible quantum arrangements that can occur from the “beginning of time” to the “end of time” all exist at once – that the universe is stateless. There is no progression of events one after the other as we think of it.
A stateless universe comprised of infinite permutations of reality.
What does all of this imply about our perception of time? Not to mention, how does this relate to my lazy Saturday evening watching b-rate movies? I’m getting there. To answer the former: in a stateless universe with infinite possible arrangements of reality, our perception of life as a sequence of events that follow one another from birth to death could just be our mind piecing together logical threads through all the possible realities we can know.
In this view of reality, our lives don’t happen in “order”. We could experience life much as a quantum particle does – hopping about from one point in the space-time continuum to another without traversing anything to get from one instant in life to another (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment). Our “current” life is one of many (perhaps infinite) possible paths of existence that “we” traverse, each with its own memory of a sequence of prior events that is our physical neurological arrangement (our past). Under this model, we don’t in reality KNOW what happened the instant before the instant we are in right now, we only THINK we do based on the memory in the thread we are currently experiencing and interpreting.
So what about the notion of “self”? A discussion about who we are in the physical world and whether it is really more than the sum total of our memory may be a little beyond the scope of this post. But what I am saying is that who we are in any instant could depend on the path we are interpreting at that time. I’m also saying that we may live more than one possible path. We have multiple real lives and, based on the amalgam of memory in each path, are different people in each of those paths.
If this fantasy is close to reality, it raises some remarkable questions about who we are, the notion of self, and possibility of a soul. The best guess I can come up with while watching Ghostrider and images of souls swooping through the air, is that if we have a soul it too is, like the Universe, stateless. The soul is stateless and without memory. It is separate from our physical selves and our path memories (which do have state), but perhaps this sort of notion of a soul determines what quantum arrangements that comprise our multiple lives are possible. The soul is our very own observer in the cosmos whose imprint determines the relative probabilities of possible life paths at our disposal. At least this allows for the notion of something spiritual in our being that could someday be allowed by science.
And what about Back to the Future? My thoughts on the possibility of time travel given my presented view of the Universe are not yet well developed. However, my initial thought is that time travel in any perceived direction is impossible. First of all, there is no medium of time through which to traverse. To go backward in time would mean we would have to choose one of N number of possible paths to backward traverse. Essentially, you have to reposition your current self (a self comprised of an instantiated quantum arrangement of the Universe that includes a memory of a thread of logically related past instantiations of quantum arrangements) to a different point on a path where the quantum arrangements add up to a discrete point we’ve already experienced. If time travel is possible and if I’m saying that all possible arrangements of realities already exists, then life paths that intersect and overlap must exist… This one is exhausting my neurons at present.
Perhaps we really do live a thousand lives and die a thousand deaths.
