June 15, 2010
- Quantum Thoughts? -
Ok, so I know I said I’m not into that new-agey tendency to equate the “quantum” with the “spiritual” (and vice versa) but I came across a few of things on today on tumblr that seemed pretty relate-able nonetheless. Granted, the first isn’t really “quantum” (though it seems that way at first), and the second and the third aren’t really “spiritual” either…
Is quantum mechanics messing with your memory?
When you observe any system, according to Maccone, you enter into a “quantum entanglement” with it. That is, you and the system are entangled and cannot properly be described separately.
The entanglement, Maccone says, is between your memory and the system. When you disentangle, “the disentangling operation will erase this entanglement, namely the observer’s memory”. His paper derives this conclusion mathematically.
Now, the point of the article seems to be that, if we take this idea as true, it follows that we experience “non-entropic events” (such as our coffee reheating spontaneously) we just simply don’t remember them. That sounds pretty nonsensical to me, but that bit’s not really relevant to the point I’m making here. Neither does it really matter whether it’s a “quantum” type of entanglement or not.
The key thing is the hypothesis the article starts out with: when we observe any system, the system and our “selves” cannot properly be described separately.
That strikes me as both true and very important. And it brings to mind this quote from Eihei Dogen, also recently found on tumblr:
Just at the moment
Ear and sound
Do not interfere—
There is no voice
There is no speaker.
Which I would assume, this being Dogen, could probably be ended with something along the lines of “There is just the hearing”.
See also this excerpt from the Surangama Sutra if you feel like reading something a bit heavier.
Or, if you prefer light, there’s this J. Krishnamurti quote, also found on tumblr today:
And I’d like end by mentioning the Buddhist idea of the six sense objects/facilities:
- eye / sight
- ear / hearing
- nose / smell
- tongue / taste
- skin / touch
- mind / thought
Thought can be considered a way of sensing something, and even the english language admits this, in a way. We “have” thoughts, we don’t “become” thoughts. And yet, how much of what we think/know of our “self” is based entirely on thoughts we’ve had about it?
Ask yourself: if we “have a thought”, what is it that is doing the “having”?























































