The Effect of the Quantum Zeno Effect
We know that we know nothing
I knew I was onto something good when I came across the Quantum Zeno Effect (QZE).
It’s a bit of a strange concept that, on the surface, seems nothing more than another intricately and frustratingly cute attempt to make us understand the illusory nature of time and of the peculiarity underscoring anything relating to quantum mechanics.
But below the surface, there are some tremendously intriguing consequences to consider with respect to consciousness (or conscious measurement), probability, and the increasingly curious relationship between mind and matter.
What is the Quantum Zeno Effect?
Zeno of Elea (born 495 BCE) had been a thinker like few before and after him. Undoubtedly one of the most underappreciated philosophers of our recorded history, Zeno’s work has been effectively plagiarized by the likes of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein — okay, not really, but his paradoxes have lived on through time as a testament to the fact that time itself (as well as motion through time) is truly an illusion.
QZE, simply put, details the idea that the evolution of a quantum system can be slowed due to repeated measurements; similarly, other quantum theorists will and do apply this concept to the…
