Exploring the Ever-Shifting Nature of Reality: From Classical Physics To Quantum Mechanics
Can we ever paint a complete picture of the nature of reality?
In an era of information overload and the ever-shifting perception, the concept of reality has become an elusive and a multifaceted entity. Since the emergence of science in the 4th century, the scientific worldview underwent numerous advancements and evolved from the Aristonian worldview of the earth as the center of the Universe to the Stephan Hawking worldview where classical physics and quantum mechanics met in a blackhole. With every advancement we made with regards to the reality’s elusiveness our consciousness & civilization evolved simultaneously.
It’s long established that the five senses’ perception of reality is limited. We all know how deceiving perceptual systems can be and visual illusions are a testament to that. Take for instance, the viral 2015, infamous dress that divided the world into two — one that perceived the dress as black & blue and the other that perceived it as golden white. I perceived it as black & blue & could not possibly digest how someone could perceive it as golden white. It is not uncommon for things to be one way and to be revealed as another. Optical illusions of still images revealing motions or lines that appear to be of certain lengths but reveal to be of another bear testament to this.
So the question arises — given the limits of human nature, can we ever paint a complete picture of the nature of reality?
To answer this question, let’s explore how reality has evolved so far.
Until Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543, in the world of the ancient Greeks the Earth was the center of the universe and flat with an edge that was most certainly accessible. But it turns out not only is the earth not the king of the solar system but a pawn like any other planet. This assertion must have caused havoc in the ancient world.
Later, another major paradigm shift came with Einstein’s theory of relativity. E=mC2, what an incredible equation! It changed the entire gamut of our understanding of space time. Time that we thought could be measured so precisely was established to be relative rather than accurate.
The next paradigm shift came with the secrets of our infinitesimal, microscopic world. The world of the smallest was extremely strange and bizarre and reality seemed magical at this state. Concepts like wave–particle duality, entanglement, nonlocality, superposition, quantum tunneling and nuclear spin resonance are regarded as perfectly normal.
Danish physicist Niels Bohr in a groundbreaking departure from classical notions proposed that at the quantum scale nothing is “real” until it is observed. It is baffling to see how laws that abide the physical world obey very different laws at the micro level revealing a probabilistic reality instead of a deterministic one. Perception, observation and measurement collapsed superimposed quantum states and subsequently formed reality. Einstein found this nonrealism too difficult to accept and called it ‘spooky action at a distance’.
What could be more bizarre than this you might think? Now try to imagine the implications of quantum mechanics at the Big Bang state. The universe which was in a quantum state or in a state of superposition broke its wave function and expelled a physical universe. We know this because we experience reality and not its quantum state, or who knows? But dilemmas apart, if this indeed is true reality there must have been something or someone that terminated the original quantum coherence and superposition. Spooky much?
To the rescue comes John Wheeler with his information theory. He proposed in 1989 that “every it — every particle, every field of force, even the spacetime continuum itself — derives its function, its meaning, its very existence entirely — even if in some contexts indirectly — from the apparatus-elicited answers to yes-or-no questions, binary choices, bits.” Wheeler and Martin Reese in an extension of the anthropic principle states that all natural laws in the universe and their parameters and constants must be precisely the way they are because otherwise there would be nothing or no one to observe them.
James Gates’s discovery of binary error-correcting codes in supersymmetry sparks speculation about the possibility that the universe could be a simulation, echoing age-old philosophical debates about the nature of existence. In his research, he found binary codes similar to those used in computer programming. Does this suggest that we might be living in a simulated reality? Well, that is debatable. However, the presence of error-correcting codes alone is not sufficient evidence to support this hypothesis. These codes, consisting of additional ones and zeros, serve to correct transmission errors, much like the error-correction mechanisms employed in computers. For instance, if there are any fluctuations, let’s say a static in the line, the zero you type here can be interpreted as one on the other side. The only other place where nature uses error correcting codes is in DNA replication, where the genetic code self-corrects through a process known as proofreading. While the existence of these codes doesn’t definitively prove that we inhabit a simulated reality created by an advanced civilization, it prompts intriguing questions about the interconnectedness of natural laws and its potential implications in understanding the existence of a creator.
Amidst this tapestry of scientific perspectives, the closest depiction of reality’s essence emerges from Stephen Hawking’s groundbreaking insights, notably his Theory of Everything. Hawking’s discovery of theoretical thermal black-body radiation, known as Hawking radiation in 1974, revolutionized our comprehension of black holes and its intricate interplay between quantum mechanics and general relativity. This radiation, emitted outside a black hole’s event horizon, prevents the black holes from gaining mass, ultimately leading to its dissipation. Since no ordinary electromagnetic waves can escape a black hole the question arises, what mechanism generates Hawking radiation? Explaining this phenomenon requires a quantum perspective, rather than a classical one.
In quantum mechanics, empty space is not devoid of activity. It is alive with the dynamic activity of matter and antimatter constantly annihilating each other that no net energy is ever created or destroyed. However, near the event horizon of a black hole, something extraordinary occurs. Instead of annihilation occurring simultaneously, one particle — typically the negative one to comply with the law of conservation of energy — is drawn into the black hole. This infusion of negative energy diminishes the black hole’s mass, as per the principle of mass-energy equivalence, expressed by E=mc². The remaining positive particle — matter or energy — emerges as Hawking radiation, embodying the complex interplay between mass, energy, and quantum uncertainty.
In conclusion, our understanding of reality is a mosaic of scientific exploration, philosophical contemplation, and perceptual interpretation. While our journey towards a comprehensive understanding may be filled with uncertainty and paradox, each revelation brings us closer to unraveling its mysteries. As we navigate the enigmatic nature of reality let us embrace the inherent complexity and infinite possibilities that lie therein.
