Clearly a lot of people have at one time or another
resorted to one of those maps on the wall with an arrow pointing
to a spot that says, YOU ARE HERE. But are you?
Much of what we believe about reality is based upon our
perceptions. We see and feel reality all around us and are
quite sure that concrete is solid, gravity keeps us firmly
planted on the ground, the earth orbits the sun, and our paychecks
will be less than our desires. Still, there is sometimes
a nagging doubt that things are exactly what they seem.
In the world of Quantum Physics this is often exemplified
by a mind experiment referred to as Schroedinger’s Cat. This
thought experiment was used to illustrate the issues surrounding
the dual nature of matter as both particles and waves. For
example in some cases we observe electrons behaving like
particles that bounce off of one another and impact things just
like particles. On the other hand we can propel electrons
through a pair of slits in a barrier and watch the interference
patterns they generate that tell us that electrons are behaving
like waves rather than particles. Which is the truth? Which is
reality?
Ernst Shcroedinger proposed a thought experiment that
showed an inherent paradox in this approach to understanding
what is going on. This is the Schreodinger’s Cat experiment.
What Schroedinger proposed, but never actually did, was to put a
cat in a large box with a vial of deadly poison. The poison is
set up to be released when a radioactive substance decays and
hits a trigger mechanism. The probability of this happening is
totally random. Then he theorized putting a cat in the box with
the poison and sealing the box so there is no way to see what is
going on. At any time the cat could be dead or it could be
alive. That is to say there is an uncertainty in its position,
or state. If we were a physicist we could write a wave equation
that describes the state of the cat (but we aren’t so we won’t).
What the equations, based upon Quantum Theory, tell us is that
there are probability waves indicating that somehow the cat is
both dead and alive at the same time due to an inherent
uncertainty in its state. But then something interesting
happens.
At some later time, if we open the box to see of the cat is
Dead or Alive, the cat stops being in an indeterminate state and
is found to be dead or alive. Not both. What we have just done
is somehow changed the cat from being both dead AND alive to
being dead OR alive just by observing it. In Quantum Theory we
say that the cat's wave function has collapsed to a single
condition.
If we apply this to the earlier examples cited for an
electron, we see that a particle before it is observed can be in
any allowed state. By observing the particle we change its state
to the one we see, only one possible state out of many allowed.
This appears to be a paradox. Somehow particles can exist in
any state possible before we measure them. Then, in measuring
them, we have altered them. While this is what Quantum Theory
tells us, it just seems wrong.
Let’s “be the cat” for a moment (clearly a Zen comment).
From our perspective as the cat, we would quite clearly know if
we were alive even if an outside observer could not see us. You
could say that we might not “know” whether we are dead, but
that’s another issue. In any event, our “aliveness” is not
dependent upon someone outside the box being able to see us. We
would consider this an objective reality that is not dependent
upon being observed. Yet, is it possible that we really could
be both dead and alive at the same time and not know it.
In the Nicole Kidman movie, The Others, we are faced with a
woman (Grace) and her children (Anne and Nicholas) who have
become virtual prisoners of their own making. For their own
safety, they have confined themselves to living in their huge
mansion on the Isle of Jersey during the closing days of WWII.
Grace does everything possible to protect herself and her
children as strange events start to take place within the
confines of their home. Eventually, Anne describes and then
sketches a boy named Viktor, whom no one else can see.
Ultimately we find that perhaps believing that we are alive
doesn’t mean that this is reality. Viktor and his family have
just moved into the mansion being “haunted” by Grace, Anne and
Nicholas.
So who is to say if what we perceive is reality if perhaps
we can’t even be sure if we ourselves are real? As has often
been pointed out, it can be incredibly difficult to prove that a
given person exists since almost everything that could be used
as “proof” could be fake or illusory itself. The novelette, We
Can Remember It for You Wholesale, by Philip K. Dick features a
classic meshing of reality, false memory and real memory. The
story, later adapted as the movie “Total Recall”, illustrates
the possibility that everything we believe about ourselves is
wrapped up in our memories. Yet, even memories may be suspect
if it turns out that it is possible to implant memories in our
head to give us a false sense of who we are and what our history
has been all about.
In “We Can Remember if for You Wholesale” the attempt to
implant some Mars memories of Quail as a secret agent reveals
that Quail actually is an undercover government assassin with a
mind full of dangerous secrets. The staff of Rekal (the company
that implants memories for a price) gets Quail out of there.
However, upon arriving home, he finds physical evidence to
support that his implanted memories are more than just wishful
thinking. The government that was responsible for covering up
Quail’s very real background as a secret agent tries to kill him
but instead Quail manages to make a deal. He returns to Rekal to
have his Mars memories once more erased, and is offered
alternative heroic false memories. The Rekal staff again begin
the process of inserting false memories only to discover yet
another set of suppressed memories revealing that the
unbelievable memories they are about to insert are already there
and are true. Amazingly, all the things Quail wants to remember
doing he has already done!
Yet reality must be more than just a memory especially for
some unique people among us. Before her death, Caris Corfman
was an accomplished actress with an interesting problem. After
removal of a cancerous brain tumor Caris became incapable of
forming any new long term memories. She had long term memories,
just no way to create new ones. Every day was a restart (like
the heroine in “Fifty First Dates”). Over the fourteen year
period between the surgery and her death Caris did develop a
slight ability to retain a few long term memories, but this was
very spotty and undependable and mostly consisted of impressions
that things had happened rather than clear memories. Yet,
despite this there is little doubt that Caris was real and even
succeeded in returning to the stage for a short time prior to
her death. So, even with a degree of damaged self awareness,
she knew she was alive despite having trouble remembering her
life from one day to the next.
There is something more to life than our being “real” just
because someone else observes us. So, the next time you find
yourself in front of that map that says YOU ARE HERE, consider
this; you probably really are here.
