Schrodinger's Cat Has Nine Lives

I thought about Schrodinger's cat when I was reposting the original entry into my new Google Group page [Quantum Psychonautics Google Group page Link] I had this nagging question as I was writing the original post, but somehow forgot how to make it materialize and answer it, you know, the kind of question that seethes for months before actually presenting itself.

What would Schrodinger's cat experience from his/her perspective? The answer eluded me at first. Would the cat's perspective settle on one of the two outcomes? Would the cat cease to exist if the isotope decayed and the poison gas leaked into the box? Would the cat's consciousness experience both outcomes? That last answer rang like the peel of some great bell into the recesses of my mind. The answer was clear to me now! The cat would experience both outcomes at the same time, and would proceed where it could continue on in the most reasonable manner of existence. His or her limited memory would select to record the outcome which best suited it. It doesn't matter that the cat died to the cat that lived. It doesn't matter that all possible outcomes have been fulfilled in an infinite spectrum of quantum realization, because the illusion is functional, it has been made complete by the cat's mind, by the cat's selective memory. So what does this mean for us humans? The answer is simple, and yet it eludes us all. We are living out one of the outcomes that was made possible by the infinite spectrum of quantum realization. We live, we die, we live a trillion lifetimes all at once, and for all eternity, not as another person, but as ourselves.

AZOnano Blog Entry from "Nanooptic and Nanophotonics."

"An atomic clock that uses an aluminum atom to apply the logic of computers to the peculiarities of the quantum world now rivals the world's most accurate clock, based on a single mercury atom. Both clocks are at least 10 times more accurate than the current U.S. time standard." (from article in link below)

[The measurements were made in a yearlong comparison of the two next-generation clocks, both designed and built at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The clocks were compared with record precision, allowing scientists to measure the relative frequencies of the two clocks to 17 digits-the most accurate measurement of this type ever made. The comparison produced the most precise results yet in the worldwide quest to determine whether some of the fundamental constants that describe the universe are changing slightly over time, a hot research question that may alter basic models of the cosmos.

The research is described in the March 6 issue of Science Express. The aluminum and mercury clocks are both based on natural vibrations in ions (electrically charged atoms) and would neither gain nor lose one second in over 1 billion years-if they could run for such a long time-compared to about 80 million years for NIST-F1, the U.S. time standard based on neutral cesium atoms.

The mercury clock was first demonstrated in 2000 and is now four times better than its last published evaluation in 2006, thanks to ongoing improvements in the clock design and operation. The mercury clock continues its reign as the world's most accurate for now, by a margin of 20 percent over the aluminum clock, but the designers say both experimental clocks could be improved further.

"The aluminum clock is very accurate because it is insensitive to background magnetic and electric fields, and also to temperature," says Till Rosenband, the NIST physicist who built the clock and is the first author of the new paper. "It has the lowest known sensitivity of any atomic clock to temperature, which is one of the most difficult uncertainties to calibrate."

Both the aluminum clock and the mercury clock are based on ions vibrating at optical frequencies, which are 100,000 times higher than microwave frequencies used in NIST-F1 and other similar time standards around the world. Because optical clocks divide time into smaller units, they can be far more precise than microwave standards. NIST scientists have several other optical atomic clocks in development, including one based on thousands of neutral strontium atoms. The strontium clock recently achieved twice the accuracy of NIST-F1, but still trails the mercury and aluminum clocks.

Highly accurate clocks are used to synchronize telecommunications networks and deep-space communications, and for satellite navigation and positioning. Next-generation clocks may also lead to new types of gravity sensors, which have potential applications in exploration for underground natural resources and fundamental studies of the Earth.

Laboratories around the world are developing optical clocks based on a variety of different designs and atoms; it is not yet clear which design will emerge as the best candidate for the next international standard.

The new paper provides the first published evaluation of the operational quantum logic clock, so-named because it is based on the logical reasoning process used in quantum computers (see sidebar for details). The clock is a spin-off of NIST research on quantum computers, which grew out of earlier atomic clock research. Quantum computers, if they can be built, will be capable of solving certain types of complex problems that are impossible or prohibitively costly or time consuming to solve with today's technologies.

The NIST quantum logic clock uses two different kinds of ions, aluminum and beryllium, confined closely together in an electromagnetic trap and slowed by lasers to nearly "absolute zero" temperatures. Aluminum is a stable source of clock ticks, but its properties cannot be detected easily with lasers. The NIST scientists applied quantum computing methods to share information from the aluminum ion with the beryllium ion, a workhorse of their quantum computing research. The scientists can detect the aluminum clock's ticks by observing light signals from the beryllium ion.

NIST's tandem ion approach is unique among the world's atomic clocks and has a key advantage: "You can pick from a bigger selection of atoms," explains NIST physicist Jim Bergquist, who built the mercury clock. "And aluminum has a lot of good qualities-better than mercury's."

An optical clock can be evaluated precisely only by comparison to another clock of similar accuracy serving as a "ruler." NIST scientists used the quantum logic clock to measure the mercury clock, and vice versa. In addition, based on fluctuations in the frequencies of the two clocks relative to each other over time, NIST scientists were able to search for a possible change over time in a fundamental quantity called the fine-structure constant. This quantity measures the strength of electromagnetic interactions in many areas of physics, from studies of atoms and molecules to astronomy. Some evidence from astronomy has suggested the fine-structure constant may be changing very slowly over billions of years. If such changes are real, scientists would have to dramatically change their theories of the fundamental nature of the universe.

The NIST measurements indicate that the value of the fine-structure constant is not changing by more than 1.6 quadrillionths of 1 percent per year, with an uncertainty of 2.3 quadrillionths of 1 percent per year (a quadrillionth is a millionth of a billionth). The result is small enough to be "consistent with no change," according to the paper. However, it is still possible that the fine-structure constant is changing at a rate smaller than anyone can yet detect. The new NIST limit is approximately 10 times smaller than the best previous measurement of the possible present-day rate of change in the fine-structure constant. The mercury clock is an especially useful tool for such tests because its frequency fluctuations are magnified by any changes in this constant.]

Posted 7th March 2008

Link to source

It appears that we are getting closer to a real and true quantum clock (one that utilizes the Planck second as a base unit of temporal measurement) and much needed reform for our outdated calendar and time-keeping system. -ZNP

Tempus Fugit

Time flies even faster when its being measured by the flips and flops of a quantum computer's q-bit array, (at least I think it will.) Imagine that you have a time machine or trans-dimensional craft. How will you keep track of time? An ordinary wrist watch just won't do! That neat little Timex staring up at you just hasn't the ability to remain accurate through the waves of temporal flux you may subject it to. No, you need something far more stable and far more accurate. Better yet, you need something that calculates its values from outside this universe to start with! What such device would accomplish this impossible task? A quantum computer's clock could. As q-bits flop back and forth, they are actually performing calculations in all possible universes at the same time. While what we see here is just one such value for an infinite set, similar to the function of each electron around us. It should be possible to use electrons or other quantum state particles to attain the accuracy we need to measure time by the Planck scale. A Planck second could (and should!) one day replace the second as the SI basic unit of temporal measurement. To obtain any valuable measurements you would also need a starting point, (as with charting a course through space, you need a point of origin.) The point of origin would be the start of our universe, known affectionately as the Big Bang, common notation might look something like this 0000:00:00:00 (if we didn't have an antiquated Roman calendar system that is.) So why would we want to remake our time-scale and our time-keeping methods? There are many reasons - none of which are recognized today. Time travel, inter-dimensional travel, inter-dimensional communication, a host of unrealized technologies will rely on more complex time-keeping to function. How else do you create a holodeck with real-time synchronization with real-life, or simulate a universe in a plasma sphere computer with any real way to measure time differentials? I should point out that any sufficiently advanced civilisation's technology can and should be judged by the accuracy of their math, sciences (especially astronomy, medicine, cartography, but most of all, their time-keeping ability.) If judged by our ability to keep time, we would fall just above the ancient Romans and below the ancient Mayans. The current Atomic clock for the US (one of the most accurate clocks in the world) is accurate to 10(-19) seconds. Planck time measurement would require 10(-44) or greater precision, as well as computing power far in excess of what we now have (greater than all the classical computers we now have on earth, with data storage far in excess of a yottabyte (YB)*.

YB = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes or 10(24) bytes. It might be necessary to have one carefully guarded and isolated quantum clock data center, perhaps encompassing an entire barren moon or planet. The master quantum clock could transmit its signal into surrounding universes through quantum computer receivers in each universe. ( I think that somewhere out there, there must be planets that are used for nothing but computer systems and research, climate controlled and secured by a complex array of intelligently powered satellites.

The Spectrum

Human Visual Spectrum: 380-750nm or Terahertz (THz) Human Audio Spectrum: 20-20,000Hz Electromagnetic Spectrum: Gamma Rays (1 GeV, 2.4x10[23] Hz*) - nanohertz) 2.9×10[27] Hz sources have been documeted by astronomer

Yourself Or Someone Like You

The other day I was thinking about how we change as we grow and mature with the passage of time. I was struck with the similarity of this concept to that of alternate versions of oneself across the Multiverse or alternate worldlines - parallel universes. Imagine visiting yourself as a teenager, a child, a young adult, a middle age adult, an elderly person... all these versions of your own self would have such different ideas about life, them self, the world around them. They might (at times) seem share more in common with other individuals than with themselves. I recall considering this concept long ago (I must have been about 17 then.) I did not yet have an understanding about how the universe, multiverse and Omniverse were set up, then I was missing the key pieces of information that would drive my consciousness headlong into the infinite life. Yet my mind was suffused with a perpetual contemplation of the realization just around the corner. I could not know that I was just a decade away from the understanding I craved. What do I lack now, that I will know just a decade from now? It may be a small mercy that I have this time to allow myself to prepare. Information has a funny way of arriving just as we need it and yet, somehow just before we feel ready for it. If we remember this analogy it may help us to understand how alternate versions of our self across the infinite Omniverse may appear to one another. We should consider that even our own life (here in this worldline) shares nearly as much incongruity with itself as with other versions of that life (in other universes.) This concept of a changing being across time can be called a 4th dimensional being. We are 4th dimensional beings with the perspective of 3rd dimensional beings. The Holographic Universe Theory tells us that 4 dimensional objects cast 3 dimensional shadows. For more on this subject I suggest that you read the following authors: Rob Bryanton (Imagining the Tenth Dimension,) Brian Greene, Douglas R. Hofstadter, Michio Kaku, Paul Davies and Fred Alan Wolf.

Dream Within A Dream

Who hasn't considered the idea that life is merely a dream? Many great philosophers and musicians have mused about this odd question. Even the children's nursery song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" asserts that all this "...Life is but a dream..." In the strangest tale (by Mark Twain) entitled the, Mysterious Stranger, an angellic being known simply as Lucifer remarks that what we know as life is truly a dream within a dream, he goes on to say that if one looks closely enough, all the signs were there. This haunting passage echos the mystical "un-real" nature of the world we live in. For all the solid, logical explanations we encounter, for all the functional elements, that which is predictable and sound, we are thrown into doubt by one single moment of magic. I frequently comment that this world contains an element of "un-reality" that the "non-real" is just as solid and functional as that which we KNOW to be real. I think that it is much more logical to make a concerted effort to rid ourselves of this notion that the world is anything (any one thing or another) it is enough that it is as it is. It is enough that it is functional, for the puroposes that it is put to use, to the extent that we will it to. Life can be called a dream within a dream because that is one aspect of the nature of it. If one spends all their life looking for the ethereal and effemoral they will find that aspect of the world all around them. If one searches for the solid and the sound, the scientific, then they too will find that aspect of the nature of the world to be all around them. The key is to look at the world in such a way that does not exclude either. If you seek the truth, you should first expect to find it within the infinite, not the world of shaddows and echos. If this world we experience is dreamlike it is because that is the state in which we are currently viewing it with. (See also the entry, "What Is And What Should Never Be" for more on the topic of the "un-real" nature of reality.)

The Filter

In a previous entry I discussed how the Personal mind (and to some extent the brain and nervous system) act as a kind of anchor, tethering us within the reality in which we function. It must also be understood that the mind has another very important function which is not accepted by modern psychology or by our current paradigm including those of science and medicine. The mind's second misunderstood function is that of a filter. The mind and the human nervous system act to reduce the stimuli which is allowed to approach the foreground of conscious awareness. If we were allowed to experience the entirety of the life we live, singly (as an individual human being,) we would completely overload every cell within our bodies and we would perish in a single moment of unparalleled agony and ecstasy. If we were to be allowed to mentally experience this same experience the result would be an overload and shut-down of mental processing, possibly death, coma or black-out. The filters of our mind and our body are part of our mind and body's default settings, or operating parameters. The human body (like all the individual cells within it) is written into manifestation by intelligent patterns of information. The physical manifestation of these patterns is DNA, RNA and their related proteins (the result of course, is our living physical body.) The mental manifestation of these patterns is the Personal (or Cell) mind. It is this conscious, self-aware portion of the human mind that we often identify as the "self." It is well known that every cell within our body possesses certain functional traits, certain values for energy potentials, and operational parameters, (values for: pH, temperature, pressure, salinity- just to name a few,) these values are very specific any overload can cause the death of the cell. The mind holds within it the same system for regulation and control of volatile energies. (It is important to remember that I am not discussing the human brain, but the mind.) If one tries to understand the macro-structure of the human mind one must understand that the Personal mind acts much like a cell would within the human body. The Personal mind has definite limits and default settings which are designed to produce very specific effects, just like cells in the body. Similarly, one could view the macro-structure of the 5th dimensional form of the human body (the version of yourself which is infinitely realized within the 5th dimension) as being composed of cells which are actually individual human bodies. This previous statement does not appear to make sense, because this world is set up with logic that is functional for a 4 dimensional reality set, and our minds are suffused with this 4th dimensional logic. We can easily understand concepts which are common to this universe's native logic, those concepts outside it may be very difficult to understand if not impossible.* The price we often pay for accepting foreign logic into our Personal mind is that of dysfunctionality within our native universe.

It was Aldous Huxley who I first recall having described the brain to be a reducing filter of sorts, in his work entitled, "The Doors of Perception/ Heaven and Hell."

Quantum Psychology - An Introduction to Conditions

Often times people are aware of instances or events which fall decidedly outside the rubric of normal human experience. These events may be so fleeting that they bare only the slightest mental recognition, or they can shape the course of a person's entire life. These strange events or series of events that I am discussing do not often make there way into interpersonal communication, due to fear of ridicule, judgment or manipulation. We are all to often aware of even the slightest shift in mental function, so as to suspect ourselves or others of mental illness or insanity. This attitude is very much a part of the culture of the age we live in, inasmuch as it is spawned from our broken (highly dysfunctional) paradigm. Our portion of our paradigm which is responsible for our concepts of mental health and cognitive function are (as I have mentioned before) horribly lacking. What these events should show us is that we need to redefine mental health as well as dysfunction. We are not finite beings, living in a finite world. Why should our psychology reflect this blatant misunderstanding, rather than the truth we see around us everyday? That being said, I would discuss some phenomena which often get mislabeled and misunderstood, causing great personal pain and suffering. (Having spent many years working in the Mental Health Community, some of these examples come from people's stories and experiences - no names or identifying marks will be used.) The first event or condition I will discuss is one which is common to in-patient psych. wards all over the world. That condition is one of recursive and self perpetuating logic which appears to be otherworldly. A person may persist in this "fantasy world" until all semblance of their former "reality" and "identity" is lost. This can be a temporary condition, taking on many different flavors and textures of behavior and cognition. Clinicians are quick to label these conditions of alternate mental function with a clinically accepted diagnosis, BECAUSE THAT'S HOW THEY GET PAID FOR THEIR WORK, and it fits their current paradigm of how the "mentally ill" are supposed to be "treated." The treatment is invariably a mix of psychopharmacological and cognitive therapy (pills, talking and Behavioral Modification.) The complex structure of the human body as well as the Personal or Cell Mind is often averse to these chemical compounds, many of which can have toxic effects. (Read the book Toxic Psychiatry by: Peter R. Breggin for more on this issue.) Since the current paradigm dismisses any possibility of other causes, the root cause of all these conditions must stem within this "world" and with that individual's personal life experience, whether intrinsic or extrinsic. Many clinicians are just beginning to understand the role of an individual's ability to affect their own physical body by way of emotion and thought. Right from the very start of human history, those individuals with different default settings and different mental function have faced unique obstacles. In antiquity they have been afforded some unique positions: oracles, seers, medicine men and women, workers in magical arts, advisers to kings and queens. Many of these people clearly functioned with an alternate mental set from that of their peers. All to often they have been taken advantage of, mistreated, ridiculed, branded like cattle, carted off into dungeons or forced into the wilderness to make their way alone. We owe an infinite debt of compassion and understanding to the "mentally aberrant," the "mentally ill," and those referred to as "idiot savants." It is through the eyes of madness that we often find the answers we have sought. They also offer us the unique ability to better understand our own mental function, or rather, dysfunction. Think about this for a moment, what kind of logic says that because the majority of people display a given set of functional parameters, that anything other than that set of parameters must be labeled as defective? Why not say that the outliers represent a unique class of individuals, rather than try to bang them into the most common state, that of the majority. Who says that the best possible state of mental function is that which matches that which is most common and most predictable?

Below follows a brief list of conditions:

Temporal Shift - These are specific conditions characterized by movement (or perception of movement) through the 4th dimension (time) which is incongruous with the normal progression of temporal flow, (moment by moment, past-to-present-to-future.)

Temporal Shift I. - This condition is characterized by a "skipping" forward or backward in time. This event is an isolated occurrence.

Temporal Shift Ir. would designate a repeating pattern of temporal shifts.

Temporal Shift II. - This condition is characterized by perpetual shifting in and out of temporal segments or "streams." A person with this condition is likely to be suffering from a debilitating genetic disorder or to have had a severe head trauma.

Interdimensional-Transuniversal Shift - This condition is normally caused by willful action, (Quantum Travel.) This condition causes the individual to shift from one dimension into another.

Trans-dimensional Interference - Also known as Trans-universal Interference, this condition is often mistaken for psychosis, it is characterized by a pattern of invasive foreign logic* and information interfering with native logic* and related information. This condition can occur during dreaming, but the mind's natural defenses against foreign logic are usually able to convert it into nonsensical data. This condition is brought about by an accidental or willful disabling of this natural function of the mind. Invasive logic or information patterns may be intermittent or constant to varying degrees. Willful TDI can be achieved in altered states of consciousness, modified alpha states, lucid dreaming, meditative trances, times of trauma, coma or death and during "deep state hypnosis."

Foreign logic - is defined as any sensory input which is derived from a universe which does not share the initial conditions of the recipient's native universe. This logic may corrupt the natural or native logic of the recipient, causing disparities between perception and cognition as well as abnormal and dysfunctional behavior. Functionality is based upon coherence with native logic and the generation of like thought patterns and behavior. Native logic is derived from the initial conditions and natural laws of the universe around us, our local universe. Without native logic we are unable to form thought patterns and behavior which will mesh with the universe that we reside in (we would be "dysfunctional.")

Invasive Foreign Logic - is defined as any foriegn logic which is being transmitted either willfully or accidentally by a source outside the recipient's native universe and multiverse. This form of foreign logic often causes the warping of consciousness as it slowly and steadily replaces the native logic of the recipient. Foreign logic which is from another universe within the individual's local multiverse is compatible with that of their native logic. Initial conditions from native logic, native logic dictates all forms of information patterns within that system.