Quantum Mechanics and Free Will

I never thought I would hear myself say this, but quantum mechanics is interesting—not that I understand it, but I would like to. I’ve seen three programs on TV lately that expanded my mind, since they dealt with the origin of the Universe and whether God exists or is even necessary to create it, the possibility of time travel, and the existence of parallel universes.

Steven Hawking doesn’t believe in God. Looking at the evidence where electrons and other miniscule atomic particles can be in more than one place at a time, Mr. Hawking doesn’t even believe in the Big Bang. Of course, he completely discounts anything that cannot be seen, touched, or measured, i.e. anything spiritual, which I daresay he doesn’t believe exists at all. He has not apparently had any spiritual experiences, or he might believe in them, but maybe (like Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol) he believes they are the result of eating an old potato.

More interesting than Dr. Hawking’s ideas are the programs on PBS’ Nova series, The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene. The first episode concerned the possibility of time travel. Who among us has not wished he could go forward or backward in time, either to repair the past or view the future? According to Dr. Greene, the laws of physics do not preclude it, but so far we do not know how we could possibly travel backward, only forward, and that only using technology not yet practically available. Time seems to behave like a frozen river we experience only in the present, and that makes sense or how could anyone hope to predict future events?—and a few people have. That also rules out any hope of ever altering the past, and therefore perhaps we must believe that Fate and Destiny are real. Perhaps Free Will is only an illusion we experience, because we inhabit time in the present?

The second episode dealt with the nature of quantum mechanics and how, even though it goes so wildly against what we experience as “normal” mechanics, it has always held up in thousands of experiments over the past 100 years. We think we know how the Universe behaves and can predict some events in the future (the movements of stars or the arc of a baseball), but that is only on the level of BIG things, not the ultra-small. We cannot predict the location of an electron at any given moment, only the probability of where it might be. Not until we LOOK at it will we truly know where it is, and there surfaces another problem: the act of observation affects the outcome of events. Particles are not particles until we look at them, they are waves!

Then there is the very real possibility if not probability of parallel universes or multiverses. Every time we do something, a new parallel universe is created where we did the exact opposite, or did nothing. Imagine an infinity of universes created whenever anyone did something, and that would have to apply to everything, not just human beings. Perhaps there is a universe where the biggest mistake you ever made was not made at all. How would that play out? Is Fate any different in that circumstance? Does everything work out the same regardless? Or, if we exist simultaneously in an infinity of universes, do all of our selves share one soul? Indeed, is there any such thing?

Well I obviously have many more questions than answers, as I’m certain many others do also. I have my own ideas. Stay tuned.