Quantum Mechnics

 

 

The quantum mechanical universe is fundamentally different from our classical perception of the world. To reconcile the two, we must either question quantum mechanics or review the act of perception itself. Century-old experiments have proven the validity of quantum theory. In fact, quantum mechanics is by far the most precise and reliable science that humans have ever grasped. Therefore, in order to resolve the incompatibility, it is reasonable to turn to an assessment of perception itself. The brain is our main tool for examining physical reality, so in order to determine the validity of our perceptions, it makes sense to begin with a study of our brain’s physiology, and in particular how the brain receives sensory stimuli.

 

 

We perceive the world with our senses. The five common senses are vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Our sense organs are mostly stimulated by waves. Our eyes are sensitive to a certain band of electromagnetic waves called visible light. Our ears sense another wave band, called sound frequency. Our skin also receives stimuli as waves. For example, if we vibrate a tuning fork in close proximity to the skin but without touching it, we perceive a tactile sensation. The vibration theory, suggested by Luca Turin, posits that odor receptors also detect the frequency of vibrations of odor molecules.¹ Taste buds are mainly working with a different mechanism.

 

The holonomic brain theory by Karl Pribram suggests that memories are preserved in spectral form. According to Pribram the visual cortex also functions as a hologram. Many complex brain functions such as huge capacity to store data, association, photographic memory and face recognition can be explained, if the received data is not converted and remains in spectral form inside the brain.

 

If our sensory receptors receive mainly waves from the outside world, how do we perceive these waves as objects? How do we sketch our so-called objective reality out of these waves?

 

 

To further the discussion, let us explore the nature of matter. Objects are known to have a dualistic wave-particle nature. In 1704 Newton described matter as solid, massy, hard and impenetrable. In the late 1800s, James Clerk Maxwell claimed that light is the propagation of electromagnetic waves. His claims were experimentally verified by Heinrich Hertz in 1887. As a result, the idea of waves as the sole component of light rays became widely accepted at the time. However, wave theory couldn't explain the photoelectric effect, a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted from a metal after it is exposed to light with sufficient energy. To solve the problem, in 1905, Albert Einstein proposed the particle nature of light. He postulated the existence of quanta (or units) of light energy, called photons, that have particulate qualities. This light quanta is solitary and localized. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his photo-electric theory. However, wave character of light could not be denied, particularly in light of Thomas Young's double slit experiment, which provided solid evidence for the wave nature of light.²  Therefore, it was decided that light must have a simultaneous dual nature of wave and particle. 

 

In 1924, Louis-Victor de Broglie postulated that not just light but all matter has a wave-like nature as well. De Broglie was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1929 for his hypothesis. Since then, the common belief among physicists has been that matter has a dualistic nature—it concurrently has the characteristics of waves and particles.