Einstein is wrong. God is playing dice with the universe.

Quantum eraser, delayed choice quantum eraser and double slit; these experiments, some of which have earned Nobel prizes, have something to teach us beyond Quantum Mechanics.

I'll start with the memo's conclusion, which is an unusual approach but necessary because of the theory's complexity. To fully grasp the topic, it's crucial to read through the detailed explanations of the three experiments (I have tried to make it in a story form though). However, if you want to skip the detailed explanations, you must atleast read the 'food for thought' section and then get back to your thing.

Quantum Eraser, Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser and Double Slit; these experiments, some of which have earned Nobel prizes, are being presented here in a simplified story format with examples. The aim of this piece is not to get into the complexities of quantum mechanics but to explore a deeper understanding of life, its various possibilities, and the nature of reality.

Food for thought: 

1. Scientists and physicists are conducting these experiments to understand the universe, but I am using these experiments and their outcomes to draw an important conclusion: that the universe (and your own little universe) is always full of possibilities until the final act is executed.

2. Writing this memo is also me trying to make sense of a life changing insight I experienced during my meditation: that the object reveals itself to the observer.

3. An ongoing debate on Free Will vs Destiny: I started sometime back with the hypothesis that there is no free will. Using these scientific experiments and learning from my own meditation, I have reached an understanding (which may further iterate) that there are some aspects of our life which are free will and some destiny. That our life is a streamline of events encompassing both; difficult to retrospectively understand which one was free will and which was destined.

4. Time and space are an illusion; they only come into existence when watched by an observer.

5. This means that the entire universe isn't rendered at once; it is unfolding as the observer observes. 

6. It feels like there is a lack of 'free will' specifically because we are so blinded by the laws of the society that train us to think in the set patterns of the mind (and its predictable outcomes).

7. The "observer" or "seer" presence, through awareness, enables the experience to unfold, but the experience already existed in flux. This means wherever you choose to focus, i.e. bring your awareness, that part of your life will start providing you the experience (unfolding).

8. The creation of an experience occurs when an observer (seer) and the experience (seen) play out.

9. Theoretically, quantum physics states that "anything that has not been observed has yet to come into existence," i.e., the observer effect. This means the universe always existed but started to show its reality due to the presence of the observer.

In the vast and mysterious realm of quantum mechanics, the rules of the game are unlike anything we encounter in our everyday experiences. From the mind-bending behaviour of particles to the intricate dance of probability, quantum physics presents us with a landscape where the ordinary gives way to the extraordinary. 

---

Our journey begins with the iconic double-slit experiment, a cornerstone of quantum physics that challenges our intuitions about the behavior of light and matter.

Alright, imagine you have a special flashlight that can shoot tiny balls, but these balls are so small that you can't see them with your eyes. Now, let's make a game with a big wall and two small holes in it.

First, let's just shine the flashlight at the wall with both holes open. When we do this, the tiny balls go through both holes and make patterns on another wall behind. We see lots of lines and blobs, kind of like when you throw paint at a wall.

Taken from Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment

Now, let's try something tricky. We'll close one of the holes, so only one hole is open. When we do this, the tiny balls just go through that one hole and make a simple pattern on the wall behind. Nothing surprising there.

But here's where it gets really interesting. We open both holes again, but this time, we have a special tool that can tell us which hole each ball went through (measurement/observation), even though we can't see the balls ourselves. When we use this tool, suddenly the pattern on the wall behind becomes simple again, just like when only one hole was open.

This is like magic! It's as if the balls somehow "know" we're watching and change their behaviour.

Scientists call this the double-slit experiment. It shows that tiny things like particles of light can act like waves and go through both holes at once, creating a pattern called an interference pattern. But when we try to see which hole each particle goes through, they act more like little balls again and the pattern changes.

Concluding the experiment, particles such as photons or electrons are sent through a barrier with two narrow slits. Surprisingly, when the particles pass through the slits, they create an interference pattern on a screen behind the barrier, suggesting wave-like behaviour. This phenomenon, known as interference, indicates that particles can exhibit characteristics of waves, seemingly defying the classical notions of particle-like behaviour.

It is way cooler to see this with the help of animations so this one is for the Youtube lovers.

Now, let's talk about the Quantum Eraser Experiment. It's like adding another layer of magic to the double-slit experiment.

Building upon the insights of the double-slit experiment, scientists developed the quantum eraser experiment to probe deeper into the mysterious nature of quantum mechanics.

Imagine we have a way to make the tiny balls change their minds after they've already hit the wall. We can make it so that even if they seemed to go through one hole, they can change their minds and act like they went through the other hole instead.

This experiment shows that even after the balls hit the wall and we think we know which hole they went through, they can still surprise us and act differently later on.

Concluding the second experiment, the introduction of detectors to determine which path the particles take through the slits disrupts the interference pattern, revealing the particle-like behavior of the particles. However, even more intriguing, when the information about the particle's path is "erased" or made inaccessible through certain manipulations, the interference pattern reemerges. (Youtube, again)

In the world of quantum physics, things can seem pretty random. Imagine you're playing a game where you roll a dice, but instead of just having numbers on it, it has all sorts of possibilities at once. It's like rolling a dice that could show every number at the same time until you look at it and it finally settles on one.

Similarly, in the double-slit experiment and the quantum eraser experiment, it's like the tiny balls are exploring all the possibilities at once until we somehow "force" them to make a decision by measuring or observing them. It's as if they're dancing around in a swirl of options until we peek at them, and then they quickly pick one path to follow.

This randomness and multiple possibilities are at the heart of quantum mechanics. It's like the universe is playing a game of hide-and-seek with us, and every time we try to peek, it changes its hiding spot. It's both baffling and fascinating, and scientists are still trying to figure out exactly how and why it works this way.

So, in addition to the double-slit and quantum eraser experiments showing us the strange behaviour of tiny particles, they also hint at this larger idea that the universe is full of possibilities until something comes along and makes a decision. It's like a cosmic game of chance where the outcome isn't determined until we look.

So far so good? 

Let's add another layer to this which proves time and space are an illusion and that multiple realities exist. This is the Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser experiment and explores how it relates to the idea that the universe is full of possibilities until a decision is made.

In the Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser experiment, the setup is similar to the quantum eraser experiment, with a twist. Instead of deciding whether to measure the paths of the particles before they hit the screen, the decision to measure or not is delayed until after the particles have already passed through the slits and hit the screen i.e the decision to measure it is retrospectively taken.

Sure, let's imagine a scenario to illustrate this concept:

Imagine you have a friend named Alice who lives in a magical house with a time-traveling machine. One day, Alice decides to conduct a special experiment using her time-traveling machine to send a photon (a tiny particle of light) back into the past.

Alice sets up her experiment as follows:

• She sends a photon through a double-slit apparatus, just like in the Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser experiment.

• She also has two detectors set up, one for each slit, but she doesn't activate them yet. This means she doesn't know which path the photon takes initially.

• The photon travels back in time to a moment before it enters the double-slit apparatus. At this point, Alice has a choice: she can either activate the detectors to see which path the photon takes (retrieving information about the past) or leave the detectors inactive.

• After making her decision, the photon continues its journey and hits a screen behind the slits, creating an interference pattern of its wave-like nature.

• Now, here's the fascinating part: If Alice chooses to activate the detectors in the present, thereby retrieving information about the past, the interference pattern on the screen disappears, and the photon behaves like a particle, indicating it went through one specific slit.

• However, if Alice decides not to activate the detectors in the present, the interference pattern remains intact, suggesting the photon behaved like a wave and went through both slits simultaneously in the past.

This thought experiment with Alice demonstrates the strange implications of the Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser experiment. It suggests that events in the past may not have a fixed history until they are observed or measured in the present. The photon's behaviour in the past seems to depend on Alice's present choice, illustrating the interconnectedness of past, present, and future, and the idea that multiple possibilities can coexist until observed or measured.

This experiment challenges our understanding of cause and effect and suggests that the outcome of the measurement made after the fact can somehow influence the past behaviour of the particles. It implies that the act of observation not only affects the present and future behaviour of particles but can also retroactively affect their past behaviour.

Well, in the Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser experiment, the delayed measurement serves as a metaphor for the idea that the universe exists in a state of superposition, where all possible outcomes are simultaneously real until a measurement or observation collapses this wave function and determines a particular outcome. 

As we reflect on the insights gained from these experiments, we confront profound questions about the nature of reality and our place within it. 

These experiments provide compelling evidence for the notion that the universe is full of possibilities until a decision is made, that the universe operates on fundamentally probabilistic principles, with events unfolding in a world of multiple possibilities until observed or measured. 

This suggests a fluid and open structure to reality, where past, present, and future are interconnected in a way that allows for multiple possibilities to coexist until they are observed or measured. It hints at a deeper interconnectedness, blurring the boundaries of cause and effect, and bending the fabric of spacetime unexpectedly.

But human complexities…

The analogy of quantum mechanics to human actions is often metaphorical rather than literal, as human behaviour involves complex biological, psychological, and social factors that don't directly mirror the behaviour of quantum particles. However, some philosophical interpretations draw parallels between quantum indeterminacy and human free will.

In the context of quantum mechanics, the concept of superposition suggests that particles can exist in multiple states simultaneously until they are observed or measured, at which point their wave function collapses into a definite state. Similarly, some philosophical interpretations of human ‘free will‘ suggest that individuals may have a range of possible choices or actions available to them until they make a decision, at which point one particular course of action is realised.

It's worth noting that while quantum superposition pertains to the probabilistic actions of subatomic particles, human decision-making is influenced by a myriad of factors, including biological impulses, environmental stimuli, past experiences, and conscious reasoning. 

At present, there's no clear correlation between the two worlds, and it may take additional scientific exploration to explore any potential connections. However, ancient philosophical texts such as Patanjali Yoga Sutras (deriving its roots from the Samkhya philosophy) have long discussed the interplay between the observer and the observed, offering valuable insights that may improve our understanding of the universe. 

Samkhya wasn't written as lessons of physics but a philosophical understanding of the universe and methods to remove human suffering. Therefore, the context in which it was written differs, yet it hints at an understanding or acknowledgment of the role of entanglement between the observer and the observed in creating an experience (karma).

As articulated in Yoga Sutra 2.17 which talks about how to attain liberation by non-identification between the observers and observed. 

The uniting of the seer (the subject, or experiencer) with the seen (the object, or that which is experienced) is the cause or connection to be avoided

"द्रष्टृ दृश्ययोः संयोगः हेयहेतुः॥PYS 2.17

An aspiration..

A recent study of black holes has validated a fundamental prediction made by the esteemed theoretical physicist, Dr. Stephen Hawking, nearly five decades ago. Despite the accuracy of his prediction, Dr. Hawking never received a Nobel Prize during his lifetime due to the lack of scientific instruments available at the time to provide empirical evidence. This instance showcases his visionary insights, being ahead of his time in understanding the cosmos. As scientific advancements continue to progress, there is an aspiration to discover potential intersections between Indian Philosophical System; Samkhya and the Principles of Quantum Mechanics, suggesting broader philosophical commonalities between science and spirituality.

---

Share Your Ideas: Help Shape the Content of My Next Newsletters!

---

References 

1. Nobel Prize in Physics 2022: Learn more about the groundbreaking work recognised by the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022 by visiting The Nobel Prize in Physics 2022. 

2. The Nobel Prize was awarded to physicists for their pioneering contributions to the understanding of quantum entanglement. Why Did Quantum Entanglement Win the Nobel Prize in Physics? 

3. Watch "The Weird Experiment that Changes When Observed" to explore the fascinating phenomenon of observation in quantum mechanics. 

4. How the Quantum Eraser Rewrites the Past | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios

Photo by Risto Kokkonen on Unsplash