Scribd
Upload
72 views

Consciously Quantum: How You Make Everything Real: Newsletters

Uploaded by

antoscri
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
72 views

Consciously Quantum: How You Make Everything Real: Newsletters

Uploaded by

antoscri
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 10

Object 1

Object 2

NEWSLETTERS
Sign up to read our regular email newsletters
image/svg+xml
Subscribe and save 54%
Menu
• news
• podcasts
• video
• technology
• space
• physics
• health
• more
• mind
• environment
• crosswords
• shop
• courses
• events
• tours
• jobs
• SIGN UP TO THE DAILY NEWSLETTER
Sign In Search

Consciously quantum: How you make


everything real
The idea that we create reality seems absurd. But an audacious new take on
quantum theory suggests the fundamental laws of nature emerge from our own
experiences
Physics 8 November 2017
By Philip Ball

Natalie Nicklin
DOES reality exist without us? Albert Einstein appeared to be in no doubt: surely the
moon doesn’t vanish when we aren’t looking, he once asked incredulously. He had
been provoked by the proposition, from quantum theory, that things only become
real when we observe them. But it is not such a daft idea, and even Einstein kept an
open mind. “It is basic for physics that one assumes a real world existing
independently from any act of perception,” he wrote in a 1955 letter. “But this we
do not know.”
In the decades since, physicists have found it maddeningly difficult to write the
observer out of quantum theory. Now some are contemplating a mind-boggling
alternative: that a coherent description of reality, with all its quantum quirks, can
arise from nothing more than random subjective experiences. It looks like the
“perspective of a madman”, says the author of this bold new theory, because it
compels us to abandon any notion of fundamental physical laws. But if it stands up,
it would not only resolve some deep puzzles about quantum mechanics, it would
turn our deepest preconceptions about reality itself inside out.
When it comes to forecasting how the world will behave, quantum theory is
unsurpassed: its every prediction, no matter how counter-intuitive, is borne out by
experiment. Electrons, for instance, can sometimes display behaviour characteristic
of waves, even though they seem in other circumstances to behave like particles.
Wave of confusion
Before observation, such quantum objects are said to be in a superposition of all
possible observable outcomes. This doesn’t mean they exist in many states at once,
rather that we …
Access this article
Subscribe for unlimited digital access
Subscribe now for full site access

App + Web

• Unlimited web access


• New Scientist app
• Videos of over 200 science talks plus weekly crosswords available exclusively
to subscribers
• Exclusive access to subscriber-only events including our 1st of July Climate
Change event
• A year of unparalleled environmental coverage, exclusively with New Scientist
and UNEP
€3.75
Per week
Save 56%
SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE 56%
Print + App + Web

• Unlimited web access


• Weekly print edition
• New Scientist app
• Videos of over 200 science talks plus weekly crosswords available exclusively
to subscribers
• Exclusive access to subscriber-only events including our 1st of July Climate
Change event
• A year of unparalleled environmental coverage, exclusively with New Scientist
and UNEP
€3.75
Per week
Save 78%
SUBSCRIBE
Existing subscribers, please log in with your email address to link your account
access.
Paid quarterly
Inclusive of applicable taxes (VAT)
Object 3

Trending Latest Video Free


1. Suzanne Simard interview: How I uncovered the hidden language of trees
2. Fish brains grow when they have to think more and shrink if they don't
3. Covid-19 news: Blood test to detect long covid may soon be possible
4. Covid-19 deaths in England could peak at 100 per day in August
5. Richard Branson reaches the edge of space on Virgin Galactic flight
1. Strange gas in Venus’s clouds may be a sign of volcanoes, not life
2. Covid-19 deaths in England could peak at 100 per day in August
3. Covid-19 news: Blood test to detect long covid may soon be possible
4. UN plan would protect 30% of oceans and land to stem extinctions
5. North American heatwave must be a driver for stronger climate action
1. Ice memory: What ice cores tell us about Earth’s environmental history
2. The power of awe: Science with Sam explains
3. Locally extinct brushtail possums reintroduced in Western Australia
4. What would happen if there was no moon? Science with Sam explains
5. Amazônia: The beauty of paradise
1. Strange gas in Venus’s clouds may be a sign of volcanoes, not life
2. Covid-19 deaths in England could peak at 100 per day in August
3. Covid-19 news: Blood test to detect long covid may soon be possible
4. UN plan would protect 30% of oceans and land to stem extinctions
5. Is toothpaste essential? Aside from fluoride, what is its value?
MORE FROM NEW SCIENTIST

Covid-19 news: Blood test to detect long covid


may soon be possible
Health
A simple word test can reveal how creative you
are
Mind
Crab nebula blasted out some of highest-energy
gamma rays ever seen
Space
New kind of ice is so bendy it can curl and uncurl
without breaking
Physics
Object 4

 
Promoted Stories
• The quality of Velasca at your feet. Velasca
• Heraklion : Online Jobs in the USA May Pay More Than You Think Sponsored
Listings
• If You're Over 40 And Own A Computer, This Game Is A Must-Have! Vikings
• Diabetics: Here's How To Lower Blood Sugar (It's Genius!) Diabetes Freedom
Recommended by

Sign up to our newsletters


Sign up
Enter your email address to get started
• Contact us
• Help
• About us
• Privacy policy
• Cookie policy
• Cookie settings
• Terms & conditions
• Advertise
• Write for us
• Events
• Science jobs
• Syndication
• RSS feeds
• Gift subscriptions
• Student subscriptions
• Educational subscriptions
• Corporate subscriptions

Get the app

FOLLOW US
© Copyright New Scientist Ltd.
Back to top

Object 5

Object 6 Object
Object
7 8 Object 9

You might also like