Happy New Universe!

Why the "quantum revelation" gives us reason to celebrate.

I suspect the explosion in AI-generated art and text is somehow part of this inevitable transition to a quantum worldview. It gives us the capacity, through an increasingly mercurial and plastic medium, to explore an infinite series of alternative realities, something like the “Many Worlds” interpretation of quantum theory. I like the term “synthography” to describe this emergent art form, which does tend toward the creepy and uncanny.

The 2022 Nobel Prize in physics went to Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger for their investigation of quantum entanglement: Once linked, two subatomic particles maintain a relationship over vast distances. When we make an observation of one particle changing its spin or direction, the other does as well — simultaneously, across vast distances, entirely ignoring the speed of light. Collectively, their work proves there are no “hidden variables” that could account for what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.” 

These now definitive inquiries demonstrate that the universe is not locally real. This means that objects only take a definitive, measurable form in the presence of an observer. The universe performs eerily like a video game where the only objects actually rendered are the ones that we directly encounter. This is no longer a mere theory, but completely proven. 

We would be in our rights to consider this discovery to be earth-shattering, mind-blowing, and paradigm-smashing. It might be sufficient cause for worldwide parades, mass celebrations, and new religious expressions (the science supports many ideas found in Eastern traditions, including Hinduism and Buddhism). As enough of us understand and integrate this still-new knowledge, it will, I strongly suspect, transform our world in profound and fundamental ways. It already is transforming us, I believe, even as we try to catch up to it.

In Quantum Revelation: A Radical Synthesis of Science and Spirituality (SelectBooks, 2018), Paul Levy explores the explosive nature of quantum theory, for psychology and for humanity’s future. The word “revelation” is apt. I explored these ideas many years ago, in 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and other books. But Levy does a great job of keeping his focus on the essential point: What does quantum theory mean for us — for our future lives, both individually and collectively?