What is the connection between quantum physics and spirituality?

I have heard that quantum physics makes science more reconcilable with spirituality. Can you explain how this actually happens? 

To hear the answer

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you I have heard several times that quantum physics makes science more reconcilable to spirituality can you explain how this actually happens answer many people who claim to be scientific equate science with scientific materialism they think that materialism is the only school of thought that is reconcilable with science materialism is the idea that matter is the only reality and even if minds or conscious beings have some reality they are ultimately products of the mind and so don’t have any independent reality apart from the reality that is there at the material level so if materialism is true then both soul and God because both of them are spiritual become untrue and non-existent and in this way science tends to be linked by many people as leading to atheism so people equate science with materialism and materialism implies that there is no God and soul which is atheistic so science through scientific materialism leads to atheism for many people now quantum physics shows how seriously limited and flawed is the equalization of science with scientific materialism quantum physics almost unavoidably requires the existence of a conscious observer who is non-material so quantum physics as a defining element within its very definition of what it is includes a non-material mind a non-material conscious observer I’m using the word mind here in terms of how modern scientists use the word mind basically that is the reservoir of thought, consciousness and knowledge so modern science doesn’t understand mind in the same way that the vedic science understands as a subtle material energy but whatever there is some consciousness which is separate from matter is necessitated almost by quantum physics how is this necessitated quantum physics uses equations which predict probabilities not definite values but probabilities before quantum physics there was what is now called as classical physics so classical physics was what was pioneered from the time of Galileo and Newton onwards and developed subsequently so in classical physics we have Newton’s laws of gravity and other laws of motion which describe the behavior of matter at the anthropic level at the level that we human beings observe but these laws were found to be inapplicable at the quantum level and at the quantum level matter doesn’t behave like particles therefore a whole branch of physics called quantum physics came up and how does matter not behave like particles so there are several experiments to illustrate this there is what is known as the famous two slits experiment that if we send a single photon of light through two slits in a wall which are next to each other and which are followed by a screen then that single photon seems to pass through both the slits because the pattern on the screen shows a interference pattern that has resulted from light coming from both the slits so if only one photon has been sent either it should go through the first or the second hole but it goes through both holes apparently so this indicates that the photon is not just a particle of light but it is behaving like a wave so Schrodinger came up with a 9 letter long equation which is now known as Schrodinger’s equation and which is the most important equation as of now in quantum physics and it correctly predicts the chances of finding a photon at any given point so now is a photon is it a photon essentially is a particle of light that was its original conceiving idea but is a photon a particle like we have particles of say grains of course at a much more microscopic level the photon is but is it a particle like that or is it just a wave so quantum physics observations indicate that it is like a wave because it is passing through both the slits at the same time when it was discharged at that time it was discharged as a particle so it started as a particle and it seems to have become a wave and then again when it is observed at that time it becomes a particle so Schrodinger’s equation it envisages a kind of wave like a ripple that is created in a pond when a pebble is dropped into it so like that the filament which gives out the photon it seems to have a rippling wave that moves outwards from it now as long as this wave is not being observed it behaves like a wave but as soon as the wave function is observed then it collapses it collapses and becomes a photon a particle so now when the photon is not being observed at that time where is it cannot be definitely known only its probability can be predicted so therefore the probability is something between 0 to 100 but when we talk about probability we can only talk about probability when it is about something definite for example there is a student say Raj now I can say that he has a 70% probability of passing an exam so now this 70% probability can be talked about only when this probability resolves itself eventually so actually if he gives the exam and results come out at that time the probability of his passing either becomes 100% if he has passed the exam or it becomes 0% if he has not passed the exam so now in quantum physics the location of a photon where exactly it is because when it is not being observed it is behaving like a wave so we cannot predict its specific location so there is a probability of where it might be and that probability is talked about by Schrödinger’s wave function now when an observer observes it at that time that particle that particular photon becomes localized over there so that which is distributed as a wave collapses into a particle that is called the collapse of the Schrödinger wave function so at this point the photon is either there or it is not there so if it is there then the probability is 1 if it is not there then the probability is 0 so this is how logically things work in daily life also the probability eventually resolves itself just like if there is a cricket match now we can say that this country this is the probability of winning but eventually when the match takes place the probability becomes 1 or 0 at the end of the match either India has won and the probability of India’s winning has become 100% or India has lost and the probability has become 0% similarly when a photon is observed the probability that it is at a particular location it either becomes 100% or 0% but Schrödinger’s wave function equation doesn’t talk about the probability ever becoming 0 or 100% the probability only varies within that range smoothly but never jumps to either of the extremes now a characteristic of quantum physics is that in classical physics the probabilities are there because we don’t know adequately because of incomplete knowledge we can talk in terms of probabilities that is the understanding in classical physics so for example if there are 100 billiards balls which are put close to each other and if I throw one ball in the middle of them then all the 100 balls will move now how these balls will move there are so many parameters involved that we cannot for certain say that if I hit all those balls together one ball will go into a hole over here but we can talk in terms of probabilities so now all of them are going to follow the laws of mechanics but because there are 100 balls and the way they are mutually positioned and the force and the position where the throwing ball hits them and after that their mutual domino effect sort of motion how it occurs will all vary so we cannot necessarily predict accurately but we can talk in terms of probabilities so this is a crude example but the point is in classical physics as well as in common sense we think of probabilities in terms of the incompleteness of our knowledge because there are so many parameters involved and we can’t be sure about all the parameters their values and their interrelationship so we say that the probability of the result so it is because of inadequacy of our knowledge but in quantum physics the probabilities are not due to inadequacy of knowledge but they are intrinsic to the nature of quantum reality itself why? because what is being measured is so small that the very act of measurement creates an effect on it the very act of measurement changes what is being measured for example when we measure our body temperature with a thermometer and when we put a thermometer under the arm or in the mouth at that time the thermometer’s temperature rises according to our body temperature now because the body is much bigger and because the body’s temperature is much higher the thermometer’s temperature rises at the same time the thermometer is at a lower temperature then the contact of the thermometer with the body would also have lowered the body temperature slightly but because the body is so big and what is being measured is so large then the decrease the decrease in the body temperature due to the contact with the thermometer does not affect the body much but imagine if there is a small particle of water at a particular temperature then I put a thermometer in it to measure it to measure its temperature and a thermometer at a different temperature not only would a thermometer indicate the temperature of the water but it would also affect the temperature of the water so at a microscopic level how do we take the position of say an electron we have to send some sort of electromagnetic waves so now when we send the electromagnetic waves the electromagnetic waves collide with the electron so if they collide with the electron then we understand that the electron is over there but if it doesn’t collide with the electron we understand that it is not there so when there is a collision of the electron we can know its position but the very act of colliding with the electron of the electromagnetic wave alters the velocity of the electron so the act of measurement changes what is being measured and that is why we have Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle which says that we cannot measure both the position and the velocity of an electron because the moment I measure the position the act of measuring the position changes its velocity so therefore as soon as I know the position I don’t know the velocity so basically the point is probability is an intrinsic feature of quantum physics now at the same time quantum physics also ultimately leads to resolution of probabilities in terms of observation so now where does the observation take place so now there is a famous Schrodinger’s cat paradox so suppose a cat is suspended in a room in which there is a bottle of cyanide and the whole setup is arranged in such a way that there is a detector which looks at an isolated electron and determines whether it is spin up or spin down the electrons can have either characteristic of spin up or spin down and it is seemingly at random so the whole experiment is set up in such a way that if it is spin up then the bottle is open, the cat gets the cyanide and the cat dies if the electron is spin down the cat remains alive now 10 minutes later when we open the box we find the cat is either alive or dead now the question is before we opened the box to find out what is the state of the cat before we opened it during those 10 minutes what was the state of the cat now logic would say that it is either alive or dead so but from the quantum physics point of view because the very act of measurement that means when we open the door and look at the cat it is at that act moment the cat lives or cat dies so this seems to be very counterintuitive but that is how quantum physics is that’s why Neil Bohr said that anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it ok now the question comes up what has all this got to do with spirituality so all this that we have talked about essentially indicates that in quantum physics the act of observation by an observer plays a crucial role so the electron exists as a wave function till someone observes it and when it is observed then the photon whatever it is that we are trying to observe in a particular experiment that I am skipping over the technicalities over here to make things simple then we will find that at that moment it becomes localized at a particular place it becomes situated at a particular place so the observer becomes crucially important in the quantum physics and in quantum physics the observer plays the critical role of causing the collapse of the wave function it is when the observation happens then the electron becomes located at a particular place so because of this whole complex situation in quantum physics there has to be a non-material conscious being so quantum physics because it requires a conscious observer who is non-material undermines the idea of materialism in a very severe way and brings in a critical role for consciousness within the universe so now this is the trans-standard Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics which was given by Niels Bohr who is one of the pioneers of quantum physics and apart from that to try to avoid the implication that there are conscious minds so actually speaking the wave function doesn’t change the wave function according to science is correct because as far as a tool mathematical tool for manipulating matter and getting experimental results is concerned the equation works excellently but as far as a conceptual tool to understand what it is referring to it leaves scientists bewildered so the implication is that if the equation is not changing if the equation is correct but the equation doesn’t predict the probability that it is becoming 0 or 100 then where does the change of probability occur so that change of probability occurs within the knowledge or consciousness of the observer so we know in our observed world that actually the probability changes to 0 or 100 when a particular event occurs so the photon is either there or not there when we observe it but the Schrodinger equation doesn’t predict such a thing that means the wave function is collapsing and a certain result is being determined now where is it determined? In the consciousness of the observer so the consciousness of the observer and the observer play a critical indispensable role in quantum physics so now to avoid this explanation certain other interpretations have come up for example there is a many words interpretation which says that actually the probability of finding a photon is 70% that it never becomes 1 or 0 it just stays 70% and how does it stay 70% because there are thousands of multiple worlds and among all these worlds in one of the worlds we are there and we say observe the particle and the probability originally was 70% as per the wave function then among all the hundreds of worlds or millions of worlds there are 70% of those where the observer observes where the probability turns out to be a certainty and 30% where it turns out to be a falsity and in this way in the totality of all the many worlds the probability remains 70% now for this the universe has to be splitting branching out at every moment not just at every moment at every blank time it is 10 raised to minus 43 seconds almost into billions of parallel universes so we are only one universe and we can’t even theoretically certainly not experimentally we can never verify the existence of another universe so the various interpretations of quantum theory which try to avoid the role of a conscious observer end up with extremely untenable ideas like say this one is many worlds interpretation the universe is splitting into billions of parallel universes at every blank time or another interpretation is that particles move backward as well as forward in time and the idea that they appear in all possible places at once so how does it appear that the photon is travelling through both the slits the idea is that okay the photon may encounters some wave and that wave pushes it back in time and then it encounters some other collision and that pushes forward in time now in a different position the same photon occurs in two different positions so the idea of backward travel in time is entirely counter intuitive because if I travel back in time say person X travels back in time to the time when his grandfather was there X Y Z so Z was say the grandfather or A B C so C was the person and A is his grandfather B is his father so he goes to the time when A is unmarried and he kills A at that time then there will be no birth of B and if there is no birth of B then there will be no birth of C so backward travel in time seems entirely illogical and even impossible but the idea that particles can travel backwards in time is what is implied by one particular interpretation of quantum physics which tries to do away with the role of the conscious observer another idea is that the universe is interconnected with faster than light transfers of information and it is not just one or two pilot waves like these, these are called pilot waves but there are as many pilot waves as are required and they are all connecting the universe in a extremely super fast way so these are all a huge baggage for science and therefore rather than postulating faster than light waves pervading the universe which create a lot of problems because they are not yet observed and they create a lot of other challenges because to explain one observation we are postulating something which is much much bigger similarly to postulate millions or billions of parallel universes or to postulate the idea that particles travel backwards in time these are much more untenable explanations and in science according to a principle called Occam’s Razor Occam’s Razor is the idea that when we have to explain a problem the simplest solution should be taken first the simplest solution is in this case to postulate that it is an observer and the observer’s act of observation causes the collapse of the quantum function so that is why there are several eminent physicists who have clearly and unambiguously pointed out that quantum physics as we know it is not reconcilable with materialism so there is Eugene Wigner a Nobel laureate who said that materialism at least with regard to the human mind is not logically consistent with present quantum physics and Rudolf Peierls another great 20th century physicist said that the premise that you can describe in terms of physics, the whole function of a human being including his knowledge and his consciousness is untenable there is still something missing so in this way, quantum physics brings in a substantial even indispensable role for a conscious observer and that conscious observer, if we look at it from the Vedic tradition is the soul, the Atma and this conscious observer exists to a large extent at least significantly independent of matter, although he may interact with matter so if there is one conscious observer who is at least partially independent of matter, there might be another conscious observer who is entirely independent of matter and that is God so quantum physics doesn’t directly prove the existence of God, but it certainly opens the door for the existence of God and it does give a very strong indicator if not demonstrator for the existence of the soul so in this way quantum physics undercuts very strongly materialism which is the main intellectual opponent of spirituality today and it shows that materialism is not as scientific as it is made out to be and allows spirituality a substantial role in terms of consciousness within the realm of physics, this is how quantum physics and spirituality are connected. Thank you.