Synchronic Physics: Non Locality in the Science of the Millennium

Di Paolo Silvestrini

This book deals with the world view based on the latest theoretical and experimental developments in quantum physics and also includes awareness in a single coherent framework. The presentation is unique because it integrates the orthodox scientific vision of one of the pioneers of experimental verification of quantum information with the experience of Zen meditation and shamanism, in an evolutionary process for which the author coined the term "quantum koan". The resulting vision of the world is revolutionized compared to the classic one, and everything is exposed in a sober way, without looking for special effects as is often seen in the literature on the subject. It's about entanglement, time, life and death, quantum vacuum, consciousness in a flowing story within everyone's reach. The book is aimed at both physicists open to a non-local vision of reality, with original scientific considerations published in international journals and described here in a non-technical way, and anyone who is receptive to the message with a non-specialist average culture. No mathematical formula is used and the book is accessible to a large audience.At the end of each chapter, It is suggested a meditation technique or a guided shamanic journey that helps the reader to gain direct experience and to integrate the consequences of quantum physics into everyday life.

• Lingua: Italiano
• Editore: Youcanprint
• Data di uscita: 4 apr 2023
• ISBN: 9791221432848

Anteprima del libro

Preface

Welcome to this text on the foundations of Quantum Physics and the new vision of the world that emerges from the recent experimental evidences on quantum entanglement and non-locality. Just as I write this preface (December 2022) the Nobel Prize ceremony is about to take place for Alain Aspect and Anton Zeilinger, pioneers of experimental verifications of what I have called quantum synchronicity, which this book will deal with. But let me introduce myself briefly: my name is Paolo Silvestrini and since 2001 I have been working as a full professor of General Physics at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, in Naples, Italy. Since the beginning of my career as a scientific researcher, which began with my thesis in 1983, I have dealt with the foundations of Quantum Mechanics, and I was one of the first researchers to deal with the experimental verifications of the possibility of applications of Quantum Physics to macroscopic systems, those of everyday life, both in view of the development of the revolutionary quantum computer and for a deeper understanding of the quantum universe in which we live.

At the same time, my existential research turned inward, through the integration of meditation techniques belonging to different ancient traditions of knowledge: from the tantric, to the Sufi, to the Indian one called Advaita Vedanta, up to the shamanic tradition of the Lakota people, and of the Andean culture.

In this book my goal is to integrate both my knowledge of quantum physics and my subsequent experience of meditation and energy healing techniques into an organic vision. The book is aimed both at physicists, since it contains various original scientific considerations supported by scientific arguments which I have recently published in international journals, and at any person who is receptive to the message and has a non-specialist culture. I don't use any mathematical formula or technical language, and I prefer to look for examples taken from simple common experience to express the concepts. I hope I have succeeded in my communication effort and that the book is accessible to a large audience.

Recently, using the most modern discoveries in physics, attempts are being done to commercialize the quantum computer, of which several prototypes have been made. The quantum computer is a complex macroscopic object capable of functioning according to the laws of quantum mechanics. The realization of the quantum computer first of all demonstrates that the laws of quantum mechanics and their consequences are also valid at the level of everyday life, although normally they are not directly visible to a local perception of reality. This opens up a far-reaching consideration of our ability to perceive reality as it is, as well as possibilities unthinkable within classical logic, which however were known in the energetic healing and shamanic traditions of the past. In this book, I invite you to become aware of the all-round revolution that is taking place in human awareness with the new discoveries in quantum physics, and to use the new intelligence that is becoming accessible to begin immediately to consciously respond to the challenges that the evolution is proposing to us, looking for a way of living on an individual and collective level that is truly sustainable. I think it is important that humanity as a whole becomes aware of the possibilities that are opening up with these new discoveries and the new worldview connected with them.

Among other things, the recent developments in Quantum Physics undermine one of the most radical founding principles of the classical scientific method, called the principle of local realism, and therefore require a profound revision of the scientific method by extending it to phenomena that cannot be directly measurable at the local level.

To put it very simply, locality is a way of conceiving physics that attributes reality only to physical systems that can be defined through the measurable characteristics in the immediate surroundings of the system itself. Any other distant system cannot contribute to the reality of the local system. Naturally there can be interactions between distant systems, but the interactions are mediated by fields or by special particles called bosons which have an effect only when they reach the system in question. As the bosons can only move at the maximum speed of light, they take time to reach any distant system and therefore no interaction can be synchronic. That is to say, the interactions are also local, the presence of which can be measured in the immediate vicinity of the systems under consideration.

In a local and mechanistic vision, reality can always be separated into elementary parts, possibly interacting more or less intensely through fields of force. This is the basis of classical scientific reductionism.

Non-locality indicates instead that distant physical systems can be correlated in an inseparable way, to form a single quantum system, without any visible interaction attributable to the principle of cause and effect. This correlation is not measurable at the local level, but it means that the overall system cannot be separated into simple elements without losing some of its essential characteristics. As an intuitive, evocative example of what I mean, we know that a living organism cannot be separated into parts without losing its essential characteristic, which is life. We can then say that vitality is a non-local phenomenon, and as such cannot be defined in classical physics. Similarly, entanglement and what I have called quantum synchronicity are non-local phenomena.

In contrast to classical reductionism, I would like to call the principle of non-locality at the basis of a new method of scientific investigation synchronic principle, and the new science that derives from it synchronic physics. Concerning the phenomena that are based on the complexity of the synchronic principle, not only most of official orthodox science is not interested in them, as they cannot be verified in reductionist experiments, but it tends to label them as on the border between science and pure philosophical speculation, or worse as magic sorcery or scientific heresy. The only exception are the countless theoretical and experimental studies of the last two or three decades on entanglement and macroscopic quantum coherence, with enormous funding all over the world for research on quantum technologies; however, the motivation for this widespread interest is not to be found in the awareness of the need for the synchronic principle to explain complex natural phenomena and operate in a holistic vision in accordance with this new knowledge, but mostly in the economic and military interest for the development of the quantum computer that is made possible by these studies. I hope that the advent of the quantum computer, the first technology that explicitly relies on quantum non-locality, will be used not only to solve exponentially complex classical problems for commercial purposes, but will be a support tool to deeply investigate in a near future the fundamental non-local aspects of reality which I talk about in this book.

The synchronic principle introduces a new, I would say revolutionary, element in the approach to complexity, as the possibility of a non-mechanistic choice that complex systems can have in their evolution. This possibility, which in anthropomorphic terms we could call conscious choice, is present in correlated systems through quantum synchronicity, and could be much more generally widespread than we can hypothesize in a reductionist paradigm, as it could be a fundamental ontological element to guide evolution in a non-random way.

The revolution that is approaching in the transition from the hegemony of the reductionist to the holistic approach foresees this kind of discontinuity represented by the priority of consciousness over matter and offers us the opportunity for another great leap forward in human consciousness. Scientific reductionism has brought us so far, and we must be grateful to it for the technology that have produced an abundance of material resources unmatched by any previous historical epoch. Now, however, the time has come to renounce the hegemony of reductionism, not to renounce the tools of the scientific method that work on a material level, but to integrate them in the service of a broader vision based on the synchronic principle.

This book aims to be an experiment of how one can imagine a new scientific method, which integrates rigor and imagination, in a knowledge that is objective and subjective at the same time. The invitation is to stimulate a discussion on this aspect, and I absolutely do not claim that my considerations are in any way definitive or even just guidelines valid for everyone.

In the basic introductory part, I propose a rigorous synthesis of the principles of orthodox quantum mechanics and a discussion of the interpretations of its formal apparatus, up to the theory of de-coherence which seeks to model the emergence of the classical view from the quantum universe. Although expressed in a simple and discursive way, this part can be in some part difficult for those with no scientific background at all. I suggest to them that they read the text anyway, without getting discouraged if they fail to understand the details, and then to focus on the summaries at the end of each chapter and to read on next chapters with confidence. The really important information for understanding the general discourse is not so much in the details as in the general philosophical approach to the new worldview. Also for any other subsequent chapters that may be difficult to understand now, I suggest you to do the same, read and go on, and perhaps come back to deepen later. Regardless of the simplicity of the exposition, the concepts are not simple for common logic, and require an open-mindedness that can be obtained through the meditations proposed at the end of each chapter.

In a second part I mention through some simple examples how quantum synchronicity can intuitively manifest itself in everyday life, and I invite an integration between art and science in a new vision of the world that values the holistic principle towards the construction of a really sustainable community of the millennium.

Further study will deal with the concept of time and how it is revolutionized within the synchronic principle.

Another chapter introduces a new scientific vision of the predominance of the synchronic principle over the principle of causality, in which the elements of consciousness are prior to the material manifestation, with speculations on energetic and experimental medicine.

I invite to integrate the reading with meditation and shamanic healing techniques of the American tradition, supporting them with the theoretical support of synchronic physics, so that they acquire a scientific character in a new synchronic paradigm. I am planning to write a specific work on that, but some hints are already present in this book, through what I have called invitations to meditation at the end of each chapter.

In my opinion it is not enough to intellectually understand the contents of the lessons, but it is useful to consolidate the personal understanding with the practice of shamanic journeys and meditation. The vision of the world through the principle of synchronicity will then produce a radical change in the management of daily life.

In exercising the meditation reported at the end of each chapter, I recommend to be cautious, never to force and to always remain responsibly present to your physical and mental state, gently interrupting the practice in case of unease. They are mindfulness exercises and not challenges to practice with effort. The techniques I have chosen are simple and safe, but some of those may not be suitable for you.

Some further considerations as a premise of the discussion of the rather surprising consequences that I draw in the book regarding the modifications to the classical world view that may be required by the evidence of quantum synchronicity.

I would like to emphasize that my deductions are not based on particularly fanciful or extreme interpretations of quantum mechanics. Indeed, they are the consequences of the assumption that quantum mechanics as we know is a generally valid theory, capable of describing not only the reality of microscopic systems, but is also applicable to complex (macroscopic) systems of everyday life, thus also including organic systems endowed with self-awareness. Furthermore I assume that its mathematical formalism, and especially the entanglement, has a correspondence with the real world and is not only a mathematical apparatus useful for calculating the results of observations in statistical terms. I want to specify this aspect because there is another extremely orthodox line of thought which instead interprets the formalism of quantum mechanics only as a mathematical tool useful for representing our possible knowledge of reality at a local level, without necessarily having a correspondence in physical reality, thus trying to save the classical view of the world. I discuss this different interpretation (which we can call extreme statistical interpretation) in a specific lecture. However, it seems to me that this historical interpretation today loses much of its meaning if we become aware that there is no substantial difference between the laws that describe the microscopic and the macroscopic world, as recent experiments clearly indicate: our local knowledge is imperfect, and the only (quantum) reality in which we live, must be supplemented by the indications of quantum formalism, which introduces a non-local correlation in the world view. This non-local vision only slightly modifies our immediate and local mechanistic perception, and is not in contradiction with our knowledge of the world described by classical scientific knowledge, but at the same time allows for a more general point of view that integrates phenomena currently not understood in the scientific paradigm, such as the manifestation of life and consciousness, empathy, the perception of harmony, the evolutionary process, the possibility of healing through energy medicine, and in general the possibility of significant coincidences without a direct relationship attributable to actions or physical connections between the events in question.

I find that the quantum vision of the world, once human awareness acquires the sensitivity to perceive the subtle consequences of its formalism in everyday life, is perfectly adherent to our deeper experience of who we really are. From a broader point of view, what appear to a local vision as very small quantum effects, often paradoxical, instead have dramatic consequences on the non-local conception of the world, and the phenomena that we are currently able to consider in the classical scientific method are only the tip of an iceberg, the submerged part of which is immensely larger than that observable at a classic first glance. But there is no need to fear this submerged part whose effects are beginning to emerge in our most sophisticated experiments.

These effects of quantum physics, if reported in our daily life, can be the guideline for a change in human awareness towards a different way of conceiving individual and collective happiness, to produce a change of course in our personal choices towards a truly sustainable living, and a really fulfilling life.

Each individual can give his personal contribution, whose consequences on the collective global system can be very significant. We all can fully regain confidence in the power of our choices, without feeling like a small insignificant part of a huge system, whose inertia seems to be completely beyond the control of individuals.

I like to remind here the statement by Buckminster Fuller, the great architect and stylist, a pioneering supporter of sustainable development: Think of the Queen Elisabeth, the whole ship and its helm. And then to the fact that there is a little device, called trim-tab, a correction tab. It's a miniature rudder, and it's the very movement of that little fin that creates the pressure that turns the rudder. It takes almost no effort. or also We are at the point where the integrity of the individual counts and not what the political leadership or the religious leadership says to do.

So any individual human being can be a trim- tab in the great ship that is the global ecosystem of life on earth.

Let us be responsible of our choices!

Part one: The principles of quantum mechanics.

The uncertainty principle.

The orthodox formulation of quantum mechanics is based on some principles and postulates, some of which appear paradoxical to a classical view.

The uncertainty principle provides a precise characterization of the fundamental limits of the information that can be obtained in quantum experiments: it is usually expressed by saying that it is not possible to measure at the same time both the position and the velocity of a quantum particle with absolute precision. An important consequence is that the trajectory of a quantum object cannot be defined in principle, since in order to determine the trajectory it is necessary to know at the same time both the position and the velocity of the object in question. In another very common formulation, it imposes an uncertainty on the measurement of time and on the measurement of energy. This means that if an energy measurement is performed on a system, the precision with which the result can be provided is determined by the duration of the measurement: the shorter the measurement, the more inaccurate the energy value found. Conversely, if you want to know what happens in a very short time interval, the uncertainty principle dictates that high energies must be used.

This indeterminacy is closely related to the fundamental constant of quantum mechanics, called Planck's constant. Although Max Planck introduced his constant through a purely mathematical consideration, which initially did not seem to have a clear physical correspondence, nevertheless with the principle of indetermination it is established that this constant is the minimum value of any physical quantity that has the dimension of an energy for a time (technically called action).

This principle can be applied to all bodies, both to microscopic particles and to complex macroscopic objects made up of an infinity of simple elements: however, for macroscopic objects the uncertainty is very small, because it is related to Planck's constant whose value is so small as to become significant only for microscopic systems: generally the uncertainty due to the uncertainty principle in our local experiments on macroscopic systems is much smaller than the uncertainty related to the precision of the measuring instruments.

Nevertheless, the revolutionary aspect with respect to the classical view is that the uncertainty principle tells us that the reality of a quantum system cannot be defined by the same set of measurements as in the classical case, because pairs of physical quantities fundamental to the classical definition, such as position and speed or energy and time, are not compatible.

Furthermore, it can be demonstrated that the quantum state that completely describes a quantum system is not observable through local measurements, i.e. it is not accessible to classical perception. Let us try to mention these implications in a simple and intuitive way.

In the classical model, if we know the speed and position of a particle at any moment, we can know with deterministic certainty all the past and future history of that particle by solving the equations of motion. There are no alternative paths for the trajectories describing the motion of classical mechanical systems.

In quantum physics, there is an unavoidable uncertainty about the initial conditions, determined by Planck's constant. This constant is indeed very small to the scale of everyday life, however the uncertainty allows for infinite possible trajectories, so that it is not possible to define a trajectory. This is certainly true for microscopic systems. But even in complex systems whose evolution is strongly sensitive to the initial conditions, uncertainty can have dramatic effects on the evolution of the system, leading to inevitable bifurcations in which many alternative paths are equally possible, with unpredictable results in the deterministic approximation. In general, the quantum state of a physical system must be able to contain all the possible alternatives of manifestation in what is normally called coherent superposition of quantum states.

Summary of the most important considerations of the chapter.

• The uncertainty principle tells us that the reality of a quantum system cannot be defined by the same set of measurements as in the classical case, because pairs of physical quantities fundamental to the classical definition, such as position and velocity or energy and time, are not compatible in the quantum case: they cannot be defined simultaneously.

• The quantum state that completely describes a physical system is not definable through local measurements, i.e. it is not accessible to classical perception.

Invitation to Meditation: Find a comfortable position and relax. Start observing your breath by focusing all your attention on it. Very gently, with your eyes closed, bring your gaze to the center of the forehead, between the eyebrows. If you feel comfortable, imagine that with each inhalation vital energy enters you, and that with each exhalation the body relaxes more and more. After a few minutes you may feel the vital energy as a subtle shiver that enters your chest or head and spreads throughout the body, while with the exhalation you eliminate the toxic waste and everything relaxes. With your intent, bring the vital energy to every corner of your body, remaining well aware of the sensations of the body.

When to experiment: I recommend doing this exercise in the evening before falling asleep and/or in the morning as soon as you wake up, for twenty minutes. Go very gradually respecting yourself and your limits. The first few days you might start with 10 minutes or less, and increase by two minutes a day up to twenty. If you do it in the evening you may fall straight into sleep, and that's perfectly fine.

*****

The coherent superposition of states.

The state of a quantum system is described by the so-called wave