What is Consciousness (part 2)
The Double-Slit Experiment :
First, let’s speak about the experiment of a double slit. This was a very important experiment that revealed the dual nature of light: that it possesses both wave and particle characteristics.
The Dual Nature of Electrons :
Scientists took this experiment with electrons out of curiosity and were surprised by the results that had wowed the scientific fraternity.
The interference pattern that electrons showed in a double-slit experiment exhibited a wave-like nature of light. They were shocked because electrons, until then thought of only as particles, started showing all the characteristics of waves. That is just incredible!
Observing Electrons :
Another unexplained wonder was the behavior of electrons in a double-slit experiment. Whenever electrons pass through two slits and their behavior is observed or measured with the help of a detector, they cease to show their wave-like properties and reflect their particle-like nature. But when the electrons are unobserved, once again they show the properties of waves.
The Copenhagen Interpretation :
This strange behavior of electrons introduces a complex enigma: when an electron is observed, it behaves as a particle, but when it is not observed, it behaves as a wave. In an atom, we can only provide the probability of where an electron will be located around the nucleus.
This is because we are discussing the potential presence of the electron at multiple locations simultaneously. Yet when attempting to observe or measure the position of that electron, all that can be found is an electron in a particular place. But if one doesn’t try to observe the electron, then it’s a wave in all possible places. But why can’t we say with certainty where an electron is located?
The most widely accepted explanation of this plight is by Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr; the explanation is known as the Copenhagen interpretation. This explanation says that for as long as we do not try to look at where the electron is, it will be in all places at the same time.
We only find the electron in one place when we try to measure its position. Looking at this weird behavior of electrons, one might view that electrons have some sort of consciousness – always awake and alert in their world. Isn’t it similar to a tag game between children? (This phenomenon can also be applied not only to electrons but all fundamental particles.) Quantum Entanglement
Exploring Quantum Entanglement :
Now, let’s move on to the quantum entanglement. This means that whenever two particles are either created or interact in a manner such that the quantum state of one particle cannot be defined independently from the other, it is their collective quantum states that should be described.
Instantaneous Communication :
Alternatively, it is impossible to describe either of the entangled particles relative to a common particle; they can only be described relative to each other. This is a relationship which survives even when the entangled particles are separated by huge distances.
The Implications of Entanglement :
Consider one entangled particle in GN-Z13 galaxy and another in Milky Way galaxy, still they remain connected. Measuring the position, momentum, and spin of two entangled particles shows that these quantities are related to each other.
For example, when two entangled particles are created with a sum of zero spin, if one is spinning clockwise, then the other will be counterclockwise. Let’s say you have two entangled electrons. Suppose that one is in Greenland and the other is with you: if the electron that is with you has an upward spin, for example, one can conclude with a high degree of certainty that the one in Greenland has a downward spin.
On the other hand, if somehow one changes the spin of the electron in one’s hands to be downward, then the one in Greenland will immediately be found to have an upward spin. This is almost as if electrons were living objects, permanently linked to another electron. Anything that happens to one is immediately communicated to another.
Quantum physics says if two particles become entangled, their states remain synchronized as waves, irrespective of the separating distance between them. The Schrödinger’s invisible wave would continue to link even two electrons separated by millions of light-years. Whatever happens with one entangled electron is instantaneously transmitted to the other.
As Michio Kaku puts it, “If something happens to one particle, then the other is affected.” That means that my experiences are still resonating throughout the universe to its diameter of 93 billion light-years. If one were to look at two entangled particles’ behavior, distance and time would be irrelevant to the exchange of information and communication between the two.
The most important question, then, arises: if the consciousness is an essential property of the universe, then everything in the universe-from a subatomic particle to gigantic galaxies-must be in some way conscious. If all things in the universe are conscious, then would it not be said that the whole universe itself is a living, conscious entity?
Consciousness in the Universe :
One may even ask that if the universe is indeed a conscious being, why should it appear so mysterious to us. Why can’t we fathom the universe in its entirety? The reason for this is because of our “smallness.” To make this more comprehensible, let’s consider a simple example.
Take any animal’s body, for example.
An animal’s body comprises trillions of trillions of cells, innumerable microorganisms, parasites, viruses, bacteria, and so on.
The microorganisms, viruses, and bacteria inside the animal body are conscious and alive in their own world. For simplicity, let us take an isolated virus. It can see myriads of tiny entities surrounding it on all sides, some of which could be of its own species but most others will be inanimate and still.
It might regard its vast ambient space as dull gray and without life. And yet, it has no concept to think of itself as part of a much greater living, breathing, cognizant creature. It might even conclude that it is part of a large, cold, dead world, as the thinking of so many of us about the universe is. So many of us may conceive that the universe is dead and unconscious, an enormous empty space. However, our consciousness is the microorganism inside that huge living being’s body; thus, the universe is so mysterious for us.
The Microcosm and Macrocosm :
Now, if you were to ask who the most conscious being in this world is, the instinctive answer would be “humans.” This is because, among all known entities, humans possess the highest degree of consciousness. The emotions, responses, intellect, imagination, and decision-making capabilities are hugely advanced when compared with any other living beings.
Evolution and Consciousness :
But the question would still remain that why human consciousness was so high whereas many other beings have lesser consciousness. Some would say that through the process of evolution, man was able to acquire a higher state of consciousness.
They believe that as a result of their adaptation to various environments and gain of different experiences, humans gradually were able to evolve as highly conscious creatures.
But is that really the case? Does only evolution occur in the case of high human consciousness? I firmly don’t think so. If all that is at play in the making of consciousness is evolution, then why operating under similar evolutionary principles as ourselves, chimpanzees are not similarly endowed with a high degree of consciousness?
Running parallel in life, they simply never developed complex levels of cognition like humans ever did. The way it seems to me is that the human brain was hardwired to evolve into a highly conscious creature, whereas no other species’s brain is wired in this way. The question, therefore, is for what purpose one has created humans as such a conscious advanced organism.
The Nature of Reality :
Many people think that everything that is going on around us since the beginning of the universe is continuing presently and will further continue in the future just by chance without any cause or purpose. However I believe every event has a cause and purpose because nothing in the universe occurs without a reason.
