David Cowles
Sep 10, 2024
“We are living in a version of Universe in which some quantum bits are still in superposition (potentiality) and others are already ‘decohered’ (actuality).”
In a recent edition of Thoughts While Shaving (August 8, 2024), Aletheia Today (AT) proposed that the Universe might itself be a giant Quantum Computer with every bit in superposition. Now scientists have released new findings that support that possibility.
Physicists have created a new model for quantum computers that could more easily scale them up to make them more powerful than previously thought possible. The new theory, outlined in a recent study published in the journal PRX Quantum, proposes linking qubits, the fundamental workhorses of quantum computers, over vast distances to work as if they were part of a single super-powerful machine.
These qubits can then be stitched together through quantum entanglement, linking their data across vast spans of spacetime, to process calculations in parallel. The more qubits are entangled, the more exponentially powerful a quantum computer can become.
According to our (AT’s) version of this model, there is one ‘Universe’ with 10^80 bits, all potentially in a state of quantum superposition (i.e., not 0 or 1 but 0 and 1). Accordingly, there are 10^160 possible ‘universes’, i.e. unique combinations of decohered (0 or 1) quantum states. At any given moment, we are living in a version of Universe in which some quantum bits are still in superposition (potentiality) and others are already ‘decohered’ (actuality).
Imagine a bucket of water. As the temperature cools, the water will gradually, not suddenly, transition from a liquid to a solid (ice) state. The constituent molecules, randomly jumbled in the liquid state, gradually assume a fixed alignment according to the principles of crystallography.
Our Universe is currently in such a process of crystallization. We experience that process as ‘time’. This model potentially resolves the perennial philosophical challenge of reconciling stability with flux. The problem fascinated the founders of the Western philosophy (e.g. Parmenides and Heraclitus, 5th century BCE) as well as its last great systematic thinker, Alfred North Whitehead (c. 1930 CE).
The challenge is transmuted into a prayer in a verse of an Anglican hymn: “Abide in me, fast falls the eventide.” Permanence amid flux!
From here and now, we would expect additional Q-bits to decohere, ultimately resulting in a universal and eternal steady state. Could that be the much anticipated Kingdom of Heaven (Whitehead)? Or much dreaded Heat Death (Penrose)?
Our model, however, raises an additional question: If the Universe is in a state of superposition, how is it that any of its Q-bits ever decohere? According to standard quantum theory, decoherence only happens when a Q-bit comes in contact with an outside agent, e.g. an experimental apparatus, aka a nosey physicist.
If the Universe itself is in a state of superposition, how is it that it can decohere? The solution lies in the miracle of Incarnation. The Universe is incarnate in each of its component entities just as each such entity is incarnate in the Universe. Everything has the potential to function as an outside agent relative to anything else.
Bertrand Russell notwithstanding, every set is a member of itself. Universe is maximally recursive. What we experience as ‘time’ (above) is the process of the Universe decohering.
What we call the ‘present’ is a virtual snapshot of the decohering Universe in a supposed state of suspended animation. The ‘past’ consists of the Universe’s more coherent quantum states while the ‘future’ is even less coherent than the present.
Surprisingly, this model reflects our everyday experience. 20 candidates announce plans to run for President of the United States. The outcome of the upcoming election is highly uncertain. Gradually, the number of possible ‘final states’ (aka Inauguration) reduces. On Election Day, the few remaining Q-bits (0 or 1) finally ‘collapse’ and we are left with one bit with a value of 1 (all others are 0). We call that Q-bit POTUS.
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