Quantum Theology...

Now, I will begin by saying that I sympathize with the desire to 'connect' our idea of spirituality with what we think science is saying about the world around us. That's actually quite a noble idea, I think. If Creationism spits on the hundreds of years of science (for a minute just stop and think about how many millions of hours have gone into developing science over the last few hundred years vs. how many hours probably went into coming up with creation theory?- which was, by the way only pioneered in the last century or so), then 'quantum theology' seeks to reunite the soul with what we believe to be true about the material world.

I also sympathize with the idea of using the story that science tells us as a sort of poetry, with which to 'explain' other more complicated scenarios in the world. If you go to the following website, http://www.acns.com/~mm9n/quan/ , you will see all sorts of analogies made between Christ, and various spiritual states, and the 'states' that physical particles take in quantum mechanics. As long as (and I haven't read through this particular web site enough to know whether or not this is true) you don't start thinking that you can really describe 'spritual' states in the analogous ways that one describes quantum mechanical states. The analogy is POETIC. Nothing more. Any correspondence with reality has to be assumed coincidence at this point.

But that's where my sympathies end.

I have a bachelors degree in physics from the University of Maryland. I have taken several graduate classes in physics, including a course on Quantum Field Theory, the most relevant model of 'quantum mechanics' which has been tested and shown MORE ACCURATE than any scientific theory EVER (including gravity, or any other theory you could name right now). More fundamental than gravity? Damn, now that's a theory.

Does this make me an expert? Certainly not. The experts have devoted half their lives to studying these subjects. But it makes me more qualified than all the people who read a few books on quantum mechanics that used pictures and words, and no mathematics. It makes me more qualified than anyone whose understanding of quantum mechanics comes from reading several of Depak Chopra's books.

Now Quantum Mechanics is crazy, strange, and mysterious. All physical theories are, in a sense. Quantum Mechanics is that much stranger. That much more mysterious. Einstein himself (though he was adamently against quantum mechanics even until his death) said that 'the most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious'.

But I think such experiences should be authentic, not concocted from a misunderstanding of an incredibly dense and intractable theory.

It's true, quantum mechanics asserts that there are certain properties of matter, that we never knew were possible before. There is a sense in which particles can be 'connected' even from millions of miles away (a very particular sense, and it's not true for every pair of particles).

But how does that translate into 'we can affect eachothers thoughts just by thinking positive things'? The fact is, long before quantum mechanics ever came about, scientists believed in forces that moved between particles (gravity, electricity and magnetism, etc), but that didn't imply that we could affect eachother's thoughts by our powers of gravitation!

The strange thing is, things like 'quantum theology' usually don't give us a more profound sense of mystery, they seem to rather want to take it away. They seek to explain things, rather than sit with some sense of wonder.

See science doesn't give us the 'end all' of explanations. I can sit you down and explain everything I ever learned in physics, right down to the very explicit and abstract mathematics of how two electrons repel eachother...but you can ask, 'why do they repel?' 'Why do electrons have this negative charge?' 'Why do they have the mass that they have?' All these questions, are unaswered. And when they are answered, I bet my life that they will be replaced with a hundred more. Science, like all knowledge, starts with a few 'givens': The mass of the electron is...photons travel at the speed of light...etc. Then it proceeds to weave these things together in the most complex sort of tapestry you could possibly imagine. It can give you a full account of how you get from A to B, but it can never fully explain why A is so. The mystery is in the fact that A is such and such, AND in the fact that A+B+C+D+E gives us everything we know about the world. Why should the world be so 'elegant'? That is one of the most profound mysteries of science. The fact that we can predict future events based on A+B+C+D+E is astounding.

Now a psychic also begins with a few 'givens': I have the power to read minds, the positions of the stars correspond to certain character traits, etc. And the tapestry they weave? It's not very interesting. It doesn't get much more complicated than it's assumptions. It's ability to predict is at best, not very good (explain how it's possible for so many psychics to exist and for so many lotteries to still have gone unclaimed? Or how come no one saw 9/11 before it happened? Believing in pychics, I think, requires more of a suspension of disbelief than believing they don't exist).

Where does that leave quantum theology? It's a novelty if you are just using it as a means of saying 'we're like the electron, Christ is like the proton...'. Interesting maybe, clever perhaps, but not very useful. If you are claiming that quantum mechanics implies there are 'powers' we have, or something fundamental about the nature of human beings that we have overlooked... now you are treading on dangerous ground.

Now, if you can write down the Schrodinger equation for a two 'person' system, and solve it for the trillions and trillions of neurons in the two brains, to show how 'positive thoughts' can be exchanged between people...well, then I am all ears. But if I were a betting man, I'd say it's highly unlikely...seeing as how it's difficult to solve a physical system with 'several' particles, let alone several trillion.

Of course the greatest irony isn't with the people who believe in all sorts of crazy things buying into quantum theology. That's perfectly understandable. Some people just find our world boring. They'd rather invent their own. I can actually sympathize with that. There's a certain freedom in it, that many of us will never really experience. It has it's dangers, but for the most part, it's probably pretty harmless. And who knows, maybe even more fun.

No, the greatest irony is with people who put a great deal of trust in an object like the bible, and then also pick up on these ideas of quantum mechanics inter-mixed with theology. Now you don't have be a bible-thumping literalist, to believe the bible should be 'interpreted with care'. It is a complex book, which presents a great many challenges. The last thing you want is some quack coming along and telling the world that the bible says God loves genocide. And yet when you hear the quack telling you that quantum mechanics says that our souls can be connected through the 'magic' of the science, you are all ears. It hasn't even crossed your mind that these people probably haven't cracked a physics book a day in their whole life. If they didn't learn physics, than they don't know physics. So how can they claim to tell you what physics says about the world?

If you want mystery, just start reading about physics. Read about Schrodinger's box and the EPR Paradox. You will get some real understanding of the beauty of the science, and the mysteries that just emerge from no where. You don't have to 'invent' them. Trust me, they are already there.

And if you are looking for mysteries concerning our more human nature (not our 'particle' nature), what more do you need to know? We exist. We exist. We exist. That strange 'truth' should keep you steeped in mystery for the rest of your life. No need to invoke the rules of quantum mechanics to 'add' to it. Quantum mechanics has nothing on our existential crisis.