MarvinMouse's Journal: Quantum Reality... will or chance?

I was thinking and working on some Quantum Physical problems as well as some Mathematical Chaos Theory problems, and I noticed something that caught me startling off guard. (I also read an interesting book by a neuroscientist on quantum physics and the brain.)

Everything in the world is affected in someway by quantum mechanics. By Chaos theory, the smallest change will not be cancelled out in the end, but instead leads to a similar, but completely different final state when used in cellular automata (CAs). Now, I am not going to start going all CA on you, but I have verified what I read in the book by the neuroscientist, and apparently a good part of the stuff that happens in our bodies is very similar to cellular automata actions. (And how could it be not, since they are literally just cells acting on their interactions with the cells around them.)

So, anywaiz. You think about this, and you realize that perhaps Quantum Chance has a larger influence on things in the world than previously thought.

Okay, i hear the jeers and boos from the mechanists out there. The ones who believe that quantum is basically smeared out by the time it reaches our level.

Well, here's a cute little thought experiment that can show quantum isn't as smeared out as you think at out level.

Set, up a diffraction grating. At exactly the halfway point, divide a screen and hook it up to a computer. Now, Let's be mean and wire this computer to someone we don't like, or ourselves if you like that. Now, if one photon that passes through the grating hits the left side of the screen, the person hooked up will be fine and nothing happens. But if a photon hits the right side of the screen, they die a horrible death in some way. (you can decide on the method yourself).

Now, with this a major decision has been made purely by quantum mechanical means. Even if our building the device was mechanistical up to the point of wiring the person to it. The final act was done completely by the quantum interactions of the photon.

Thus, you can see that Quantum Chance does have an influence on our lives. Since protein folding and a majority of other biological phenomena have quantum properties, and these quantum chances are carried up through the levels by simple chaotic progression, that something neat happens. Our decisions may be at least partially influenced by quantum mechanical chance.

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Now, here's the interesting question that has got me stumped, but I finally came to the conclusion that this will remain an axiom that has no exact influence on the final product of what happens in the universe.

Is Quantum chance, only that, just pure probability, or a roll of the dice?

Or is Quantum chance, the will of something greater, referred to by theologians as a the uncaused cause?

I toyed with both of these and I discovered that it doesn't matter which one is true. There is no way of proving either. Therefore, you end up with either no faith or faith.

Simple as that. It's actually kinda strange how that happens when you reduce it all the way.

I didn't read this...

[saskboy]

because the title was way over my head ;-P