Quantum mechanics is characterised by
indetermenism,
non-locality;
for clarity read fuzzy;
for fixity see potentiality;
we are required conceptually to enter a non-symmetrical world, where in a non-causal way our cold cup of tea spontaneously starts to boil. It is no mean task to shed the armoury of old concepts and reassess them as being no more than utilitarian blinkers.
But, we are not being asked to enter a quantum world: like it or not, we are in a quantum world. According to quantum mechanics, an object can be in all possible states simultaneously, a superposition, until it is observed. The process of observing the object freezes the state of the object to be limited to a single possibility. To make an analogy to identity, we can say that when we are at the deepest level it is a ‘superposition’ of all of our potential states simultaneously
indetermenism,
non-locality;
for clarity read fuzzy;
for fixity see potentiality;
we are required conceptually to enter a non-symmetrical world, where in a non-causal way our cold cup of tea spontaneously starts to boil. It is no mean task to shed the armoury of old concepts and reassess them as being no more than utilitarian blinkers.
But, we are not being asked to enter a quantum world: like it or not, we are in a quantum world. According to quantum mechanics, an object can be in all possible states simultaneously, a superposition, until it is observed. The process of observing the object freezes the state of the object to be limited to a single possibility. To make an analogy to identity, we can say that when we are at the deepest level it is a ‘superposition’ of all of our potential states simultaneously
or even when we
observe ourselves, we become frozen or ‘collapse’ into a particular state or
set of states. It is in this way that our identity, or essential self
may be likened to quantum mechanics
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