Chance – Does Humanity Have Any?

Does chance exist in our reality?

Do we live in an indeterminate universe?

Two different questions, but closely related. The first asks whether anything is truly random. The second incorporates the first but also asks whether we can actively change how the future plays out. Is there room in our universe for free will?

You might be surprised that scientists and philosophers find it quite difficult to allow an opening for chance to exist in our reality. Time is asymmetric, but just because we can’t perceive the future doesn’t mean it is random in nature. Theoretically, the laws of physics should determine how the future unfolds.

Those probabilities in quantum mechanics? In the wrong place to allow for real chance. The probabilities reflect our inability to measure effectively at the quantum level. They do not allow for random wave functions, unless one incorporates the GRW theory into the model. GRW theory implies an inherent randomness within the quantum wave functions, allowing a wave function to randomly reset itself every billion years, or so. (It also implies many dimensions exist beyond what we perceive)

So, does humanity have any chance? It would appear the answer is no, or at least an extraordinarily small degree. Does that mean we have no free will? Let’s return to that idea of extra dimensions.

String theory implies ten, or even eleven dimensions if you include time. GRW theory implies more dimensions than that. Other theories suggest we live in a multi-universe, which requires multiple dimensions. Science, and math, consistently suggests something more is going on than we perceive with our limited senses.

Do extra dimensions open up the opportunity for free will? Does consciousness use extra dimensions to change the deterministic universe we perceive? Is consciousness simply a receiver of something from extra dimensions, manipulating this reality for some greater purpose? Is life’s ability to create order in a less organized environment a hint of its higher purpose? These are the questions explored in Evolved.

When I started writing Evolved I entered through a well-defined sturdy portal with a neon light blinking “Science” above it. When the writing was finished I had unexpectedly popped out of some twisted rabbit hole into a reality well beyond what we perceive today. It is something I hope to share with the world one day.

Present State

The challenge of Presence is a big part of Evolved. Presence both in the spatial and temporal sense. Mahayana Buddhism talks about Zen through meditation, a way of seeking emptiness for enlightenment. Judaism describes God in one form as Present. There is something special about the present, being present. In our world we tend to live in the past, highlighted by recent neurological studies focused on the time lag between subconscious and conscious thought.

The universe in Evolved is split into two (what we think of as reality and something else) through the interaction of a ten dimensional brane with a field of resistance. The mind of the protagonist, the Evolved, strives to make two back into one.  While writing Evolved I danced around the concept of presence through many re-writes, approaching it from a cosmological, quantum, philosophical, neurological and then psychological angle. When I finally felt like I had wrestled the concept into something that made sense, I read Martin Buber’s “I and Thou” and Richard Rohr’s “Immortal Diamond.” They approached this concept from a religious and spiritual perspective. Their message came together with what I had written like a thunder clap in my head. Richard Rohr discusses Presence from the Christian faith:

In some ways, presence is the “one thing necessary” (Luke 10:42), and perhaps the hardest thing of all. Just try to keep your heart open, your mind without division or resistance, and your body not somewhere else. Such simple presence is the practical, daily task of all mature religion and all spiritual disciplines. Once you are “present and accounted for,” you grow from everything, even the problematic and difficult things. If your presence is wrong, you will not recognize the Real Presence even in the Eucharist. The Presence will be there–it always is–but you won’t be. I love to say that it has been much easier for Jesus to teach bread and wine what it is than to teach humans, who always resist their deepest and simplest identity.

– Richard Rohr

Time Matters in Evolved

What is time? If the image of a clock appears in your mind, reconsider. It is something we take as fundamental to our existence, a plug in a physics formula, a tool by which to schedule our day. But tell me, what IS time? Does it change? Has it always been around? Even before the Big Bang? Can we time travel? Well, yes! We’re all doing it right now as the seconds pass…

Einstein’s theory of relativity suggests time shortens or lengthens as velocity changes relative to another object. Objects… something with mass and three spatial dimensions. Mass is basically resistance as energy interacts with an external field. E=mc², Higgs Boson and all that. So if the strength/ weakness of the resistance field changes, our mass changes. Perhaps if we found a lever to control this resistance it could become the next diet fad, despite tearing apart our universe as we know it. But, back to time.

Do you believe there is a future? A past? A present? Well then, this implies time is fundamental to existence. This view is supported by many intellectuals, so you’re in good company. It implies time existed before the Big Bang, ticking away the seconds just like we experience today. The Big Bang was instead The Big Bounce, or perhaps a newly formed Bubble Universe. Quantum physics would appear to support this view of time as the wave length of particles move through space. Philosophers tag this type of time “A-theory.”

What if we shifted the term future to ‘happening after,’ past becomes ‘happening prior,’ and the present becomes ‘simultaneous.’ This is much more than semantics, it instead argues time is tenseless. It implies time is emergent, possibly didn’t exist before the Big Bang. It is more consistent with the theory of relativity, in which a human could theoretically accelerate close to the speed of light, slowing time for them relative to us, and return home to find hundreds of years have passed. This type of time is called “B -theory.” It too has many supporters among intellectuals.

This debate is woven into the fabric of Evolved, including consideration of chance, free will and determinism. Present, or simultaneous time, becomes a special point when possibility meets knowledge. In Evolved, the Big Bang can be thought of as the Big Division, when the resistance field first interacted with a singularity. This dynamic suddenly created mass (and time), splitting the singularity into the four dimensions we know and everything else we don’t. The present point holds the answers in Evolved, but proves surprisingly difficult to attain and control (are our four dimensions determinate from within our reality?). It forces the protagonist, fourteen year-old Amos, to consider higher dimensions within the universe and even spirituality in a society that has abandoned such notions.

Standing on Giants

Over the summer I plan to go through my sources of inspiration for Evolved. This is partly for my own benefit as I refresh my understanding of various theories. It is also to recognize the brilliant minds that have transformed my life over the past few years. Finally, it will help you understand the road I have traveled to date, and how I arrived at this point.

The path started innocently enough with the thought, “What if humans could adapt to non-organic elements and unlock new capabilities?” This initial idea quickly swept me into chemistry, neurology and psychology, followed almost immediately by cosmology and particle physics. Quantum mechanics and time philosophy took some time to wrap my head around, but boning up on general relativity helped me to understand at least the basics. I’ve always enjoyed moral philosophical debates like “sacrificing the many for the few,” as well as arguments around free will and determinism. One book on chance I read at least five times before it clicked.

When the second draft of the manuscript was complete I took a step back and thought, “there is something more to this.” After showing the draft to a minister at my church, I was blown away that the world I had created was explained almost perfectly by spiritual teaching. Not only that, but Christian, Judaism, and Buddhism belief systems all seemed to explain the supra conscious element I had developed, especially Native American spirituality. Ancient Greek philosophy suddenly sprang into relevance for me. It became clear my mind was wrestling with deeper questions than I had recognized. This realization has been transforming me, urging me on to deeper understandings in all the areas mentioned above.

It has been very cool to go into science and emerge out of spirit. Hope you enjoy the ride.