Megascopic Quantum Phenomena
355
was himself a teleologist, with a telic notion of adaptation. Therefore an environmentally induced superselection rule must be of teleological origin and co-exists with
the Born law being its megascopic mirror.
Unlike the Born rule einselection is not defined by some simple formula. If the
environmental perturbation is negligible, the probability of transition into each of the
n distorted J-T states equals 1/n. Alternatively, if we have an isomer with two possible
configurations, e.g. a left-handed and right-handed molecule, and the environmental
influence prefers the right-handed one, then the transition probability for the latter
equals one and for the other equalling zero. In superconductors transition probabilities
between distorted ground states are given by the magnitude of the external magnetic
field.
Note that Bohm’s 2nd statement, implicates a limited world view, based on microscopic quantum physics, dealing with elementary particles as ‘basic building blocks’
out of which everything is made, but it also promotes an image of the old materialistic idea of Democritus. In contrast, megascopic quantum phenomena can be seen as
reflections of Plato’s Forms [140]. As recognized, the world of Plato and his a-spatial
and a-temporal Forms are transcendental to our own world of substances, i.e. space
and time respectively. It is superordinate to matter.
Since megascopic quantum jumps are not directly measurable, one may wonder
whether the claim has any meaning at all. For instance do they proceed at some given
time as a microscopic quantum jump or is there any relationship to time at all? An
answer might emerge by looking carefully what the attribute “a-temporal” in world of
Plato exactly means: A Form does not exist within any time period, rather it provides
the formal basis for time. One should perhaps ask whether quantum physics uses a
similar time concept as classical/relativistic physics. Here is the view of Lee Smolin
on the nature of time [141]: “More and more, I have the feeling that quantum theory
and general relativity are both deeply wrong about the nature of time. It is not enough
to combine them. There is a deeper problem, perhaps going back to the beginning of
physics.” In other words it means going back to Plato and Aristotle. In Plato’s Forms
we will finally find the true relationship between megascopic quantum jumps and
time, i.e. these jumps do not proceed in time, rather time is created by them. At the
megascopic level this gives rise to the concept of quantum of time, which otherwise
is unreachable at the microscopic level. Microscopic quantum theory yields quanta
of energy, momentum, angular momentum etc., but never a quantum of time or of
space. Different objects have different energies, momenta etc., but the Universe is
one, the time is one, and the space is one. In this sense megascopic quantum jumps
are the true clock of the Universe.
Focusing now on the relationship time—events. In Newtonian physics time is
foundational, and events that can happen at any moment of time are subordinate.
Despite the fact that microscopic quantum physics shares the concept of time with
classical physics, events do not play the subordinate role there, but are original as
well as time and independent on it. On one hand we have time evolution of the
wave function, representing only Aristotelian potentiality, and on the other we have
reality created during the measurement process by timeless events—microscopic
quantum jumps. And just this separation of the events from time is the source of
355
was himself a teleologist, with a telic notion of adaptation. Therefore an environmentally induced superselection rule must be of teleological origin and co-exists with
the Born law being its megascopic mirror.
Unlike the Born rule einselection is not defined by some simple formula. If the
environmental perturbation is negligible, the probability of transition into each of the
n distorted J-T states equals 1/n. Alternatively, if we have an isomer with two possible
configurations, e.g. a left-handed and right-handed molecule, and the environmental
influence prefers the right-handed one, then the transition probability for the latter
equals one and for the other equalling zero. In superconductors transition probabilities
between distorted ground states are given by the magnitude of the external magnetic
field.
Note that Bohm’s 2nd statement, implicates a limited world view, based on microscopic quantum physics, dealing with elementary particles as ‘basic building blocks’
out of which everything is made, but it also promotes an image of the old materialistic idea of Democritus. In contrast, megascopic quantum phenomena can be seen as
reflections of Plato’s Forms [140]. As recognized, the world of Plato and his a-spatial
and a-temporal Forms are transcendental to our own world of substances, i.e. space
and time respectively. It is superordinate to matter.
Since megascopic quantum jumps are not directly measurable, one may wonder
whether the claim has any meaning at all. For instance do they proceed at some given
time as a microscopic quantum jump or is there any relationship to time at all? An
answer might emerge by looking carefully what the attribute “a-temporal” in world of
Plato exactly means: A Form does not exist within any time period, rather it provides
the formal basis for time. One should perhaps ask whether quantum physics uses a
similar time concept as classical/relativistic physics. Here is the view of Lee Smolin
on the nature of time [141]: “More and more, I have the feeling that quantum theory
and general relativity are both deeply wrong about the nature of time. It is not enough
to combine them. There is a deeper problem, perhaps going back to the beginning of
physics.” In other words it means going back to Plato and Aristotle. In Plato’s Forms
we will finally find the true relationship between megascopic quantum jumps and
time, i.e. these jumps do not proceed in time, rather time is created by them. At the
megascopic level this gives rise to the concept of quantum of time, which otherwise
is unreachable at the microscopic level. Microscopic quantum theory yields quanta
of energy, momentum, angular momentum etc., but never a quantum of time or of
space. Different objects have different energies, momenta etc., but the Universe is
one, the time is one, and the space is one. In this sense megascopic quantum jumps
are the true clock of the Universe.
Focusing now on the relationship time—events. In Newtonian physics time is
foundational, and events that can happen at any moment of time are subordinate.
Despite the fact that microscopic quantum physics shares the concept of time with
classical physics, events do not play the subordinate role there, but are original as
well as time and independent on it. On one hand we have time evolution of the
wave function, representing only Aristotelian potentiality, and on the other we have
reality created during the measurement process by timeless events—microscopic
quantum jumps. And just this separation of the events from time is the source of