So I don’t usually write notes…okay, I never write notes, but this is something that’s been on my mind for a while and I figure I’ll put it out there and if anyone traipses across it and has something to say, I would like to hear it.
So, I guess I’ll start by saying that it’s never sensical to take quantum mechanics and neurobiology in the same quarter, for many reasons. Of course, I’m also the guy who most people might remember at some point or another as going “Ooooh, FIRE!!!”, so clearly, I’m not one for common sense.
More importantly though is that this has been one of those stretches where what you’re learning reinforces again and again the tenuous grasp we all have on reality.
Take the brain. It’s all a bunch of chemical signals, stimulated by teeny tiny ions and small molecules. Nothing more. Know what makes a memory? Well neither do the science-y types, but it’s probably not a huge, complex trick. Just some electrical signalling footwork. And when those signals degrade, the memory fades (more or less). Voila. Nothing mystical about it, it’s just another computer.
Then quantum. Oh quantum. Two weeks ago in class, my prof was talking about….well, let’s just leave it at particles. As it turns out, there’s something called the Pauli Principle (wiki it if you’re adventurous) which basically boils down to the fact the several types of particles, including electrons and protons, cannot be in the same “place”. Why is this important? Because only one part in every 1000000000000000 (that’s 15 zeroes, it’s called a quadrillion, I had to wiki it to find it) has any actual matter in it. The rest is just empty space, while technically still an “electron” or “proton” or something else. So the Pauli Principle’s concept is the only thing keeping any of us, as mostly empty space, from falling through our chairs. Or typing through the keyboard. Or floating through the earth. Basically, imagine what it would be like to be a ghost. Maybe that’s what it’s like.
So what’s the relation between the two? It usually takes binding of something to a receptor on a neuron to trigger a signal in the brain. That means a small molecule that essentially does not exist, just a lot of bluster and a little matter, binds to something else, also heavy on hot air and light on substance, and makes you remember something. Well…kinda. Because what you remember might not be what actually happened (forget how each of us perceive reality differently). So everything, literally, every last step to what we consider so fundamental to our individuality, our mind and consciousness, is just wisps of what might actually be there.
And therefore what?
I don’t know. All I can think of is one of the few quotes I remember from learning the Chumash (Old Testament) growing up. Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), 1:2, my favorite translation: “Vanity of vanities, everything is vanity”.
At the end of the day, I guess what there might not be a whole lot that’s real in this world. Maybe the only thing we can aim for is to take whatever reality we see and give it as much meaning as possible. Life is very customizable. While it might seem like the world falls out from under you (not literally though…sorry, couldn’t resist) when you see just how flimsy reality might be, it also creates this vast open space where you fill in the details.
I think Ryszard Kapsucinski said it best:
“A person, an individual being, has a thousand ways of conveying his feelings and thoughts. He is riches without end, he is a world in which we can always discover something new.”
With the freedom you get from knowledge, you get an appreciation for the subtlety of life. We might call people multi-faceted, but we’re wrong. It’s more than that. One person has more depth than anyone can comprehend. A person is infinite.
Just a thought, but I don’t really know. I’ve rambled enough.
