law of cause and effect. Something can’t create itself. In order to be there to create itself, it would have to exist, which would mean it was already created—so it could not have created itself. You get an endless loop with no real beginning—turtles all the way down.
When one process—the cause—is connected to another process—the effect—in such a way that the latter would not occur without the presence of the former, that is cause and effect; everything in the world and in the universe that we know of—that is everything within the realm of classical physics—exists within this scenario. Everything must come from something; the only thing that comes from nothing is nothing.
Cause and effect is an abstract idea—even a metaphysical one—yet it is also considered one of the fundamental laws of physics.
In classical physics, causes always happen before effects, but in quantum physics—things get a little crazy! In the quantum arena, it is often impossible to identify the causes of observed effects or to predict the effects of identical causes! Nothing demonstrates this better than the double-slit experiment.
Light waves that pass through two narrow parallel slits will form an interference pattern on a screen. This is true for all waves, whether they're light waves, water waves, or sound waves. But light isn't just a wave, it's also a particle called a photon. So what happens if you shoot a single photon at the double slits? Turns out, even though there's only one photon, it still forms an interference pattern. It's as if the photon travels through both slits simultaneously. Even if the photons are sent through the slits one at a time, there's still a wave present to produce the interference pattern.
The original experiment was set up so scientists didn't know which of the two slits any individual photon will pass through. But if they tried to find out by setting up detectors in front of each slit to determine which slit the photon really goes through, the interference pattern didn't show up at all.
This is true even if they try setting up the detectors behind the slits. No matter what the scientists do, if they try anything to observe the photons, the interference pattern fails to emerge.
Scientists tried a variation on the double slit experiment called the delayed choice experiment. They placed a special crystal at each slit. The crystal splits any incoming photons into a pair of identical photons. One photon from this pair should go on to create the standard interference pattern, while the other travels to a detector. It didn’t work.
It doesn't work regardless of when that detection happens. Even if the second photon is detected after the first photon hits the screen, it still ruins the interference pattern. This means that observing a photon can change events that have already happened.
I find this fascinating since one of the questions I am frequently asked is, how can freewill exist in a deterministic universe. The universe, as we live in it, is largely deterministic—yet at the quantum level there is enough freedom that interaction of any kind can change the outcome. The outcome is not predetermined—so much so it becomes unpredictable. This is a ‘problem’ no one has an answer for.
Even knowing what we know of the quantum world, causation is still an issue for astrophysics and cosmology—the study of the creation of the universe.
There are really only three possible explanations of causation for creation.
That is just the way the universe we live in works—at any level.
When one process—the cause—is connected to another process—the effect—in such a way that the latter would not occur without the presence of the former, that is cause and effect; everything in the world and in the universe that we know of—that is everything within the realm of classical physics—exists within this scenario. Everything must come from something; the only thing that comes from nothing is nothing.
Cause and effect is an abstract idea—even a metaphysical one—yet it is also considered one of the fundamental laws of physics.
In classical physics, causes always happen before effects, but in quantum physics—things get a little crazy! In the quantum arena, it is often impossible to identify the causes of observed effects or to predict the effects of identical causes! Nothing demonstrates this better than the double-slit experiment.
Light waves that pass through two narrow parallel slits will form an interference pattern on a screen. This is true for all waves, whether they're light waves, water waves, or sound waves. But light isn't just a wave, it's also a particle called a photon. So what happens if you shoot a single photon at the double slits? Turns out, even though there's only one photon, it still forms an interference pattern. It's as if the photon travels through both slits simultaneously. Even if the photons are sent through the slits one at a time, there's still a wave present to produce the interference pattern.
The original experiment was set up so scientists didn't know which of the two slits any individual photon will pass through. But if they tried to find out by setting up detectors in front of each slit to determine which slit the photon really goes through, the interference pattern didn't show up at all.
This is true even if they try setting up the detectors behind the slits. No matter what the scientists do, if they try anything to observe the photons, the interference pattern fails to emerge.
Scientists tried a variation on the double slit experiment called the delayed choice experiment. They placed a special crystal at each slit. The crystal splits any incoming photons into a pair of identical photons. One photon from this pair should go on to create the standard interference pattern, while the other travels to a detector. It didn’t work.
It doesn't work regardless of when that detection happens. Even if the second photon is detected after the first photon hits the screen, it still ruins the interference pattern. This means that observing a photon can change events that have already happened.
I find this fascinating since one of the questions I am frequently asked is, how can freewill exist in a deterministic universe. The universe, as we live in it, is largely deterministic—yet at the quantum level there is enough freedom that interaction of any kind can change the outcome. The outcome is not predetermined—so much so it becomes unpredictable. This is a ‘problem’ no one has an answer for.
Even knowing what we know of the quantum world, causation is still an issue for astrophysics and cosmology—the study of the creation of the universe.
There are really only three possible explanations of causation for creation.
- Creation was an accident; a fluke. It’s just the way it is. Just accept it. This is not actually an explanation though. And it can go no further than this.
- Creation is just statistics. Get enough universes—called the multiverse—and eventually one of them would be right for life. This is the current mainstream scientific view. The problems with this theory are threefold: first, a vast HUGE number of universes would need to exist. Leonard Susskind came up with the figure of ten to the power of 500 for the number of other universes needed to exist. By comparison, the number of atoms—atoms—in the universe is only ten to the eightieth power.
- Second, this has to be taken on blind faith. It’s completely unprovable and always will be. It might as well be science fiction.
- And third is that problem of causation. Something can’t cause itself to exist, so what caused the universe to begin? Before or after—classical or quantum—something had to be in there at some point causing motion and activity and creation to begin. It is usually posited that the quantum laws fluctuated and this resulted in the creation of the multiverse. But— then— that requires that the quantum laws pre-existed. Is that possible? No laws, no fluctuations, no universe, no life. But how can the laws of nature, both pre-exist nature and exist separately from it? An experiment known as the measurement of the ‘Bell inequality’ addresses this question: can a quantum property exist independently to prior measurement, or are properties actually created by the measurement? The experiment concluded “there is no reality independent of measurement.” Interaction is necessary to create reality.experiment showed that objects that have interacted with each other—ever—continue to instantaneously influence each other. Though these effects are normally undetectable, they are what Einstein referred to as “spooky action at a distance.” Consciousness creates reality; but is that consciousness ours? Or does this inadvertently support option three?
- The only remaining option is that creation is a matter of intelligence which created the laws and constants with purpose in mind. This is a logical possibility. And this one does, unlike the multiverse, have some evidential support. If there is a transcendent intelligence that exists outside space and time, and it cares or communicates with its creation at all, ever, in any way—then it makes sense that human beings would have what we call ‘religious experiences’ when that happens. And not just one or two—millions of those experiences. That would be statistically significant.
- Who made the intelligence? No one; if it too is created then there is infinite regress—turtles all the way down—again. At some point that regression has to stop in order for creation to begin, and it can only stop if it reaches a place of an uncaused cause. It doesn’t really matter if a person believes in the quantum laws, or God, the same limitation applies.
That is just the way the universe we live in works—at any level.
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