Posted by John Boyer on October 21, 1997 at 10:05:42:
In Reply to: The Universe as a Hologram posted by Mary M Fisher on October 15, 1997 at 15:08:20:
I agree that it doesn't matter that the universe may be governed by principles of holograms insofar as it doesn't reduce our enjoyment of family, a good bowl of chicken soup, or a Sunday afternoon in a rose
garden.
The fact that one might be right in saying 'the universe is a giant hologram' doesn't diminish the value or enjoyment of life.
A few years ago someone was explaining to me that emotions were all just chemical reactions. This is helpful when one is feeling angry because one can try to use this knowledge to help 'get over it'. But not
once have I found this knowledge to diminish the pleasure I derive from the emotion of love I feel toward my wife and family. Just because we may think we know something of the mechanism involved in
emotion doesn't mean the emotion has to be diminished. I still love, even if it is just a bunch of chemicals swimming around in my head. When I'm angry, trying to get over it by using this information is merely the
act of trying to consciously overpower the 'anger' chemicals with something else.
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I rather liked the article on Universe as Hologram. I was particularly interested in the physics experiment in which information seemed to travel faster than light between two particles.
I was interested because I'd only heard of it the week before by word of mouth. Unfortunately, someone posted a note disclaiming the theoretical underpinnings. The problem is that the note seems to contradict
what I heard by word of mouth (you know how things get transformed as they pass from person to person!). Anyway, I'm wondering if someone in-the-know would care to elaborate on the exact nature of
Aspect's experiment because what I heard transcends the mere creation of twin photons. I heard that the destruction of one of the particles caused an immediate change in spin/polarity/something in the other
particle.
The person who posted the disclaimer stated that it was no more surprising to have identical photons than to have identical twins. Now you can see that what I heard doesn't fit because it would be surprising
indeed if one twin were killed to have the other know about it in less time than it takes light to travel the distance between them.
This is why it seemed to me that the particles might actually be the 'shadows' of the same hyperdimensional particle. Most accept, if only grudgingly, that faster than light travel isn't possible. But perhaps this is a
limitation of only using three spatial dimensions.
Thanks for any response,
John Boyer