#quantum animism

[mumblelard]

pilfered volcanoes

this morning, finn and i took a walk around the lake and talked about shadows and trains and cormac mccarthy's handmade bookshelves. we saw two great blue herons, a patch beaver sign, and seven different kinds of mushrooms. i found an acorn that looks like an eyeball, a new kind of ramen, two dice for my jar, and fixed the latch on the old cooler. it was a really nice morning

[thetadelta]

Just read this theoretical physics essay from 2002, and this physicist's quantum animism theory is precisely what I've always felt about everything (my spiritual beliefs have always been tied to physics), and it's also very validating as a science-minded person who just remembered a past "life" as a rock:

Many primitive peoples organized their lives around a doctrine we call "animism", the belief that every object possesses sentient "insides" like our own. The quantum consciousness assumption, which amounts to a kind of "quantum animism" likewise asserts that consciousness is an integral part of the physical world, not an emergent property of special biological or computational systems. Since everything in the world is on some level a quantum system, this assumption requires that everything be conscious on that level. If the world is truly quantum animated, then there is an immense amount of invisible inner experience going on all around us that is presently inaccessible to humans, because our own inner lives are imprisoned inside a small quantum system, isolated deep in the meat of an animal brain

This theory also provides what is easily the simplest and most intuitive theory of consciousness I've ever seen:

... The most suggestive evidence for a quantum model of mind is that the Heisenberg picture of how quantum events actually happen in the world is extremely congruent with our own internal experience of what it's like to be a sentient being. Looking inside, I do not feel like "software" whatever that might mean, but indeed like a shimmering (wavelike?) center of ambiguous potentia (possibilities?) around which more solid perceptions and ideas are continually congealing (quantum jumps?). This rough match of internal feeling with external description could be utterly deceptive but it at least shows that the quantum model of mind can successfully confront the introspective evidence in a way that no other mind models even attempt. Because of the two-fold character of the quantum description, this quantum model of mind predicts two basic types of subjective experience: a clear, determinate, computer-data type of experience (type-one consciousness) built out of quantum jumps; and a fuzzy, indeterminate, ambiguous experience (type-two consciousness), an insider's view of some of the brain's vibratory possibilities. The vibratory nature of these conscious possibilities is not usually experienced by humans for the same reason that the wavelike nature of sunlight eluded observation for so long--light from the sun consists of wavelengths too short to perceive under ordinary conditions. In the quantum animism model, the quantum jump--Heisenberg's objective transition from half-real potentia to solid actuality--corresponds to a conscious decision in the human mind, or in the mind of some non-human sentient being, to promote part of its ambiguous type-two experience to more unequivocal type-one status.

He eventually goes on to theorize about methods of intermingling people's consciousness with others and then devolves into that theory that humans are inevitably going to make themselves into a pure collective consciousness which I personally think is silly, but consciousness as an inherent property of matter (which is apparently now called panpsychism and currently popular among physicists) both solves a ton of unanswered physics problems and potentially reconciles western science with a lot of "paranormal" phenomena, like telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, pre/retrocogniton, manifestation, etc.

His theory about magnetic fields being used to link consciousness together without triggering a quantum jump is also, in my mind, sort of already proven in that when living creatures are within each others' heart-brain magnetic fields their nervous systems measurably begin to sync (e.g. heart rate), to the point that many people who spend a lot of time in that state with a specific individual can intuitively communicate with them just by thinking (I know this is common with people who ride horses for example). The fact that animism is an almost universal belief system among humans who aren't indoctrinated into (most) modern religions also says to me that panpsychism is not so much a plausible theory as a scientific description of an innate understanding people have about existence.

So anyway, feeling very vindicated about being Literally A Rock, and also about my adamant belief that there is no scientific-spiritual dichotomy and that western realism is inherently flawed. I wish I'd learned about panpsychism sooner since it's a word for the belief system I've had for at least 15 years but I've been out of the physics loop for a while because I haven't had the mental energy.

ETA: My biggest point of disagreement with this essay is that I don't think "quantum systems" like the human brain are isolated from one another in a way that would require precise effort to link them. I think the consciousness of all matter is able to "talk" (share information) on a rudimentary level with other consciousness simply by existing nearby. Anything else wouldn't make sense, the atoms in your brain don't know that they aren't part of things you're touching. The "collective consciousness" already exists in a way, that's what reality is. We are all the universe experiencing itself.

[mumblelard]

glory, fire, anointing, a fellow traveler, a wandering earth

in and among other wants and wishes, i currently have unrequited hankerings for jokbal, a french seventy-five, a roadtrip to the house on the rock, a porch with a view farther than i can walk in a day

[mumblelard]

two buns one brat

three fragments from last night

a woman wearing a grey bob wig and tan trench coat seen only from behind. i recognize her, but i can't move to call out. a bemused, oh this again, feeling

i am cutting huge ragged gashes in the side of my car with a large version of one of those can openers that soldiers wear next to their dog tags. the inside of the gashes is hospital green. a feeling of relief that i finally know how these holes got cut into my car

a pile of lumpy packages, wrapped in brown paper and twine. i am supposed to open them but i am reluctant, weary. at least one of the packages contains dirty running shoes

[mumblelard]

gratuitous self reflection wuersday

i had four cups of coffee and a gas station empanada, then i sent myself home for the day to think about what i'd done and how i plan to do better in the future

[mumblelard]

maggie or monday or eat

[mumblelard]

finnie came over after work last night and we sat at my kitchen table, drinking tequila with tooth cracking cold bottles of grape pop and talking about the abandoned house behind the old school, rabid beavers, strawberry soju, the loose lioness, interstate latex fires, locket cats, and last days. it was a nice night

[prententiousjackal]

My thoughts on Death

Sometimes I tell myself death is not to be feared because it is nothing. But death being nothing is exactly the need to fear it. Even if I can't regret death after dying, I can sure regret missed opportunities from dying, right now.

Sometimes I delude myself into thinking there really is something after death through some sort of quantum animism, where information is never destroyed. I would become reincarnated as the daisies growing from my grave and as the worms eating my flesh. But while information can't be destroyed, it can be turned into a useless lifeless format, undecipherable with practical means. If such quantum animism meant anything then surely I'd be able to remember when I was dust and starlight, but I can't. It's hard to imagine I carry any secret knowledge from the stars inside me. Quantum animism also gives the impression of us all being made of the same spirit matter or that we could all be a part of the same hive mind. I guess I like the idea of being connected but I also hate having my individuality brushed off aside. I don't want people to use the concept of unity to force their ideas onto me. Have them ignore my feelings because their false empathy gives them the impression that they don't need to work to understand me.

And sometimes I think maybe I can live forever in some way if I become famous. It's silly because it's just a corruptible memory of me and not myself. And such an idea is so selfish, as the next generations can only remember so many people. My memory would be out-crowding the memories of others and distracting the future from their own problems. I see a desolated world of never ending computers storing information that no one can bother to view. Why in the world should I care if future generations remember me. They are not affecting me now, nor will they ever. They're in another universe from me. Still, why can't I stop myself from being greedy. Maybe even if I can't be personally remembered, then I could feel good knowing I was a foundation or step of the way toward some greater collection of knowledge. At least until the sun blows up and our civilization with it.

Some people say that death gives life meaning, but that's bullshit. Life gives life meaning. To say that death gives life meaning is just a way to delude yourself into thinking everything is fine just the way it is. Or a macabre way to guilt yourself out of procrastinating so you can make death give life meaning like it should.

Even though I know these reasons are all terrible, I still cling to them in art. Some of my favorite art about death includes:

The Minecraft End Poem

Powder 1995 movie

Catching Light music video

My name is human music video

Carpet Crawlers music video

https://wiredthegame.com

I made my own dumb story video about death paying homage to some of these ideas.