Quantum Physics and Magic - It Does Not Work!

Okaaaaaaaaaaaay, here goes.

Now, I love witchvox.com. I think it is a very interesting and informative site for pagans of all persuasions, offering ideas, support, and insight into all things magical.

However.

There are some authors who insist upon fabricating a scientific argument for the existence of magic. What is worse, is this argument is based on the new and to all intents and purposes, highly complicated science of quantum physics. It is misquoted, misunderstood, and postulated as ‘proof’ for human beings having the ability to exert their will onto and therefore change reality. And this makes me rather cross.

Now, I’m not a die hard believer of magic. I do dabble, it has worked on occasion, but I’m not very good because I do not have complete faith that I can enforce my will onto the universe (I did used to believe that this was possible, and shall be writing a post on the Human Condition and why I have changed my mind on this particular topic later on).

I think that magic is a very personal thing, interpreted differently by each believer, and relative to their unique world view. It is also very subjective. Basically if you believe in magic, it will probably work. The strength of belief is incredible. However, it does not mean that you can physically alter reality. Any 101 book states that the results of magic need not be what you intended, using phrases such as ‘the universe is trying to show you that you are not ready for your request’ or ‘your intent was not clear enough’ and so forth. Casting a love spell will not call forth the man of your dreams from the ether. What it will do, if you believe in magic, is subtly alter your psyche so that your behaviour and perceptions are more favourable to finding the man of your dreams. It will also set up your thought processes to view the outcome, particularly if it is the desired outcome, as the product of your magical attempt.

I think that the clear desire for the magical community to be taken seriously by the scientific is a little sad, much like it is for the (primarily) Christian tradition. To want to prove the existence of magic using science, something so far removed, reveals a deep seated insecurity. If magic truly exists, and you can prove it to others, why do you need the acceptance of scientists? To me, it highlights just how subjective magic is. It highlights that magic has no basis in natural ‘law’ or objective reality, it really only exists in people’s minds.

This post is a critique of an article entitled A Short Case for Magick via New Quantum Mechanics which you can find on the Witch Vox site. I implore you readers, if you find any incorrect information on this post, please tell me and show me where I can learn further. I am not a physicist at the end of the day, and can only explore the following theories to a certain extent.

In fact, this is my first gripe. The author of this particular article, is not a quantum physicist. He is not even an undergraduate student of the topic (or if he is, he really ought to say so as it would boost his credibility substantially). His exposure to and understanding of this subject is therefore not going to match that of a researcher working at CERN. Yet he has the arrogance to claim enough understanding to postulate quantum theory as evidence for something completely removed from scientific enquiry. I am sorry, but he has neither the right nor the credentials, to publish such information as ‘fact’ and thereby misinform the layman who is more than likely to struggle with these concepts and therefore blindly believe his words as truth.

Anyhow, moving on.

The author presents a number of scientific examples to suggest that magical ‘truths’ are indeed fact. I am not going to present his entire argument here, as I am only concerned with his misinterpretation of quantum theory. You can read the article and judge for yourself whether his arguments are compelling, or confused. I am simply attempting to correctly explain the theories that he postulates, and argue for their correct use firmly within the scientific realm not the magical.

A lot of his argument is based around the quantum mathematical tool of the wave function. All particles can be described by their state, which is represented in quantum mechanics using the wave function. ‘State’ encompasses all observable quantities at the particle level. These include position, spin (but not spin in as in a spinning top), velocity and speed. So, my cat can be described by a wave function composed of all the individual wave functions of all its constituent particles.

The wave function of a particle describes the probabilities of all possible states in which that particle could be at a given time, when the actual state hasn’t been determined. Due to this uncertainty, the particle can be thought of as being in *all* states at the same time. This is referred to as ‘superposition’.

Now, determining the actual state of a particle (‘observing’ it) removes this uncertainty, or ‘collapses the wave function’ – so called because the graph of the function changes from being a wave to (more or less) a straight line. The particle is then no longer described as being in a superposition of different states, but rather as a single state.

The author argues that this quantum phenomenon of the wave function is a function itself of magic. He argues that a human being could tune their senses to cause the collapse of the wave function in their immediate environment. The problem here is, is we are talking about a quantum level. Whilst a cat or a human being can be described as a wave function, this does not mean that the whole cat or human being behaves in the same manner as one of its quanta does. To cause the collapse of the wave function in one line of particles in an object does not mean the whole object undergoes collapse. Also, collapse is occurring all the time. Observation does not mean simple to ‘view’. It refers to any sort of interaction. Wave collapse occurs when we touch the table, when the cat sits down, when the bird flies. Everything is effectively in a constant state of collapse, as all particles are in interaction with other particles all the time (the atmosphere does contain particles, after all). Also, he offers no argument that thoughts exist as particles. Magic is thought to be the result of the exertion of will onto our environment. There is no biological nor physical basis for ‘will’. This would suggest that we cannot impose wave function collapse through thought alone; wave function collapse only occurs when particles interact, and yet it is thought that is the primary tool for magic.

This big issue here is that it simply makes no sense to discuss wave function at a macroscopic level. My poor husband to be finally got this very crucial part of information into my small brain last night as I was trying to work out where wave function collapse was happening between my bottom and the sheet. If you take a single proton (in this case, from my bottom) and fling it into deep space, that single proton will have a wave function. Now, take another proton and put it next to it. The protons will interact. The individual wave functions of each proton will collapse, and a new wave function for both protons will form (because wave function describes state). Now, bring a third proton in.....can you see how the level of complication increases dramatically? When discussing a human being, you have so many particles interacting with each other, you effectively have a permanent state of wave function collapse. Wave function has very little relevance to the macroscopic world, so no, you cannot alter reality by collapsing wave function, coz there isn’t anything to collapse! This makes the following sentence redundant: “Now suppose as you may, a person; whom through genetic anomaly, meditation, discipline, willpower, or technology could effect the collapse of the wave functions to the range of their senses by psychosomatically changing the way the measuring device (your senses) worked”

It ain’t happening.

The other quantum theory that is mentioned is that of the Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI). The key point of this theory is that wave function collapse is perceived rather than actually occurring as soon as observation (interaction) takes place. Now, the author argues that:

Basically the Many Worlds interpretation states that instead of the wave collapsing into one world and one way; every possible situation where the wave function could be collapsed, reality would instead split off into a parallel world. These parallel worlds would be just like ours but instead the wave would have “collapsed” differently for the conscious observers in that world.

Many Worlds asserts the objective reality of the wave function, but denies wave function collapse. It views reality as a many branched tree where all possible quantum outcomes can be realised, basically it suggests that there are infinite parallel realities to our own. Wave function collapse is therefore only a subjective occurrence, we can only view what happens in the reality that we are in. In fact, superposition is still in place, across multiple realities.

So, the author has contradicted himself here by arguing for collapse in wave function as a function of magic, and then using MWI to further support the claim that magic does exist (see below), but MWI disregards that which he argues allows magicians to alter reality. This is a bit of a worry as he appears to understand the theory, but then totally ignores it and twists it to his own ends.

One can easily extend this to the belief that in many of these “parallel realities” magick does exist in the way the legends describe it and that an individual magician’s attempt to alter reality was also successful in several of these worlds

There is another key point that he has missed. The multiple realities postulated by MWI are non communicating. Did you get that: NON COMMUNICATING. This means that a magician cannot enter these other worlds, alter them in any way, nor when a shaman is in a trance is he interacting with these worlds in any way. Using Many Worlds as ‘proof’ of these statements is an error, as the theory does not allow worlds to communicate.

To use quantum physics to try and prove the existence of magic in the form of humans exerting their will onto material reality does not work. What happens at the quantum level does not happen at a macroscopic level. The proposed explanation for this is the idea of Decoherence.

Decoherence explains how the classical limit (the world we see and live within day to day) emerges from a quantum starting point. The mechanism of decoherence gives the appearance of wave function collapse. When a quantum system interacts with an environment, the two become entangled. The quantum system, therefore, no longer exhibits the behaviour that it would do in isolation. By becoming entangled with the environment, it takes on new behaviours and properties. It looks like a classical system. The environment is ‘measuring’ the quantum system, thus giving the appearance of collapsing the wave. What is actually happening is the quantum nature of the system mixes with and spreads through the environment, and the whole thing gives the appearance of classical behaviour that we see in the macroscopic world.

So quantum physics tells us, that we cannot, as hoooge hooman beans, directly manipulate a quantum system! We cannot see quanta, we cannot use quanta for ‘magic’, quantum laws do not directly impact upon the day to day macroscopic world. We are too bloody big and our world is too bloody complicated. Hoooman beans are subject to the laws of Newtonian physics, not quantum. If we lived in a quantum world, every time you stepped on the ground you would end up in another universe, on the ceiling, with half your body in a pool of water suspended in space and the other half buried in a volcano. But of course, said body of water and said volcano would look nothing like they do in the macroscopic world, as they would also be split in half..... you get my meaning. Nothing would ever get done.

So, there we have it. One mere, budding biologists attempt at explaining why the use of quantum physics as evidence for magic is pseudoscience at its worst. I am now going to have a large whiskey, and a couple of headache pills.