Would the Universe exist without us? Lent 2021, Day Three

Inspired by a conversation with Andrew Nathan

"If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it - does it make a sound?" The answer is no - it does not make a sound. Sound, being the reception of acoustic waves caused by vibrations in the air, and their subsequent perception by the brain, requires someone around to hear it. Without a person present, there's a falling tree, vibrating air, acoustic waves - but nothing that could be subjectively experienced as sound, because there's no observer.

Anybody hear that?

Let's take it a step further: if there were no conscious life anywhere in the Universe - would it still exist?

In the 1930s, Edwin Hubble proved conclusively that the Universe is more than just our local galaxy, the Milky Way, and that nebulae long observed by astronomers are other galaxies lying far beyond. Supernovae - violent deep-sky events, stars exploding as they die, ejecting matter from which new stars, new worlds are born - have been observed by humans for millennia.

Without a human observer to ponder the phenomena of transient celestial events - did they happen? Yes. Astronomical sensors can now echoes of ancient supernovae that occurred tens of thousands of years ago. But did they have a meaning? Were they relevant? No. Not to us, on this planet, at that time.

I remember the awe with which I first observed the moon through a telescope. The moment I realised for real that it's not a flat disc. It's a huge, globular, rock, silently proceeding around our planet-home. With a stationary telescope, the moon passes through your narrow, fixed field of view quite quickly; that movement is imperceptible if you're looking up with the naked eye. The sky on a cloudless night (ideally well away from the light pollution of towns and cities) inspires those numinous thoughts that lift us above the concerns of our daily existence.We snap into a new, more elevated context - why are we here, what's it all about, where is all this heading? 

Unless you are a philosophical zombie - equipped with a human brain that can process information, a body that reacts instinctively... I rather see Trump like that; devoid of any capacity for wonder, unable to see in categories other than money, power and personal adulation. I doubt that Trump has a soul; a meat-covered skeleton responding to base instinct. The same goes for his offspring and followers.

But for conscious, aware people (and the fact you've read this far suggests that you are), there are the great questions regarding life. Is there a supreme being, and is there life after death are the two most important ones. How often we ask ourselves these questions is important too. For some, the need for a spiritual (i.e. non-material) reason for life is all great, for others - the philosophical zombies - it doesn't exist.

In previous Lenten blog posts, I have mentioned quantum physics and how it has changed philosophers' outlook on the biggest issues. Notably, the concept of 'superposition' - of a subatomic particle being in two states at the same time until observed. When a conscious observer is there to check the outcome of the experiment, the particle's superposition collapses and it becomes one or the other. Without an observer in the forest, the tree is both upright and fallen at the same time (within the bounds of statistical probability. Aspens and birches are more brittle than firs, so the chance of a fir tree falling are slighter). 

The physical existence of superposition, verified in many thousands of laboratory experiments around the world for the past 90 years or so, suggests that something can be, and not be, until observed by a conscious person. 

Schrodinger's famous cat becomes Schrodinger's Universe - present/not present and until there's a conscious observer around to be aware of it, it is and it isn't at the same time.

Can it therefore be that God is - and is not - at the same time, until we have a personal awareness of God?

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"And everything was made for you and me 

All of it was made for you and me" 

 

- Iggy Pop, The Passenger, 1977

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More tomorrow!

This time five years ago:
Dreams and visions of past lives

This time six years ago:
Monist or dualist: which are you?

This time seven years ago:
Grim prospects for Ukraine

This time eight years ago:
Wrocław's new airport terminal

This time nine years ago:
A study in symmetry: Kabaty Metro station

This time ten years ago:
To the Devil with it all - a short story

This time 11 years ago:
Waiting for the meltdown

This time 13 years ago:
Flat tyre