The Ultimate Battle of Quantum Theories
The fatal flaw of the human species is as near as a main-sequence star is about to become a red giant. But something in the name of humanity wasn’t right that day. The night was cold and filled with just the moonlight. My consciousness was telling me that I was very much alive but what I felt was exactly the opposite. I couldn’t fathom in my right brain as to why I was feeling dead but also alive at the same time? At first, I blamed it all on my drink and believed it was just a hoax. And just when my brain made this whole world look funny inside my head, I realised it was time to sleep. So I dozed off in seconds. Wait. Why do I not feel completely asleep then?
Every seemingly logical explanation came to my mind to explain why I was asleep and also awake but what I settled for was that I was cursed—cursed because I, a scientist, who was more certain about Aliens than death and taxes, made a joke about the people who believed in the conspiracy theory which was hung on the possibility of an exoplanet that runs according to the many-worlds interpretation. Alas! I wasn’t asleep, and my mind was alive! I woke up with endless reminders by my dear phone about my job, which I sweetly ignored and went for a shower. But then I got a call from my boss who hurriedly asked me to switch on the news channel. So I turned on the television, switched to 362 and there it was. The beginning of a new era for few and the end of our Earth!
All along the way, the joke was on me when I tried to ignore the conspiracy theory! And not only that, yesterday night wasn’t my wine’s fault either! The aliens from Exoplanet AE12B had converted us into Quantum particles which means I’m in every possible state when no one’s watching but collapse into just one when an observer observes. And on top of that, those Aliens from AE12B wanted to have a battle against Scientists of Earthy planet to prove that the world works according to Many-worlds interpretation. My first reaction was to laugh at those stupid folks. Oops! I mean particles(technically, even that’s not correct), but then my boss gave me an earful.
Boss: What in the world are you high on, Riya? I got the news from Stuti yesterday that they want to have a battle against us, and we called you so many times, but you didn’t pick even a single time. Come to the office ASAP!
Me: Russel, who would believe them? Particles coming from an Exoplanet whose name no one has ever heard of.
Boss: Riya, there are particles over here, who themselves are Quantum particles working according to Copenhagen interpretation and yet believe in their world. We’ll soon lose the support if we have Scientists like you.
Me: My apologies Russel; I’m trying to process the gravity of the situation.
Boss: You better do. Now come to the office.
Me: In a minute, Sir.
As I was on my way to the office, I kept thinking that was it just I or nobody got it? It was super easy for us to find an observer and lead an everyday life. All I had to do was care less about the state of situations when I didn’t see them. Just as I reached the office, I came to my senses, and for the first time, I understood what living as a quantum particle felt like. The first few minutes were miraculous! I almost forgot that we were at war with those AE12B particles. It was blissful to see my cat alive but then being both at the same time when no one was looking at her. In the moment of bliss, all I could think of was Sir Albert Einstein, who just couldn’t believe Neils Bohr. What would have happened if he was with us as a quantum particle? To my surprise, everyone in our world looked so cheerful! Upon further intervention, I realised those people too understood the Superposition principle and breathed a sigh of relief. But One of my Colleagues, Stuti, was all stressed out after hearing the news.
Stuti: This isn’t going to be so easy when our people blindly believe these foreign intruders. They have no knowledge of science. They are going to follow those who seem cool. And Riya!! We are not cool!!
Me: We can try to look cooler than those idiots who couldn’t even think it through.
Stuti: They did, but they also knew that our people were going to take their sides.
Me (faking showing concern): oh my god, you are right. And then she walked away, knowing very well I was never going to be worried about this.
That’s when I heard my boss calling my name to come for the meeting.
Boss: Good morning, afternoon, evening… and all the possible goods. Today We are going to invent our own language, Quantage, which basically reminds us that the world has changed for us, and we have very little time to comprehend everything that has changed for us.
Colleague 1: Definitely.
Colleague 2 (thinking what word from Quantage should they speak to impress the boss): Cats!
Our boss was a very busy man who almost never asked us about the progress of our projects because he always had other priorities. But this time was different. This time was so different that nothing made him restless, not even phone calls from the paparazzi, not even random calls from politicians and this time, he even said yes to the press conference meeting scheduled for that day. But just before the conference meeting, we started receiving radio signals from an AE12B, who declared the beginning of the war between the Scientists. Everyone started panicking because we didn’t have any time to make our locals understand that supporting us was the wisest choice. We had only 10 minutes in hand and yet our lovely Boss decided to hold the press conference. At this point, looking at his calm gesture, we soon started losing faith as to if he was going even to help us or not. But as soon as the press conference started, it began airing on every channel. We were busy with the preparations, but we just couldn’t miss his speech.
Boss: I know that there’s a very high possibility that a lot of you aren’t used to accepting this kind of a world as a part of reality and thus might turn to the side which seems cool, fascinating and attractive. But we need your support to save our Earthy planet from them. I hardly have 3 minutes in my hands, so I don’t have the time to explain the real science, but what I do know is that not supporting us won’t guarantee you home on their planet either. We can’t win this war without your support. So I request you all to make wise choices sincerely. Thank you”. Everyone clapped for him when he returned back to the office and quickly ran over to our basement from where we were going to operate all of our telescopes and AI systems. I, Stuti and 2 of my colleagues took our respective seats, and our Boss was monitoring the whole system from the top.
Suddenly the radio signals from AE12B started coming again. They said, “Welcome, my dear opponents. The scientists of AE12B give a warm welcome to our opponents who successfully failed to convince their people to support them. Without wasting their non-useful time, we would like to start the Battle between Science geeks on a great note. There is only one rule. Whoever wins rules; on that note, here we go with our debate of why we are better than our opponents”.
AE12B: Our interpretation doesn’t let any state’s morals down. All we believe is if you’re not alive here, you are alive somewhere else and….. Interrupted by the Copenhagen team, Boss: I, in defence, would like to say that if you can’t see your sister who’s dead in front of you, she’s deader than your interpretation. Triggered MWI species responded, “well, at least she’s alive in someone else’s eyes!!”
Our boss: If your sister is dead in your own eyes but alive in front of someone else, what exactly is she going to be alive for? I can’t see her meeting you in the wildest of your branches, so I don’t see you winning at all! We at least don’t give false hope to our people.
AE12B: Yes, but your truth disturbs them; how about that? Our truth gives them hope that if she isn’t alive here, she’s alive in some other branch of the world that assures them and comforts them.
Boss: What are you going to do with your so-called comfort when all you see in front of you is your dead sister?
This debate went on and on, with significantly valid points being exchanged back and forth. Each party was adamant to prove themselves worthy of ruling the whole universe. No one was ready to keep the armour down and surrender. For the first time in billions of years, there was an intellectual battle against scientists, both having their own intentions to fight: One to save their planet and the other to make a name among their local and foreign particles for themselves. But what really was the reason for them to continue this battle? Was it really just to save their planet? Or Was it just for making a name for themselves? Was this really enough for them to continue this War? Or Were they trying to boost their ego by proving their opponents wrong? Was this the reason why they almost chose to completely ignore that Science is Universal and that there is only one interpretation in this universe worthy enough to be called a theory? Not Copenhagen interpretation, not Many-worlds interpretation, but one and only, the revolutionary, most respectable, Special theory of Unification which tells us that all of the particles, small or big, Classical or Quantum, Bosons or Fermions, will be considered under the only giant packet of particles, governed by the same laws, i.e. all the particles will have only one state regardless of an absence of observer or not in the whole universe.
So when the God of Science, Issactein, entered into the battle, Everyone was shocked. It must have been over 1000 years that he appeared, and almost everyone knew that this was an iconic moment in the field of Science. It must have been a moment of failure in the eyes of Issactein that he himself had to appear in front of everyone. He began speaking in what was known as Mathematics, popularly known as the language of Science. What he said (after translating it into English ) was, “If the Fore frontiers of Science starts a battle in the name of Justice, Power or Rule and the process completely chooses to forget the true theory of Science, i.e. Special Theory of Unification, then we have failed as a society. Then no one deserves to rule. Not the scientists of Earthy planet nor the scientists of AE12B”. And just like that, there was a moment of epiphany from both sides of the Scientists. They realised that neither of them deserved to be the rulers when all they wanted, in the end, was a way to boost their ego and satisfy their hunger for power in the name of science.
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Submitted by: Riya Kothari. She is a student pursuing Physics honours degree from Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women, Delhi University.
© Quantuse The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views of Quantuse
Amazing to read. Out of the world
Thank you for reading. Really appreciate it.