Can Quantum Physics explain the Paranormal?

Hello to all, I just started here as a new member. I´m a German science writer and book author with a special focus on quantum physics and paranormal phenomena. "The quantum physics and the paranormal - the human being in the reticle of the universe" is one of my translated lectures on youtube, where you´ll a lot of stuff for further discussions, see www.youtube.com...

reply to post by rolf22


Thanks,thought that it could be explained with quantum physics with time looping in on itself.Welcome to ATS.
Hope to hear more from you.

First you need proof of something Paranormal ever happening before you try to explain it with quantum physics.

reply to post by Dimithae


I was once told by a wise old woman (grandmother ) that apparitions are images of us living in our past lives.

interesting topic, watching the lecture now.

Originally posted by CallYourBluff
First you need proof of something Paranormal ever happening before you try to explain it with quantum physics.

Not to be picky, but if you can explain something with quantum physics, then its not paranormal.....

Great thread, OP. I've often thought that what we view as paranormal will most likely be explained by science further down the road. After all, folks once thought solar eclipses were harbingers of doom...

Originally posted by smyleegrl

Originally posted by CallYourBluff
First you need proof of something Paranormal ever happening before you try to explain it with quantum physics.

Not to be picky, but if you can explain something with quantum physics, then its not paranormal.....

Great thread, OP. I've often thought that what we view as paranormal will most likely be explained by science further down the road. After all, folks once thought solar eclipses were harbingers of doom...

That was picky and you know exactly what I mean.

reply to post by CallYourBluff


Actually, I don't. What one person assumes is paranormal, another person may view differently.

I'm not trying to offend you, just to clarify things. Honest.

reply to post by smyleegrl

It´s very new to explain supernatural phenoma with quantum physics. For me, the whole term "supernatural" is nonsense. What we call supernatural is a part of our nature, which is still waiting for explanation. Tomorrow this will be a part of nature.

Originally posted by CallYourBluff
First you need proof of something Paranormal ever happening before you try to explain it with quantum physics.

What is normal? Explain that first.

The problem with defining anything is that all of our physical senses can be deceived.

Proving anything to anyone should not be the goal of the person trying to convey a message, but rather expanding awareness of their audience.

Validation should come from personal experience.


Peace out,

RT

Originally posted by smyleegrl
reply to post by CallYourBluff

 

Actually, I don't. What one person assumes is paranormal, another person may view differently.

The point is that if one wanted to claim that, as an example, mental telepathy is a natural ability that may be explained by quantum mechanics (and, off the top of my head I would struggle to find a basis for that claim,) then the first thing one has to do is prove that there is such a thing as mental telepathy.

OP - as someone who has long dealt with claims about what quantum mechanics can, and cannot, be used as an explanation for, I've seen the trend is that the less someone knows about physics, the greater the tendency to use QM as a stand-in for magic. Case in point being the moronic "What the Bleep Do We Know?!" movie -- every time I see someone reference that cinematic turd I feel the overwhelming desire to fly to the headquarters of the cult that made it (they're in Oregon) and punch someone in the nose for promoting scientific ignorance on a grand scale.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately and believe that it has everything to do with quantum physics and that time is somehow folding on itself. I am especially curious about what I refer to as "fixed constants". Buildings, objects etc. that exist in both the past and in the present is fascinating to me. Are these the anchors for these phenomenon to occur?

reply to post by Truffles


Yes, that´s what I believe as well. Quantum Physics is everywhere and we are totally embedded.

reply to post by rolf22


You state you write science books. If you don't mind me asking....what kind of science and what are your qualifications?

Split Infinity

I found this story on paranormal.about.com...

Paranormal Meets Physics Scientists at Princeton University and other respected institutions are beginning to prove that ESP and telekinesis are real, measurable phenomena. "If you consider the world an extension of yourself, it becomes a better place." "The only way I can explain the phenomenon is that it's occurring... outside of space and time." "Consciousness is the ground of all being." "The universe is one and we are one with it." These are not proclamations from the latest Zen philosophy self-help book, nor passages from The Celestine Prophecy, nor quotes from a Marianne Williamson seminar. They are not even remarks from some Uri Geller video. These are statements from respected, mainstream scientists, engineers, and researchers, respectively: Brenda Dunne, a developmental psychologist at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory (PEAR); John Haaland, president and CEO of Mindsong Inc., an electronics firm developing mind-matter machines; Amit Goswami, professor of Physics at the Institute of Theoretical Sciences at the University of Oregon; and Victor Stenger, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii. Have all these respected scientists and engineers suddenly fallen under the influence of some New Age cult? Hardly. But they are converts of another kind, perhaps, since they are on the cutting edge of serious ESP and

reply to post by Gildenel


There is an association between Psychic activity and Quantum Mechanics.

It is possible that Quantum Particle/Wave Forms are exchanging within and between Protons and Neutrons existing and a part of the Atomic Nucleus' of Atoms that make up the Human Brain.

In a Multiversal system there are infinite versions of you and me thus as such Quanta as Quarks exchange between these Divergent Universal States it is possible information transfer occurs and can be accessed by a sensitive.

Since time is not linear in such a system a person could access information in their double in a future state or past state of Time. This would account for how a sensitive could know the location of a lost child as in anouther reality this sensitive accesses a future state where the child was found dead at a specific location.

Split Infinity

reply to post by SplitInfinity


I had heard of the parallel universes theory but never connected it to paranormal phenomenon, I suppose though when you think about it it makes sense, that some people with ESP would be able to access their doubles in these parallel universes, but in that case it could be true that ghosts could be people from future or past universes. I think there is a vast amount of knowledge that is just beyond us at present.

reply to post by Gildenel


It is possible that most Paranormal issues have their basis and reality held within a Multiversal system. Such a system may very well be the construct that allows for Quantum Mechanics which in turn may be what is the nature of the Paranormal.

Split Infinity

The answer is that quantum physics CANNOT explain the paranormal because the latter phenomena are not primarily physical events, although they can impact on the five senses and scientific measuring instruments. Instead, they belong to non-physical realms of existence and the intrusion of their processes or even inhabitants into the space-time continuum.

So your query begs the question. It assumes that paranormal phenomena are purely physical, in which case of course they are governed by quantum principles. As far as I am concerned, what is called the paranormal cannot be reduced to physical mechanisms and so cannot be explained by quantum physics. Any attempt to do so is naive (and there are plenty of naive physicists around eager to grab their 15 minutes of fame with silly claims that they have explained away some pararnormal phenomenon that has been known for thousands of years!).

Originally posted by micpsi
The answer is that quantum physics CANNOT explain the paranormal because the latter phenomena are not primarily physical events, although they can impact on the five senses and scientific measuring instruments. Instead, they belong to non-physical realms of existence and the intrusion of their processes or even inhabitants into the space-time continuum.

So your query begs the question. It assumes that paranormal phenomena are purely physical, in which case of course they are governed by quantum principles. As far as I am concerned, what is called the paranormal cannot be reduced to physical mechanisms and so cannot be explained by quantum physics. Any attempt to do so is naive (and there are plenty of naive physicists around eager to grab their 15 minutes of fame with silly claims that they have explained away some pararnormal phenomenon that has been known for thousands of years!).

Naive? Really? You really want me to respond to a statement given by a person who obviously does not understand that Quantum Particle/Wave Forms exist as a VIRTUAL PARTICLE and that some of these Quanta such as Quarks are capable of BLINKING IN AND OUT OF OUR UNIVERSAL EXISTENCE....as the number of Quarks within a Proton or Neutron will exist numerically anywhere at or in between of a Minimum and Maximum quantity.

Thus these Quanta are VIRTUAL as they can exist in any given Divergent Universal State of Reality AT WILL and it is most likely that they are in a continuing state of transfer and exchange withing the Protons and Neutrons and all their DOUBLES that exist in all Divergent Universal States that exist within their Multiversal Group.

Thus Quantum Particle/Wave Forms being a VIRTUAL PARTICLE have the ability to present theirselves into our Universe as a Physical Tangible Particle/Wave Form of Energy...as well as just as easily LEAVING our Universal State.

Anther example of this is the Photon or Light Double Slit Experiment which points to Photons...which are Quanta...acting as a VIRTUAL Particle as a Photon will CHOOSE to travel through BOTH SLITS and thus light will present itself on the wall behind such slits as a Wave Disbursement that proves the Photons have the ability to have MORE THAN ONE FUNCTION.

Such Quanta as Photons have shown to be able to be detected as individual Particles upon a Photon Detection Panel where the Photons beamed at this detector/collector can be detected as an individual Particle REFLECTING off the Panel as well as THE SAME PARTICLE not only being REFLECTED but also collected by the panel...converted by change of Frequency to an ELECTRON which we can then collect and ground into an Electric Micro Motor and thus used as Energy to run that motor.

This means the Quanta is both being reflected as well as having a Function as it is used as an Electron as energy to run a motor.

If I were you I would make sure you KNOW who you are talking to before you make yourself look...SILLY.

Split Infinity

Physics has something called the "emergent system", and all levels of physical existence feature emergent systems. At our level of physical existence, we experience traffic and weather as emergent systems. They emerge as more than the sum of all the systems that gather to create them, and while no one can detail exactly why they possess unique and unprecedented properties that none of the contributing systems possess, the fact that they exist as they do is undeniable.

The human being - which is the basis of all paranormal manifestation - is the emergent system that is created by the life span of the material Homo Sapiens hominid. This is a new and somewhat revolutionary view of the human being as the eternal, nonmaterial entity that it has traditionally been considered to be by centuries of theologians, since it breaks free of those religious-superstitious confines - even as it remains nonmaterial and irreducible - when you realize that it is a true emergent system, and possibly the ultimate emergent system on this planet packed with emergent systems.

While a lot of paranormal activity can be debunked or explained as persistent misinterpretations of natural occurrences, there are those incidents that can't be explained without acknowledging the existence of the emergent system that is the eternal human being, and how it can occasionally affect the material realm. As far as quantum physics is concerned, the human being is way too far down the progressive development chain for anything in the quantum world to have any real impact on what it can do or can't do. Quantum physics involves the study of interactions that have no relative semblance to the kinds of interactions between systems (like those at a level that we, as humans, can even perceive) that are immeasurably more complex and rigidly bound due to how dense the contextual relationships between contributive systems are at this level.