Quantum Computing as Viewed from the Perspective of Platonic Metaphysics (and it's effect on Bitcoin and the Legal System)

in #technology7 years ago

There’s been a lot of concern about how bitcoin’s SHA256 encryption will no longer be secure when quantum computing comes online, but there’s currently in development quantum resistant SHA that will be able to resist such an attack. Most probably don’t understand the greater ramifications of quantum mechanics. It’s generally ignored outside of this field and the legal field still operates as if Newtonian physics is in charge. There’s no judgement for “guilty” and “not guilty” at the same time even though that is now potentially part of physical reality.

To understand how quantum computing works, you first have to understand a little bit about quantum mechanics. Light can be thought of in terms of wave phenomena and particles. Einstein claimed that light is made of tiny particles called “photons” and other scientists demonstrated that light also behaves as a wave with interference patterns. The usual expectation for someone familiar with Newtonian physics is to think in terms of particles.

Back in the 1800's some scientists conducted a double slit experiment, with a beam of light passing between two vertical slits in a wall that would then project to a back wall. The expectation was that there would be two illuminated vertical beams, but that’s not what happened. Watch the video below to see why…


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At the sub atomic level, the macro laws of physics appear to break down and there is a lot of baffling weirdness. The material universe appears to have a lower limit of numerical division such that there’s not a number of lower value in the practical sense. In theoretical mathematics, one can divide infinitely. Neils Bohr theorized that matter was composed of a nucleus with orbiting electrons similar to what one sees with planets orbiting the Sun in the solar system. But when the atom changed energy state, there was a “quantum” jump from one orbit to the next with no in between. It’s as if the fabric of space no longer has continuity at the lower levels.

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source - light that passed through the double slit behaved differently upon observation.

Bohr also said that there’s a minimum level of energy below what one can not go, which is called a quanta. These quanta are not divisible. You can’t have half a quanta, it is either all or none.

Platonic Metaphysics as a Lens

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We might start by asking the question “what is distance?”. Does it partake of the principles of Sameness or Otherness? If the big bang theory of the universe is correct, then in the beginning everything was in a nearly infinitely small space approximately the size of an electron. But what is the size of an electron? If there is nothing else yet to compare it to, how do you know what size the universe is?

Comparison involves a principle known as the indeterminate Dyad and requires a step beyond that which involves the realm of eidetic numbers. This means that comparison can’t happen yet because originally was the Monad (the principle of oneness and unification) and order has not been established yet in terms of before and after, nor cause and effect. Can cause come after effect relative to the passage of time? Scientists recently saw something come out of a black hole for the first time (this is assuming we aren't seeing backwards in terms of time).

In this sense, the big bang theory would be that Monadic moment in which everything existed all at once. Plato seems to have associated the ideas of the Monad, Oneness and the realm of Nous with “sameness” and the principle of the Dyad, Duality and Hule (the material world) with “otherness”. The Dyad acts as a principle that introduces contrariety into the world, by saying "this, not that".


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So I ask again how do we get “distance”? If defined in computer science, is it a boolean variable or a real number? At some point distance has to first arrive by saying “not the same place”. This doesn’t happen under the principle of Sameness, but is a result of the indeterminate Dyad saying “not Same”, or “not here”. This is in essence a boolean variable first at the quantum level, then becomes a real number at the macro level of Newtonian physics.

Einstein objected to this idea but didn’t have a good explanation for this behavior which is something that he worked on for the rest of his life. He died unable to come to terms with the quantum mechanical view of the world. Light seems to have properties that allow it to be in two places at the same time. Einstein called this “spooky action at a distance”.

Now back to the video at the top... Remember that the wave function was collapsed simply by observation? It went back to behaving like a particle. This is because observation is a choice. It partakes of the idea of "this one, not this one" and so it's more in line with the idea of duality and the indeterminate Dyad. But the wave function is more in line with the principle of Sameness and the realm of Nous, because it represents all potentialities.


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The basic idea is that the Qubit uses light to manifest this boolean state of zeros and ones typical in traditional computers, but without being limited to one or the other. A Qubit is capable of representing both true and false at the same time using quantum entanglement. Remember Schrodinger’s Cat? The act of observing the cat produced a single result. Either the cat was dead or it was alive (or guilty vs not guilty, true vs false), but if it’s not observed, then the state is multiple. If one then creates a loop which is analogous to passing that light wave through one slit called true and another called false, then doing this multiple times, the number of states that can be calculated (or represented) escalates very quickly in hyper logarithmic fashion.

The phenomenon of quantum enganglement seems to make the reality of the universe meaningless without observation, because observation collapses the wave function into one or the not one instead of a probabilistic potential. What does this say about the act of judgement? Does the cause precede the event or does it come after the event? Since electrons can be anywhere in their orbits and when split by wave function, they can spin in the opposite direction (but if one spins up, the other must spin down and vice versa given the same orientation), one can introduce complex representation with minimal work in a computational circuit.

An implication of quantum entanglement (what Einstein called "spooky action at a distance") is that the speed of light can be exceeded. Remember the "quantum leap" where the electron made that jump instantaneously? What distance is this being measured over? Is there really any distance at all? At that level the speed of light seems to be instantaneous but at the macro level the speed of light as a particle is 186,000 miles per second (which means that the speed of light as wave phenomena cannot really be measured?).

Quantum phenomena potentially undermines both encryption and the legal framework for assessing right and wrong. While the damage to encryption is likely only temporary, the damage to the legal framework and the principles of cause and effect will likely become more permanent as more people come to understand that ethics and morality and end results may not necessarily have the links we think they do. Can a judge make someone guilty or innocent simply by observation?


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