Friday, August 30, 2019

Quantum Mechanics and Torah



by Yosef Sebag, physicist, electrical engineer


From time immemorial, the universe appeared to be governed by laws which are unintelligent, blind, and mechanical.

All that was about to change drastically with the advent of quantum mechanics...

As we will see, perhaps the most tangible lessons about G-d ever revealed since the 10 plagues are being revealed from quantum mechanics.

Fasten your seatbelts and let us peer into the fascinating realm of quantum mechanics. In my research on this, I have tried to sift through the truth from the nonsense. There is, unfortunately, a plethora of misinformation by new-agers, mystics, pseudo-scientists, charlatans, etc. etc.

To continue reading click here

14 comments:

Avraham said...

love the midrash. Really important and profound clarifications...thanks!

Devorah said...

''Unknown'' - thank you for your comment which i have forwarded to the author.

Michael said...

very clear and deep article. i am a physics student with some research experience. I would just add that the current trend is towards more bizzare and inexplicable behavior in quantum mechanics. see this for example https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613092/a-quantum-experiment-suggests-theres-no-such-thing-as-objective-reality/ it is definitely appearing more and more that we live in a virtual reality. MIT physicists max tegmark is also leaning towards this view. i think this is part of the gradual revelation before the messianic era

Nathan said...

incredible chizuk! more articles please. you should make a video of this for the frum community

Unknown said...

or maybe some kind of book. there have been a few of these already

Esther said...

Woah So much. Can't even process how incredible it is.
Kol hakavod!

Nadiah said...

very inspiring to be more aware of Ha-shem. But how is this like the ten plagues?

Devorah said...

The Ten plagues is explained at the end: but don't ask me to explain quantum mechanics, it's not my area of expertise
[quoting from the article below]

This is akin to the Midrash on the Biblical Egyptian plague of blood.

The Midrash states that during this plague, not only did the Nile river turn to blood, but all water in the possession of an Egyptian also turned to blood. The water in his bucket at home turned to blood. The water in his canteen turned to blood. All water turned to blood and there was no way around this new "law" of nature.

The only water that remained water was that of a Jew. If the Egyptian tried to grab the water of a Jew by force, it instantly turned to blood. If he gave it back, it turned back to water.

The Midrash says that Egyptians tried to do "experiments" such as having an Egyptian and a Jew drink from the same glass with two straws. But there was no way to trick "nature". The result is that the Jew's straw pulled up water while the Egyptian's straw pulled up blood.

The only way the Egyptian could obtain water was to buy it from a Jew. Only then did the water of an Egyptian stay as water.

The message of course was not that this is a blind physical "law of nature", but rather - you are being watched. There is an all-seeing Intelligence presiding over nature who observes everything. He knows what constitutes information and whether this information is obtainable or has been erased or obfuscated.

This is the lesson of quantum mechanics, if we assume everything in nature is to teach us something (Sefer Ikarim). It is also the first Halacha in the Shulchan Aruch.

Devorah said...

If you want to ask technical questions I suggest you do that on the actual Daf Yomi site.

Nadiah said...

oh I see. thank you. hmmm. but why is all this being discovered only in our times?

Devorah said...

Nadiah, it's not that it's been ''discovered'' in our times. the Sages who lived hundreds/thousands of years ago knew much more than we do in our generation. Our generation are way behind in our knowledge, unfortunately. It's just that it's been brought to our attention by the author of the article. There are some things that are being re-taught to our generation specifically because we need to know. It's a wake up call for some people. There is a great thirst for knowledge although most people don't even know enough to know what they need to learn.

Yosef said...

see also this on the zohar's prediction

Yosef said...

if anything the modern research only serves to confirm the strangeness of quantum mechanics and refute all the loophole classical explanations. a recent 2019 experiment confirmed for the first time the subjective nature of reality. see https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613092/a-quantum-experiment-suggests-theres-no-such-thing-as-objective-reality/

Michael R. said...

fascinating article. the superposition of states is widely seen as unsettling and bizzare. i think you have to say there is some sort of consciousness behind nature.