www.fgks.org   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

3 minute read

Randomness

of many the universe has had. We have absolutely zero reason to believe we are in the last epoch.

Imagine if, somehow, we existed when the universe was otherwise filled only with particles and not even a single atom was born yet. Would we sit around and discuss the ultimate fate of our atom-less and molecule-less world and try to determine its ultimate fate? Perhaps. Yet, in hindsight we can see how ridiculous that would have been knowing now the epochs that came after it.

Randomness

The other half of the fatalist cosmology of the 20th century is randomness. This one is a bit trickier to argue and banish. It is no sounder of an argument. The trick of randomness is whenever it is confronted the argument changes and tries to dodge being refuted. To put it mor clearly, randomness means many things and is used in different ways. However, none are any sounder than others. So, we’ll refute each in turn. As you’ll see, we have already addressed this where it has occurred, but here is a refresher.

1. Randomness as part of the second law of thermodynamics.

245

In this case, randomness is just used interchangeable with the word entropy. So, we’ve already taken care of this one in the last sub-section.

2. Randomness in defense of Darwinism

Here, physics wrongly pokes its head into biological evolution to try and explain evolution. Birnbaum is not the only one to wonder what physicists are doing meddling in a field they don’t understand. But, as we’ve covered previously, random mutations are thoroughly insufficient to account for the depth and complexity of evolution. Only Q4P is sufficient to provide a catalyst for the great leaps forward from simple single celled animals to human beings.

3. Randomness as a supreme drive in the universe and the quantum realm.

Here is where we see some of the most blatant diversionary tactics from physics trying to make randomness work alongside quantum mechanics. Physicists are quick to explain that quantum computing is the only true way to produce randomness in such things as quantum computing.

This is technically true, but let’s pull apart what quantum mechanics truly means by this. In normal computing, a bit is either a 0 or a 1. This is the basis of the binary nature of

246

computing. A hard drive, for example, stores all data – in its smallest form – as simply a long string of 0’s and 1’s.

In quantum computing, the analogy to a bit is called a qubit. They name it differently because a qubit in a special state called a superposition. This isn’t the easiest concept in the world but think of it as both a 0 and a 1 until you actually look at it. Then it does what is called a “collapse”, resolving into one or the other. Getting into the nuts and bolts of how this works and why it is so revolutionary in computing is out of scope here. The only thing you need to take away is the idea of superpositioning and the collapse.

All that is actually meant in quantum computing regarding randomness is that when a collapse of a qubit occurs, it is 100%, completely random whether it will be a 0 or a 1. What does this have to do with a theory about the world decaying and dying in a puddle of entropy?

Absolutely nothing.

Again, without getting overly technical, randomness (in the sense of entropy), is about maintaining equilibrium. It has absolutely no place or meaning the quantum world, which is, by its very nature, dynamic. Talking about randomness as connected to the overarching 20th century idea of a randomness

247