QUANTUM – Is this just another buzz word?
In 1900 Max Planck first used the term
quantum to explain that heat radiation came in separate packages (quanta) rather
than a continuous uninterrupted flow. In 1905 Einstein then applied the same
term to packages of light and thereafter a new science developed based on
quantum theory, all energy came in packages. In the last one hundred years
quantum theory has become the most successful theory in physics and its contribution
to the development of technology has been nothing short of revolutionary. Developments
in quantum computing, artificial intelligence and robotics are about to change human
civilisation to an even greater degree than either the agricultural or
industrial revolutions of the past. No one can accurately predict the extent of
this change other than it will undoubtedly bring huge challenges along with the
promised benefits. All assuming of course that humanity manages to escape its own
predilection for developing weapons of mass destruction.
The word quantum now appears in the
literature associated with every sphere of human activity. Manufacturers claim
their brand of machines or appliances offers a ‘quantum leap’ in performance
over the opposition. The author recently received a religious tract on the
subject of ‘quantum faith’. The use of this new buzz word as an intended
stimulus in the field of marketing or as an insight into the world of metaphysics
is a sign that its scientific significance can be trivialised by common usage.
Einstein baulked at the idea that chance
played any part in God’s universe, but it has become increasingly clear that events
occurring at the atomic and subatomic level are subject to a degree of
randomness. Subatomic particles can exist in a superimposed state in which it
is impossible to measure both their position and momentum at the same time. In
some classic experiments photons show retrograde action in defiance of the
arrow of time which controls our everyday lives and prevents us from moving
backwards in time. The behaviour of entangled particles instantly “communicating’
with each other across vast distances challenges our understanding of time and
space. Such strangeness should neither alarm us nor give rise to wild flights
of fancy. This is simply the way that our universe works at a level below our everyday
conscious experience.
Less than three hundred years ago Benjamin Franklin conducted experiments with a kite and a key to tap the energy stored in storm clouds, electricity became the buzz word of the 18th century. Today we accept that this same energy is available at the press of a button or the click of a switch and we do not normally give it a second thought. Less than a hundred years ago a critical mass of Uranium 235 descended on Hiroshima and words like atomic and radiation were on everyone’s lips. No doubt in the next twenty years there will be other discoveries that will capture the imagination and become the new buzz words of the 21st century.
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