Quantum Times

by Bill Diffenderffer

  Greene looked at Dr. Wheeling. “Could you at least summarize what new physics we have here? Now it was a long time ago but I had Physics at West Point and I have followed it as an interesting hobby. But please feel free to dummy it down somewhat.”

  Dr. Wheeling responded by standing up and addressing the group as if he was speaking to a class back at Columbia. “Let me explain. For the last 100 years, theoretical physics has had a huge problem right at its heart. We knew how matter behaved at the large mass level. Classic physics as explained by Einstein. And we knew how matter behaved at the particle level. Neils Bohr, Max Planck and many others showed us quantum mechanics. All of our electronic devices work because of what we know about quantum physics. However our problem is that those theories don’t work together. Though Einstein and Bohr were friends, their theories do not get along with each other. They are ultimately incompatible. Hence for a 100 years we have been looking for a theory that ties them together –what we call The Theory of Everything.

  “What our friend Benjamin Planck has shown us is that what we know about quantum mechanics can in fact also apply to the everyday world of large mass. But the quantum world is a very strange world filled with spooky and bizarre results. It is a world of potentiality where a particle could be here or it could be there. Particles can pop in and out of existence. Where particles that are entangled can influence each other instantly regardless of distance and ignore the speed of light barrier. And worst of all, and we have many experiments that show this, it is a world where nothing becomes real until an Observer is there to see it. Particles remain in an opportunistic state. And when they did resolve themselves to a particular result because of the Observer, we did not know why it picked the result it did from what could have been many possible results –although we knew that some results were more likely than others.”

  Dr. Wheeling looked to Dr. Kasinsky, “You would agree?”

  Kasinsky nodded, “All of that is well understood.”

  Dr. Wheeling continued, “What Planck figured out was that the Observer is really what we call consciousness and that consciousness can dictate quantum level results and then he figured out how to instruct that consciousness to produce a particular result and then to his great surprise he discovered that what could be done at the particle level could be done at any level of mass.”

  Dr. Kasinsky interrupted, “This makes me think of John Wheeler’s famous statement of ‘it from bit’. That is that at the core of reality is information. Quantum Information. Matter evolves from information. And consciousness is the user of that information. Or perhaps it is better to say that Consciousness is the construct of that information.”

  Dr. Wheeling approved. “Perhaps that is correct. But let me continue. Because the next thing that Planck discovered was how to issue instructions using meditation powers aided by an electronic amplifier to literally change the state of matter.”

  General Greene interrupted here, “Not just changed particles …he changed the weather – he moved hurricanes around. Is that right?”

  The Professor nodded his head, “Yes that is correct. But we are at only the beginning. The limits of what can be done are as yet untested.”

  General Greene was shaking his finger to get back to a prior point. “Dr. Wheeling, you just mentioned something I had not heard before. Did I hear you say that Dr. Planck invented an electronic amplifier that somehow enhances the ability to change matter? Really, an amplifier?”

  “Yes an amplifier that fits in the ear that essentially makes it easier for the Universe to understand what it is being asked to do. Think of it as a reverse hearing aid.”

  “How is that even possible?” The General was clearly dismayed.

  The Professor was in his best classroom mode. “Conceptually it is quite simple. The brain is essentially an electronic device that emits electromagnetic waves. The amplifier essentially increases the volume of the waves. And then when you give such a device to a group of people all of whom together focus on the same action, the volume and the clarity of the message is increased proportionately.”

  David spoke up then, “General, perhaps an analogy will help. Imagine you are standing at the entrance to a very large and very busy restaurant. You would hear a loud buzz of conversation but you couldn’t pick out the words of any one person at one of the tables. But if now that person and the others at his table had bullhorns and all shouted the same message, even over all the cacophony of the people in the restaurant you would still hear the message shouted by that table. We think that is how this works. Normally, the universe just hears the cacophony of individual minds so it goes about doing what it does, but whenever one message starts dominating, then the universe moves in that direction.”

  The General looked back at Wheeling. “Would you agree with that?”

  The Professor smiled. “David has a wonderful ability to simplify very complicated matters. But essentially, yes, what he said is what we think happens.”

  “And Dr. Kasinsky what do you think of this? Is it possible?” The General asked.

  Dr. Kasinsky looked left and right and then left and right, obviously considering how to respond. Finally he said, “Before The Object came and then asked for Planck, before I heard that he moved hurricanes around, I would have laughed and said it was nonsense. But The Object is here and it did ask for Dr. Planck and my colleague Dr. Wheeling assures me that the hurricanes did change their path, so with all that, the explanation that what we see is quantum mechanical applications subsuming Einstein’s universe. Well, I guess so.”

  The General nodded, “I’m taking that as a yes.” He turned to his fellow officers at the table. “Do you guys have anything you want to ask?” No one spoke up.

  “All right then,” General Greene continued. “I’m going to put the physics of all this aside. That’s not my day job. My day job is keeping this country safe. And what I have been learning today scares me very badly. So my next question is, is it possible that anyone else here on Earth, not counting The Object, may have figured out the same things that our now missing Dr. Planck figured out?”

  Dr. Kasinsky responded, “In science it is rare that just one scientist figures out the breakthrough thinking. Usually more than one researcher is on a concurrent path, even though neither one knows anything of the other.”

  “I agree,” said Dr. Wheeling.

  General Greene just shook his head. “Then let me imagine something really horrible and then you tell me whether it is possible. If someone in say China figured out how to do what Planck figured out – only he was working for the Chinese government – and they asked him to move a hurricane, or a typhoon in this example, so as it would not move away from a city but rather move to hit a city or say the nuclear plants in northern Japan, would that be possible?”

  At this point one of the General’s officers sitting at the table spoke up, “In other words, could the typhoon that devastated the Japanese economy and re-invigorated their anti-nuclear policy a couple of years ago been the result of ‘weaponizing’ the weather?”

  Dr. Wheeling said what everyone had already concluded, “A hurricane or typhoon, same thing, would go where directed.”

  “And no one could ever prove anything,” the General added. “What a strange new world we are about to live in.” He looked back at his fellow officers. Their expressions told the same story; the implications were mind-numbing.

  “But one thing is very clear – we have to find Dr. Planck and get him back!” He stood up from his chair. “One more thing, Dr. Wheeling, David, I think we had better go meet with the President. I think he will want to hear this directly from you.”

  Chapter Five

  “Before an observation is made, an object exists in all possible states simultaneously. To determine which state the object is in, we have to make an observation, which ‘collapses’ the wave function, and the object goes into a definite state. The act of observation destroys the wave function, and the object now assumes a definit
e reality.”

  Michio Kaku, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York

  The number two in command of the alien expedition stood at the edge of the giant square in the heart of the old city in Beijing. He marveled at its ancient beauty, its feeling of timeless and indefatigable power. He had now spent weeks learning all he could about China’s culture and history and he was stunned how this huge country could have had its billion people dominated by so few for so long. And the power of those few was staggering. Whether it was the Emperor and his senior advisors during earlier centuries or the Head of the Party and the small number of senior Party leaders, who were running the country now, control over the hundreds of millions of people was almost absolute.

  And to the Alien’s mind, the history of this wonderful land and its hard working people did not do much to recommend that leadership. Life seemed to come very cheap here. Millions of people could be lost and no one might notice. This was a country where secrets stayed secret. The men in power faced no internal challenges. And their global intentions were obscure and undisclosed.

  It was ironic that like Benjamin Planck in the United States that they too were keeping secret that they had discovered the ability to manipulate matter through meditation. They too kept secret that they had invented an amplifier to better accomplish their purposes. But unlike Benjamin Planck their reason for keeping it secret was not out of fear of its use. They had every intention of using it. Their early trials they viewed as astoundingly effective. The Aliens had traced these attempts and well understood what had occurred.

  It was not in the Alien’s mind to judge how the Chinese had used this new capability against their old enemy Japan. Japan’s treatment of the Chinese during and preceding what here was called World War II was horrific. And memories of devastation and butchery could be generations long. The Alien’s culture included such memories. And revenge, even long later, could be noble. War was a natural event, and not just for humans. But war had consequences that could last forever. The Alien knew that his opinion about what to do about China was still unformed. As everything about China, on its surface it seemed simple to understand; but complexity always hid underneath.

  What most intrigued the Alien about China was its difference in historical perspective compared to the industrialized western countries. This led to a vast difference in the perception of time. Particularly compared to the ever impatient and immediate United States, China’s thoughts were long term; its strategies would be unhurried. Also importantly, it had no moral or political construct that limited its dreams of empire. Empire was its natural destiny, China believed. Whether it would take twenty years or a hundred years, no matter; the desired result was unchanging and the means would be adapted to the times. Any relationship with China that did not address that understanding would fail.

  The Alien had seen other nations on other worlds with the worldview of China. Their drive for empire was always inexorable and indefatigable. And it was always a challenge for their neighboring countries. Wars were inevitable.

  Gabriela knew she had to get off the island. As beautiful as it was, the ocean at its edges was a prospective prison wall. As she watched the executive jet bearing David and Dr. Wheeling take off, she knew she shouldn’t be far behind. She didn’t trust the situation to stay stable. The forces that were coming into play were much too big and the collateral damage to those who were just casual observers could be substantial – even fatal she feared. And that wasn’t just her eastern European ancestors talking to her, as David would have claimed.

  Just then she spotted Catherine Ozawa walking across the grounds. She called and walked over to her. As usual, she went right to her concern. “I have a problem.”

  Catherine smiled, “You want to get off the island. Very wise.”

  Gabriela nodded, not surprised at all that this wise woman knew immediately what her problem was. “Yes exactly! And quickly!”

  “I think that if you do not leave quickly you will soon not be able to go at all.”

  “You think that too?”

  “I’m surprised they haven’t already locked down the island. I think that is only because they have not figured it out yet. But they will.”

  “By ‘they’ we mean our government, right?” Gabriela did not find Ozawa’s agreement comforting.

  Ozawa nodded, “Yes of course. They will do what government’s do. When they don’t know what to do, they increase their control over everything. The people on this island know too much.”

  “So are you going to leave now?” Gabriela hoped she would say yes and that she could go with her.

  “No I’m going to stay.” When Gabriela showed her surprise at her answer, she continued. “This is my island. Actually it belongs to Planck and me, but he is not here so I should watch over it. But even if that were not the case, I would stay. The work will go on here. Most of my students and fellow physicists have all decided to stay. This is a good place to ride out the coming storm.”

  “If no one is leaving, how can I leave?” Gabriela asked.

  “Actually, one of our number is about to leave. Apparently he is not eager for a close examination of his past. So two of our team are going to take him to Nassau on one of our faster fishing boats – there on the dock you can see they are about to leave.” She pointed down the beach about a hundred yards away to the small jetty where a fishing boat was rocking and several men were tending to it.

  Gabriela looked over at them. They looked about to cast off. ‘Can I go with them?”

  “I think you should. But go right now. They will not wait.” She waved at the men at the boat and one of them saw her. She held up her hand for them to see and pointed at Gabriela. They nodded.

  Gabriela realized there was no time to go back to her room to pick up her things, she turned back to Catherine Ozawa.

  “Good luck, Gabriela, I look forward to seeing you again!”

  “You too!” said Gabriela as she turned to hurry to the boat.

  Their meeting with The President of the United States was set for 10AM the next morning. Dr. Wheeling made dinner plans with a friend from Georgetown University and David went off to stay the night with his uncle Mark. He assumed that once at Mark’s house they would talk about The Object, about Physics and all the rest of it. But he was proved wrong. His uncle informed him that General Greene had ordered him to not talk to David about any of it. They had to keep it to family matters.

  In the morning Mark Randall drove David to pick up Dr. Wheeling from his hotel and took them both to The White House. He helped usher them through the process but then handed the two of them over to General Greene who led them into a meeting room. Neither David nor Dr. Wheeling had ever been in the White House before so they both walked through it somewhat star-struck. Neither of them knew one room from the next. David decided to act cool and didn’t ask and Dr. Wheeling seemed preoccupied with other thoughts – not unusual for him.

  When they entered the meeting room in the West Wing adjacent to the Oval Office, it was clear that the meeting had been going on for a while already. David had prepared for the meeting by convincing himself that he would not be overwhelmed. But as the President came over to shake his hand, he felt that resolve slip away. It wasn’t just the presence of the President but there in the room as well was his Chief of Staff Hank Scarpetti, the President’s chief political advisor, Barbara Wilcox, the Secretary of Defense, Joe Anderson and someone who he thought was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs – whose name he couldn’t remember. No introductions were made and Dr. Wheeling and David took the two empty seats they were directed to.

  The President retook his seat at the head of the table on a chair that had a higher back than everyone else’s. David had heard of the man’s charismatic warmth but had doubted he would succumb to it, yet as he saw the man from just a few feet away and as that man smiled at him, he wasn’t so sure he could resist. President Roger Morningstar was about six feet tall
and rugged looking – like he really had worked on the ranch his family had owned in Colorado. He had dark wavy hair streaked with serious looking grey, a strong chin and well-spaced brown eyes. His family had settled in Colorado just after the Civil War and raised cattle, took trail drives, fought Indians, outlaws, rustlers, droughts and blizzards – at least they had if you believed the President’s oft told tales. And his stories were probably mostly true. He claimed his black hair was a genetic trait inherited from his great great grandmother who was some relation to the famous Sioux Indian chief Sitting Bull.

  He was in his sixth year as President and his tenure as the head of the country was remarkable, as most pundits had often observed, for its lack of remarkableness. He had so far passed no significant legislation, formulated no meaningful foreign policy doctrine and marshalled no productive economic programs. The country was wallowing and just going about its business while losing its sense of purpose. The President’s poll numbers held remarkably steady right around the 50% range. Mostly people thought he was ‘good enough’. And it had to be admitted, the country’s expectations of its political leaders weren’t very high.

  President Morningstar had come into office with great fanfare and promises. He promised all the right things. Somehow regardless of the group he was talking to on his campaign, he always managed to say or at least imply what they most wanted to hear. He was for bi-partisanship and open government, he would rebuild schools and take care of the elderly; he would guarantee the return of manufacturing jobs and strengthen the capital markets. Life would be good again. The fact that there was nothing in his prior life’s experience to suggest that he had ever done any of these things was dismissed as being small minded. After all, he had an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford – so he must be brilliant. In fact some pundits gushed that he might be the smartest US President ever! So much for Jefferson and Lincoln.