When they sit up, we'll sit down.
When they throw up, we'll throw down.
When they show up, we'll show down.
And, if they go up, we'll go down.
It seems as though, we American particles are inexplicably entangled with Iraqi particles. Of course, you remember from your quantum physics class what exactly an entangled particle is.
Weirder still, a quantum particle's quirkiest talent may be its ability to be intimately linked, or entangled, with another. Even when two entangled particles are far apart, a change to one always affects the other.
Two entangled particles can be coupled so that they must swivel in opposite directions. Forcing one to spin clockwise will set the other spinning counterclockwise, no matter how far they are separated in space. They are fatefully entwined.
more...
The problem with us being entangled in Iraq could mean that we have no free will.
How do entangled particles communicate?
One of the zanier notions in the plenty zany world of quantum mechanics is that a pair of subatomic particles can sometimes become “entangled.” This means the fate of one instantly affects the other, no matter how far apart they are. It’s such a bizarre phenomenon that Einstein dissed the idea in the 1930s as “spooky action at a distance,” saying it showed that the developing model of the atomic world needed rethinking.
But it turns out that the universe is spooky after all. In 1997, scientists separated a pair of entangled photons by shooting them through fiber-optic cables to two villages 6 miles apart. Tipping one into a particular quantum state forced the other into the opposite state less than five-trillionths of a second later, or nearly 7 million times faster than light could travel between the two. Of course, according to relativity, nothing travels faster than the speed of light - not even information between particles.
Even the best theories to explain how entanglement gets around this problem seem preposterous. One, for example, speculates that signals are shot back through time. Ultimately, the answer is bound to be unnerving: According to a famous doctrine called Bell’s Inequality, for entanglement to square with relativity, either we have no free will or reality is an illusion. Some choice.
If you're curious you can try to understand Bell's Theorem. I couldn't make a simultaneous heads or tails out of it, though. So, I have no choice but to accept WIRED's description above and go with either having no free will, reality is an illusion.
I'm going to rule out that reality is an illusion right off the bat. For one thing, who would see the illusion? Why would someone or something go out of its way to create an illusion to replace reality? And, if reality doesn't exist, how can an illusion? Also, I smashed my thumb today with a hammer and it hurt much more than any illusion I've seen.
If we accept the premise offered by WIRED, then, by process of elimination, we can logically conclude that we have no free will. We can also conclude that someone who didn't smash their thumb with a hammer today caused me to smash my thumb (bastards!). There are further implications.
The bad news is, we can't stand down until the Iraqi's actually do stand up. The good news is, once they do stand up, our sitting down will occur almost instantaneously.
Still the questions remain -- What if nothing is faster than the speed of light except the knowledge that light is coming? What if God plays with loaded dice?