[Note: This was completed and posted to the internet at 12:18pm CST, on 2/25/10. A version with pictures will be posted a bit later today.]
QUANTUM SUICIDE
ON THE SCHRODINGER ISLAND
PAGING DR. JACK KEVORKIAN, CAT-KILLER?
Yes, karmic/Samsaric death-rebirth cycles have played a significant role in my postings over the past two years, and I've linked these cycles to a range of relevant Lost themes, from climbing Jacob's Ladder of enlightenment to exploring Mind-Matter-Energy relations, and more.... So why have I been reluctant to jump on the QUANTUM SUICIDE (QS) bandwagon as an explanatory basis for these very same cycles? First, let's look at what QS entails:
"Unlike Schrödinger's cat-in-a-box thought experiment which used poison gas and a radioactive decay trigger, this human version involves some sort of lethal weapon and a machine which measures the spin value of a photon. Every 10 seconds, the spin value of a randomly passing photon is measured. Depending on the orientation of the spin, either the weapon is deployed and the man is killed, or it is not and he lives. With each run of the experiment there is a 50-50 chance that the weapon will be triggered and the experimenter will die. According to the Copenhagen interpretation, the weapon will (in all likelihood) eventually be triggered and the experimenter will die. If the many-worlds interpretation is correct then at each run of the experiment, the experimenter will be split into several worlds in which he dies and a few worlds in which he survives. In the worlds where the experimenter dies, he will cease to be a conscious entity. However, from the point of view of the non-dead copies of the experimenter, the experiment will continue running without his ceasing to exist, because at each branch, he will only be able to observe the result in the world in which he survives, and if many-worlds is correct, the surviving copies of the experimenter will notice that he never seems to die, therefore "proving" himself to be invulnerable to the killing mechanism in question, from his own point of view. If the many-worlds interpretation is true, the measure (given in M.W.I. by the squared norm of the wavefunction) of the surviving copies of the experimenter will decrease by 50% with each run of the experiment, but will remain non-zero. So, if the surviving copies become experimenters, those copies will either die during their first attempt, or survive creating duplicates of themselves (copies of copies, that will survive finitely or die)." [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_suicide_and_immortality]
QS has been invoked by others to explain Lost since at least last April, 2009, on the Lostpedia discussion site. Yes, one can reasonably construe the J2 Incident's bomb blast as a critical event prompting a sideways split, and all one has to do is to look at a standard depiction of the Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment to observe the dual/mirror/parallel 'verse narrative dominating the landscape in Season 6. And yes, on this construal, what Darlton may indeed be showing us is a narrative landscape in which the ISLAND is the Schrodinger's CAT, i.e.., the Island is existing in both a LIVE and a DEAD state, just as the infamous cat. And of course, this raises some interesting implications regarding not only what is 'reality', but the roles and influences of 'observers' in determining 'realities'. More on this, below....
Given the parallel/mirror 'verse plot theme figuring so prominently in Season 6, it is therefore not surprising to see more fans and pundits hop aboard the QS explanatory bandwagon. My reluctance thus far to follow suit stems in no small part from concerns raised by prominent figures in the scientific community regarding the fundamental veracity of the QS/Quantum Immortality scenario, including Charlotte's father's own 'real world' namesake, David Lewis:
"The philosopher David Lewis, in "How Many Lives Has Schrödinger's Cat?", remarked that in the vast majority of the worlds in which an immortal observer might find himself (i.e. the subset of quantum-possible worlds in which the observer does not die), he will survive, but will be terribly maimed. This is because in each of the scenarios typically given in thought experiments (nuclear bombing, Russian roulette, etc.), for every world in which the observer survives unscathed, there are likely to be far more worlds in which the observer survives terribly disfigured, badly disabled, and so on. It is for this reason, Lewis concludes, that we ought to hope that the many-worlds interpretation is false."
More damning, however, are the criticisms of one Max Tegmark, a prominent MIT professor figuring largely in the parallel/multiverse field for more than a decade:
"Using logic similar to that of Greg Egan's Dust Theory, Max Tegmark argues that under any sort of normal conditions, before someone dies they undergo a period of diminishment of consciousness, a non-quantum decline (which can be anywhere from seconds to minutes to years), and hence there is no way of establishing a continuous existence in this world to an alternate one in which the person ceases to exist. Although quantum immortality is motivated by the quantum suicide thought experiment, Max Tegmark has stated that he does not believe that quantum immortality is a consequence of his work." [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_suicide_and_immortality]
But is this truly a veritable 'nail in the coffin' for Lost QS aficionados? Not so fast.... My postings this year may have laid a foundation for rescuing a Lost QS interpretation for what lies beneath the shadow of emerging Season 6 plotlines. If there is indeed some truth to the notion that Jacob and MIB are characterized by and constituted in higher-order planes of existence-- conferred in no small part through karmic death/rebirth cycles occurring on the island and through tapping its unique energy properties-- then Darlton may be showing us how it is possible to achieve and leverage the QS phenomenon when beings transcend Tegmark's critical reach through becoming more than human, with little or no diminishment of consciousness in moments of death....
What lies above Jacob in the karmic QS death/rebirth cycling, higher up that veritable ladder of enlightenment? As per my prior postings, we may yet learn that it is the island itself-- with its energy-infused, electromagnetically-charged Black Rock substrate, and its light-side and dark-side energy-infused-drink-cum-templar Healing Pool/Spring-- that is the true incarnation of Matter-unfettered Mind-ful Omniscient consciousness.... This would enable the island itself, as a 'character' on the show, to leverage QS as a means of achieving QUANTUM IMMORTALITY....
One intriguing implication of this approach is that there may be more than one pathway to transcending Tegmark's QS limit: In addition to (1) Jacob (and others?) using the island's properties to evolve to higher planes of existence, beyond the envelope of human limitations, thereby avoiding that 'non-quantum decline of consciousness' in death's grip, we may well learn that (2) Hurley, Jack and other 'more human' less enlightened beings may be able to commit QS by 'piggybacking' on the island's powers and its nature as a matter-unfettered, energy-enabled omniscient consciousness. VALIS, anyone....?
Hmmm.... One explanatory possibility for the apparent asymmetry in who can see which dead people on the island is that, per my 2/23/10 posting, the island really is a spacetime nexus affording a portal among a myriad of parallel/multiverses, and one's ability to see 'others' depends upon the very plane of existence and enlightenment on which one has 'evolved' through island-enabled QS. In no small way, this may mean that the island can play host to an N-DIMENSIONAL QUANTUM 'CHESS GAME' of sorts, with players/pieces able to see: (1) other players who happen to be currently 'manifest' on the same plane of dimensional existence, and (2) other players manifest on the next contiguous 'higher' and 'lower' planes. This may be why it is so important to learn who the other 'players' in the game can and cannot see, as this may provide critical information not only about the position of other 'players' on the game grid, but also about their power levels and abilities. How interesting to play such a game....
Heh-heh-heh.... Will we see unLocke and his darkside MIB's Marauders recruits-- unClaire, unSayid, unSawyer(?)-- sitting in Jonestown fashion, on the steps of the brown, brackish temple healing pool/spring, drinking a veritable brown kool-aid of dark matter, a DARK ENERGY DRINK aimed at eating their old lightside hearts out (Sayid!), all in the service of moving ever further down that path of unLightened enDarkment, toward more powerful planes of Dark Matter/Energy existence in a Mirror Matter realm....
And now we come to JACK.... Will we later learn a deeper, more ominous meaning lying beneath the shadow of Jacob's admonition that Jack's got it, he's got what it takes....? Did the scene where Jack swallows the poison pill foreshadow Jack's true redemptive destiny to commit Quantum Suicide in order to merge the parallel/multiverses back together, thusly saving the LAXland 'reality' and the life of his son, David?
Hmmm.... While a 'Jack committing QS' plotline may indeed play out in the series finale, I'm now wondering if Darlton have a more intriguing 'reveal' planned for us all.... I've found it interesting that to date, the QS connections to Lost have largely figured on its applications to human characters (Jack, Hurley, etc.) and to the 'humanized' more highly 'evolved' characters (Jacob, MIB/unLocke).... Yes, I'm wondering if the Schrodinger's Cat simultaneously Dead/Alive structural narrative element undergirding the current season-- the island is dead/sunken in the LAXland 'verse, and alive/floating in the 'Otherverse'-- foreshadows a series finale in which the coming 'merger' of the parallel/mirrorverses promised to us by Darlton is achieved through Jack showing us he has the courage and the right stuff to play the role of DR. JACK KEVORKIAN, pulling the plug on the 'life' of the ISLAND as a spacetime nexus....
Yes, this would mean that Jack could indeed be labeled as a (Schrodinger's) Cat- Killer.... Hmmm.... Did the J2 Incident really 'kill' the island? Or, as in the case of Desmond's Swan Hatch 'Turnkey' Incident, is J2 simply one more in a line of who knows how many QS enactments, not merely focused on those persons who happen to be on the island at the time, but more tellingly, a QS of the ISLAND OMNI-MIND itself.... entailing not a final death, but rather achieving a Casimir-enabled parallel 'verse splitting effect.... Is it possible to actually deliver a final death blow to the island-cum-spacetime-nexus-dreamfateweaver? Quo VALIS....?
All along, we've been told that the island will play a central role as a character on the show. Will we ultimately learn whether or not Jack has the redemptive guts to pull the 'Kevorkian' plug on the island, enabling a final 'merger' back to the LAXland reality, with David happily playing Chopin, and Locke getting Married With Children, and Hurley spreading his chocolatey Wonka-luck around the world....?
JACOB: “It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”
Maybe, just maybe.... Both Jacob and the Island have tired of their Quantum Immortality and their Uber-Observer status and have mutually decided it's time to move on....
Time will tell....
Dr. Todd J. Hostager