"The world is not as real as we think. My personal opinion is that the world is even weirder than what quantum physics tells us," Anton Zeilinger of the University of Vienna says in one of those "non-scientific" reflections on quantum theory that I love (such as this article in The New York Times).
One object that can travel in two opposite directions at the same time? Objects that exist in more than one place simultaneously? Making a change to something that is right in front of you also changes something across the galaxy?
All these things should be true according to quantum theory. Scientists now (actually, since the early 20th century) agree with mystics, shaman, and all manner of artists that there is much more to the universe than that which can be explained rationally.
According to quantum theory, reality is "represented by waves that extend throughout space, containing all the possible outcomes of an observation - here, there, up or down, dead or alive. The amplitude of this wave is a measure of the probability that the object will actually be found to be in one state or another."
Whoa.
Or, to put it another way, life all depends on how you look at it....
[You may have to register with The New York Times to read the article, but it's free and in theory relatively painless.]
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