Quantum Physics Solves The ‘Chicken Or Egg’ Paradox In A Surprising Way

Cynthia McKanzie – MessageToEagle.com – Have you ever heard about the chicken or egg paradox? It was first proposed by philosophers in ancient Greece to describe the problem of determining cause-and-effect. The question is what came first the chicken or the egg?

We have seen on many occasions before that the quantum world offers surprising answer to the most complex problems.

For example, quantum physics reveals reality does not exist unless we are looking At it and the future decides the past.

Quantum mechanics has now an astonishing answer to the chicken or egg paradox.

Quantum Physics Solves The "Chicken Or Egg" Paradox In A Surprising Way

Image credit: ben-bennetts.com

A team of physicists from The University of Queensland and the NÉEL Institute has shown that, as far as quantum physics is concerned, the chicken and the egg can both come first.

Dr Jacqui Romero from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems said that in quantum physics, cause-and-effect is not always as straightforward as one event causing another.

“The weirdness of quantum mechanics means that events can happen without a set order,” she said.

“Take the example of your daily trip to work, where you travel partly by bus and partly by train. Normally, you would take the bus then the train, or the other way round. In our experiment, both of these events can happen first,” Dr Romero said in a press release.

“This is called `indefinite causal order’ and it isn’t something that we can observe in our everyday life.”

See also:

Free Will Is An Illusion – Says Author Of Your Brain Is A Time Machine

In Higher Dimensions We Could See Past, Present And Future Events Simultaneously

More About Physics

To observe this effect in the lab, the researchers used a setup called a photonic quantum switch.

UQ’s Dr Fabio Costa said that with this device the order of events—transformations on the shape of light—depends on polarisation.

“By measuring the polarisation of the photons at the output of the quantum switch, we were able to show the order of transformations on the shape of light was not set.”

“This is just a first proof of principle, but on a larger scale indefinite causal order can have real practical applications, like making computers more efficient or improving communication.”

The research was published in Physical Reviews Letters by the American Physical Society.

Written by Cynthia McKanzie – MessageToEagle.com Staff Writer