We seldom go by a single day without being bombarded with scientific terms in the news. And quantum mechanics has been experiencing its share of the attention for quite some time now. I will not be the one pretending the topic is simple either; but enough misunderstanding of the "quantum world" has been going around to deserve its own piece here.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and a justifiably confused student of the subject.
Credit: geralt @ Pixabay.
The topic is full of technical terms that are far from straightforward. If you don't believe it, go ahead and try to explain 'particle-wave duality', 'collapse of the wave-function', and 'quantum entanglement' in simple terms without getting a massive headache! It doesn't sound easy, does it? Still, the complexity of quantum mechanics does not justify the arguments used by spiritually influential people - here I will take the liberty to borrow the term from the Atkins Mind Body Spirit Magazine.¹
You see, the quantum realm is weird. Whenever we try to learn a little more about the real science behind the scenes we are greeted by particles popping in and out of existence - oh! I beg your pardon. Did I write 'particles'? I meant 'waves'. Or both. Simultaneously! -; energy fields that extend themselves throughout the entire universe; and waves of matter passing through barriers as if these were thin air. Strange enough? Wait until you hear the scientific terms that goes along with these oddities: 'vacuum fluctuation', 'wave-particle duality'; 'quantum field'; 'quantum tunneling'. You see, these are not exactly self-explanatory terms you would use with your friends at a party.
With all these odd-sounding names, it is not hard to find people suggesting 'quantum' and 'medicine' go along just fine. Spiritually influential people have not been particularly helpful either... Just take a look at a three titles of books with misinterpretations of science published in the last five years:
"Quantum Consciousness: Journey Through Other Realms" (2018) by Peter Smith² - From a scientist's perspective, this title just looks like an unconventional mixture of quantum physics, biology, psychology and the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. The latter, originated the now popular idea that an infinite number of parallel and independent universes exist, and that every single action you can possibly imagine does happen in at least one of these alternative worlds.
"The DNA Field and the Law of Resonance: Creating Reality through Conscious Thought" (2014) by Pierre Franckh³ - Let's see, this time we find that DNA, the molecule responsible for transmission of genetic information in all living creatures on Earth, now forms a 'field' - a legitimate scientific term for a region in which each point experiences a force⁴ - and it is related to the Law of Resonance... Did I miss the class in which I was supposed to learn about this law? And the title finishes with a whooping claim that "conscious thought creates reality". Well, good luck trying to support that with peer-reviewed scientific evidence...
And last, but by no means least:
"Quantum DNA Healing: Consciousness Techniques for Altering Your Genetic Destiny" (2017) by Althea S. Hawk⁵- Yep, the synopsis of this one goes as far as to claim that our thoughts can change the way DNA behaves inside our bodies. The only problem would be down to misinterpretation, but the author does advocate we can use this technique as a way to cure conditions such as cancer, tumours, chronic inflammation and toxicity.⁵ᶜ
Now, this last one is downright dangerous! A layperson who has not had access to adequate scientific education could simply believe they could heal a life-threatening disease like cancer through the sheer power of their thoughts. Placebo effect aside, that is a quite bold - and potentially self-harming - medicinal claim to take at face value.
Whenever you find anything - and I did really mean anything - suggesting the slightest link between 'quantum things' and the human body, be extremely cautious! The self-proclaimed 'quantum healing', and practices alike, have been dubbed 'quantum quackery',⁶ and even deserved an entire article by the late Professor Victor J. Stenger on the Skeptical Inquirer back in 1997.⁶ Do check it out for a good exploration of this topic - physics-mindful-fellow warning: contains actual physics!
But what would be a good remedy for all this nonsense? Reason. Or, more to the point, critical thinking. Both these aspects are integral part of the scientific method,⁷ and are extremely important for education in general.⁸
All this ramble about the problem with misinterpreting scientific studies would be totally unnecessary, if we lived in a society where people receive high-quality science education. A quick look at the data collected by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in their triennial tests known as PISA⁹ (Programme for International Student Assessment) shows we are not quite there yet. Just take a look at the interactive graph from PISA 2015:⁹ᵇ
Compare your country - PISA 2015: Check how your country performed in the PISA test from 2015.
©OECD, interactive graph provided under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license.
And I am certainly not the only one concerned with the worrying negative implications of science misunderstanding. In the opening of the editorial to the 20th issue of Nature Cell Biology,¹⁰ this topic is introduced with a fair amount of data demonstrating we are already experiencing negative social impacts. According to that editorial, which I recommend you to check out, the threaten to reason and science is already affecting our society.¹⁰
Science denial is not new but, in the digital age, evidence-based conclusions appear to be increasingly threatened by beliefs based on emotion and isolated personal experience.
Nature Cell Biology 2018, 20, 1231
And, to be frank, I would not want to live in a society where science becomes obsolete. Well, besides making scientists' jobs redundant, technological and medicinal progress would be in grave danger. These good friends of everybody's daily experiences heavily rely on scientific discoveries.
What is the way forward? Well, I suggest the best solution to all this mess is to continue to fight for critical thinking and reason, and keep defending science with all our might. Education is also very important - and one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place - and I will welcome you to follow this path to the best of your abilities.
It is only by a solid, educational, and responsible response to the science deniers, and misguided sharers and 're-Twitters' of this world that we can have good and civilised discourse in this post-truth era.
I will just finish this already-lengthy piece with an invitation to follow me in this battle; and leave you with a quite relevant quote from the late journalist and extremely rational thinker Christopher Hitchens.¹¹
We do not rely solely on science and reason, because these are necessary rather than sufficient factors, but we mistrust anything that contradicts science or outrages reason.
Christopher Hitchens
_______________² a) Smith, P., "Quantum Consciousness: Journey Through Other Realms", 2018, Llewellyn Publications, 240p; b) Quantum Consciousness: Journey Through Other Realms, https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Consciousness-Journey-Through-Realms/dp/0738754935, retrieved 06/04/2019; c) About Peter Smith - Quantum Consciousness, https://www.quantumconsciousness.com.au/about-peter-smith.html, retrieved 06/04/2019.
³ a) Franckh, P., "The DNA Field and the Law of Resonance: Creating Reality Through Conscious Thought", 2014, 1st ed. Destiny Books, 192p.; b) The DNA Field and the Law of Resonance: Creating Reality Through Conscious Thought, https://www.amazon.com/DNA-Field-Law-Resonance-Conscious/dp/1620553473, retrieved 06/04/2019; Franckh, P., Pierre Franckh: Lerne, wie Deine Wünsche wahr werden, https://www.pierre-franckh.de/, retrieved 06/04/2019.
⁴ Encyclopædia Britannica, Hosch, W. L. (rev.), "Field", Encyclopædia Britannica 2014, https://www.britannica.com/science/field-physics, retrieved 06/04/2019.
⁵ a) Hawk, A. S., "Quantum DNA Healing: Consciousness Techniques for Altering your Genetic Destiny" b) Hawk, A. S., Quantum DNA Healing, http://www.altheahawk.com/althea-on/, retrieved on 06/04/2019; c) Quantum DNA Healing: Consciousness Techniques for Altering your Genetic Destiny, https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-DNA-Healing-Consciousness-Techniques/dp/1591432871, retrieved 06/04/2019.
⁶ Stenger, V. J., Skeptical Inquirer 1997, 21, 37.
⁷ Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia, Scientific method, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method, retrieved 06/04/2019.
⁸ Siegel, H., "Philosophy of Education", Encyclopædia Britannica 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-education, retrieved 06/04/2019.
⁹ a) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD 2015, Data - PISA, http://www.oecd.org/pisa/data/, retrieved 06/04/2019; b) OECD 2015, Compare your country - PISA 2015, http://www.compareyourcountry.org/pisa?lg=en, retrieved 06/04/2019.
¹⁰ Nat Cell Biol 2018, 20, 1231.
¹¹ Hitchens, C., "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything", London: Atlantic Books, 2008, pp.5.
No comments:
Post a Comment