When a baby is born, all it knows is the warmth and security of its womb, but suddenly it has a whole new universe to understand. From inside its basinet, the world appears to be inhabited by giants, which loom over the sky and smile down, but soon the baby knows there is a room around its bed, and that room is just one of many. When the child begins to walk it discovers the house, and the house next door. In time it learns about the town, the city, the land, and the globe. It learns that Earth is just an infinitesimal speck in a limitless universe and that Man is still reaching out, trying to understand his place in a thing so big he cannot measure it.
The same thing has happened at the other end of the scale. When atoms were discovered, it seemed that all material things were made of invisible ?dots? of energy, but then subatomic particles were identified. Now the list of parts discovered in the atom is quite large, and a new possibility has emerged, called ?string theory?. And just when it looked like this was the end of discovery in this area, ?quantum physics? appeared. The funny thing is, if anyone says they understand quantum physics, they probably don?t.

Quantum physics defies our common sense. It suggests (among several other weird things) that the universe is full of ?entangled? particles. In practice, this means that if you alter the physical properties of a particle on this side of the solar system, another exact twin of that particle will be physically altered on the other side of the solar system. Distance has no effect on this action. The two particles could be millions of light years apart, but what affects one will affect the other.

A brilliant scientists called Schrodinger discovered ?entanglement? while he was doing some experiments on atomic particles several decades ago. He found that when two quantum particles bump into each other, and then part again, it is impossible to describe one of these particles without describing the other one. Whatever affects one particle also affects the other, and whatever spin or momentum one has, the other has too. Einstein called this discovery ?spooky action at a distance?. As we said, it defies common sense.

In the real world, the properties of quantum physics are already being used. For example entangled pairs of quantum particles such as photons are routinely being created and sent down microscopes, or fired across vast distances. Their ?spooky? properties are used to perform such feats as high-resolution imaging, quantum teleportation, and quantum cryptography.

Logically, if the universe is full of ?entangled? pairs, then they must be inside our food, our bodies, and our environment, which means they must also be active in all chemistry. Chemical processes underpin all biological processes, so all of life is influenced by a ?mesh? or ?fog? of paired particles. The whole universe must therefore be united by this amazing property of entangled pairs.

Points in space are therefore connected to one another, however separated they may appear to be, and this entanglement must also include time, which means the past, present and future are all tied together. We have accepted Einstein?s theory of Relativity, now Quantum theory has added to it, and science stands at the brink of yet another Theory, which will be deeper and more difficult to understand than ever.

Just as a baby discovers the basinet, the room, and then the house, Man constantly hovers on the edge of vast mysteries, as the creation of God gradually reveals more and more wisdom to him. As Paul the apostle said, ?O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!? Romans 11:33

Richard Gunther, Copyright 2005

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