Video Transcript
Non-local communication versus signaling. John Cramer spends several parts of this chapter to explain why what would happen if we could communicate faster than light, the paradoxes involved, and how we would get around them in theory. Now, let me give you the answer before we dig into this. The answer is John Cramer's transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics is the answer. The reason he came up with this whole idea that the past and the future are talking to each other is because that's the answer to the all the paradoxes. That's the answer to all the paradoxes that you've seen in sci-fi. Say it's, "Whoa, I'm going to go backwards in time. I'm going to go, you know, kill my grandfather, and then I shouldn't exist anymore." The way this is not possible is because the future and the past talk to each other, and if you try to do something that violates causality, that's not allowed. That path doesn't exist. And if this seems like magic, that's the point. Is that John Cramer said, "Instead of trying to look at the world in this linear perspective, let's just see what we can do, and then try to come up with a quantum mechanics theory that fits in that within that framework." So, first, let's talk about the paradoxes. So, here's a Bilking paradox. Bilking paradox would say, "Suppose we construct 1 million linked systems, then the transmitted message would be received before it is sent. So, if we have a situation by which retrocausality can occur, then we can send a message to the past. But, imagine you receive a message from the future that says, "Press this button." But, now you say, "Okay, well, I just got that message from the future. I'm not going to do it." I'm not going to press the button. But, pressing the button is what sends the message to the past. How can that be possible because you press the button? That's the Bilking Paradox. So, how does the transactional interpretation get around that? The transactional interpretation, the future and the past talk to each other. And they determine, "Did you press the button? If you did, then you have to press the button." Simple. Or you can't receive the message. The only situation in which that event can unfold is in the situation where that's how it played out. No do-overs. This is how it solves the problem. And you may say, "Well, Ash, it sounds like you're cheating." Exactly, the universe is cheating. The universe is unambiguously cheating. We can see that from the double-slit experiment and the various versions of double-slit experiment. The universe is cheating. And John Cramer is saying, "This is how the universe is cheating." Next paradox, grandfather paradox. Actually, well, the grandfather paradox you guys already know. Now, the other paradox is, "Well, what happens if I invent a time machine and I go back in time in my wormhole, in my uh time travel device?" Well, now I would be able to go change the past. So, how do you prevent that? You're not allowed to go to the past. You're at least you're not allowed to go to the past and change anything that's already happened. If you go to the past, then you're going to do what our what hap- what already happened in your current past. This is how we have one the timeline that stays continuous. Okay? The alternative to this would be that there's a multiverse. Today, there's everything that could happen has happened. I don't personally believe in that, but it's possible. Now, this is what's really interesting about this. John Cramer's transactional interpretation is based on Wheeler and Feynman's, I believe it's absorber theory. Wheeler and Feynman were considering causality, and they are the ones that came up with the basis of this theory of the universe cheating and looking ahead. And Wheeler and Feynman were two major players. Manhattan Project and after. So, Wheeler and Feynman were considering absorber theory, and they were considering these paradoxes. The general consensus was that nature will forbid it and require a consistent set of conditions. This is the chronology protection theorem. An idea that the reason we can't go back in time, even though the math shows that we should be able to, is because nature will step in and ensure that a consistent set of events always occurs. John Cramer says that we can't resolve these paradoxes. He says, "If non-local signaling is impossible, then it doesn't need a resolution. But we need better explanations for why it is impossible. But if non-local signaling is possible and can be found to use and form time-like loops, then the paradoxes become important subjects for further testing. Now, why would John Kramer go into all of these explanations if he didn't think it was possible? He absolutely does think it is possible. The other scenario, which is possible cuz he says time-like loops. What do we mean when we're talking about creating a time-like loop? Now, what can we do? Imagine that I get a message from the future. That message is a book. A book that I'm the author of. And I get that book and I publish it. And I become famous from that book. And then I send the message back to the past when I get older. Who created the book? The universe did. Nobody did. I didn't write it, but I got my name on it. So, let me repeat that. If I get a book from the future with my name on it and I publish it, and then I get older and I invent a time machine and I send the book back into the past, who wrote the book? This is actually allowed by the universe. Think about that. Cuz you're not actually creating any situation that's not allowed by the universe. It's like, "Fine, a book exists. Doesn't doesn't need a creator." Interesting, right? So, the reason why John Kramer talks about all of is not just because his theory can explain them. But also because we are going to have to deal with them. Non-linear quantum mechanics. So far we have focused on the possibility that non-local communication may be possible within the framework of standard quantum mechanics. However, even if non-local communication is impossible, there could be another path to non-local communication. The no signal theorem described in section three are based on the formalization of standard quantum mechanics. Such proofs become invalid if quantum mechanics is allowed to be slightly non-linear. There it is. He knows. If quantum mechanics has a non-linear component analogous to let's say Maxwell's expanded equations, analogous to scalar physics. Now suddenly quant when quantum waves are superimposed, they may generate a cross term not present in the standard formulation. So when you create an interference pattern of your quantum waves just like scalar physics and overlapping waves there may be a non-linear component that comes from it. Weinberg, a Nobel laureate for his work in unifying electromagnet magnetic and weak interactions, he investigated this theory. Um Weinberg's non-linear quantum mechanics subtly alters certain properties of the standard theory producing a new physical effects that can be detected through precise measurements. So, let's skip that. Let's just go now straight to the answers. There's a non-linear component to quantum mechanics. That means we can in theory go back in time. That means we can in theory signal faster than light. We can teleport faster than light. But, how can this be possible? Because John Kramer just said nature won't let us do it. Nature's not going to let us go back in time. But, wait. Did we really rule everything out? No. There is a middle path that we have ignored. We don't have to go back in time to teleport. We can translocate from one location to the next instantly. And if we don't go back in time, that's not a violation. There's a loophole. Think about it. I can teleport from this point to this point and as long as I don't go back in time, as long as I stay in the exact present, I didn't break causality. Sure, it I'm cheating and I'm teleporting, but I'm not breaking causality. The whole point of going back in time is that we can go back in time, not that we have to go back in time when we teleport. That's the rub in the math. This is what John Kramer is trying to tell us. These guys are black project engineers. They know we can teleport. They're just out here going, "Okay, how do I explain this in a way that doesn't give away the game?" But, now that we've seen them game, I know exactly what he's trying to say here. He's saying classical backwards in time travel probably isn't possible. Even though non-linear quantum mechanics enables it. If we look at the transactional interpretation, the advanced waves and the waves, now we say I can teleport, I can move faster than light so long as I don't break causality. As long as I don't break causality, then I can teleport. So this means if we take this at face value, if we assume this is true, this means you can teleport as long as you don't go back in time. And you might even be able to go forward in time. The other thing about this view is that quantum mechanics is no longer about superposition. The Copenhagen interpretation is gone. Think about what we've been talking about in the last couple live streams. This idea of the quantum state being this perfectly isolated crystalline state. That's Atoms are moving. They're physically moving. This idea that the particle could be in any location and it's technically in all these locations until we observe it, that's also That's not what's going on at all. What's going on is the universe is determining what's allowed and what's not allowed. And then it's breaking down the paths that are no longer allowed to exist. It's even more magical than that. If you think about it. But there's no wave function collapsing in the perspective that they would think. >> [snorts] >> And the reason why I like this is because now everything's physical again. Now everything's physical again. That's to me the most important part about physics. Is that we don't have abstract ideas that we can't understand. When we say something has spin, it actually has spin. Not quantum spin, that's not a really spin, but exact exactly like spin. Now, this is what's scary. I want to go ahead and I think I want to play a clip now. >> [snorts] >> Cuz the implications even of this form of time travel are alarming. We can't at this point even rule out backwards time travel. The only thing holding back time backwards time travel based on what I just said to you guys is the chronology protection theorem. If there's a loophole in the chronology protection theorem just like hypothetically saying that maybe you can't send something biological back, but maybe we can entangle to something that's there and send a message back. If we can even send a message back in time, but not send a person then we can impact the past. And if we can impact the past, then it seems plausible that somebody's already got a machine that's going to tell them exactly what's going to happen in the future. That to me is extremely scary.