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Quantum Jumping from the Periphery of our Minds

2022-12-28 CSLIs there a connection between how and what we pay attention to–and quantum jumping?  And if so, how does it work?

While preparing to be  interviewed by Brian MacFarland this month, I was pleased that he was particularly intrigued by something He’d heard me say, regarding the way that Mandela Effects and reality shifts tend to occur “in the peripheries of our minds.” Brian asked me to please elaborate on what I meant by that. Perhaps one of the easiest ways to grasp this concept is through some thing known as the shyness effect.  In the simplest terms, we typically only see mind matter interaction outside of our direct line of sight.  Most Reality Shifts, Quantum Jumps, and Mandela effect are witnessed after the edges of our attentional focus, out on the periphery.

The Shyness Effect

Over the last 25 years that I’ve dedicated my professional life to tracking the reality shift phenomenon, one of the most striking aspects to me has been the way that there’s something akin to a “shyness effect” going on.  In 1975, physicist John G. Taylor first began using this term to describe the interesting phenomenon by which demonstrations of mind-matter interaction are often more readily made unobtrusively, rather than under close scrutiny or observation.  This “shyness effect” has provided skeptics with ammunition by which to ascribe the possibility of ‘cheating’ or practicing sleight-of-hand to spoon-bending mentalists such as Uri Geller.

While I can see why people might feel skeptical regarding Uri Geller’s spoon bending occurring just out of visual line of sight, I have witnessed my daughter ‘melt’ / bend a fork at a spoon-bending party in our home.  And I’ve held a perfectly normal quarter in my hand and felt it melt like soft, malleable putty into a curved shape while I was relaxed and attempting to get it to stay firm and solid as I inserted it into a coin slot at our local underground public transportation station.  I can personally testify to neither of those two cases being examples of sleight-of-hand, since there was no possibility of any illusionist practices in either of those instances.

And my first encounter with the shyness effect occurred when I was a young girl of about five years of age, looking out our living room window into the backyard, watching the rain.  I noticed that the rain seemed to directly respond to my thoughts, such that when I thought, “Stop rain,” the rain would immediately stop.  And when I thought, “Start rain,” the rain would start again.  I did this back and forth several times, until I was certain that I was as one with the rain, and with great excitement, I ran to find my mom, to tell her what I’d observed.  I noticed when I found her in her bedroom that she seemed interested at first to hear what I had to say, that is, until she heard me say, “Look, Mom!  The rain stops when I think Stop rain, and starts when I say Start rain!”  She crossed her arms (not the best sign), and try as I might, I could not get this demonstration to work.

When I first met Uri Geller in San Francisco in 1999, I was intrigued to witness something similar to him in one of his psi demonstrations.  He’d asked a volunteer to “think of a color,” and at some point told us he was picking up interference–that clearly, not everyone was sending a clear image for him.  One man standing in the back of the room admitted that yes, he had been telepathically sending a color of his own.

Your Mind is as good, if not better than, Quantum Computers

I mentioned in my book Quantum Jumps that we are starting to observe scientific evidence of macroscopic quantum phenomenon occurring in nature.  It has long been assumed by many scientists that we would not be able to witness any type of quantum phenomenon within the warm, wet, noisy environment of natural biological systems. It came as quite a surprise then,to observe that photosynthesis in plants appears to definitely be happening thanks to quantum entanglement.  it also seems likely that we will soon be able to witness other types of condom phenomena being employed in our own senses such as smell, thanks to quantum tunneling occurring and natural systems that include our noses.  another example of natural systems employing quantum processes includes birds navigational systems, and we can expect to see many more examples in the years to come.

It is clearly not necessary for birds, plants, and our noses to be consciously operating quantum computers in order to benefit from microscopic quantum phenomena.  and it is not necessary for many of us to employ quantum phenomena in our daily lives, when we feel that we are receiving direct intuitive insights from those who are not indirect contact with us at that time. We can certainly envision that thanks to quantum entanglement with others with whom we feel heartfelt connection and coherence, we have some kind of a quantum mechanism by which experiences like telepathy can be enjoyed.

We are also finding that our minds operate very much in a quantum manner, as described in the wonderful book, Quantum Models of Cognition and Decision. I interviewed Jerome Busemeyer in my Living the Quantum Dream podcast, talking about the amazing and wonderful quantum properties our minds demonstrate.

Walking between Worlds with the Quantum Zeno Effect (QZE)

Most of us are familiar with those situations where it seems that the more we stare at a given situation, waiting for a momentous phase change to occur, the less likely it seems we’ll see much of anything interesting transpire. You might have heard your someone say, “A watched pot never boils,” suggesting you find something more productive to do than stand and stare, waiting for water to get hot enough to come to a boil.  Amazingly, the “watched pot” phenomenon is backed up by some pretty interesting scientific studies in quantum physics.  With respect to quantum systems, the Quantum Zeno Effect (QZE) provides a mechanism by which a quantum system consisting of entangled particles can be locked in place, simply by consistently and persistently observing it in whichever state is most desired.

While Alan Turing has been acknowledged as having first mentioned the basic principle behind the Quantum Zeno Effect in the form of a paradox in 1954, physicists Baidyanaith Misra and George Sudarshan were the first to write a paper in 1977, hypothesizing that if a quantum system is measured often enough, it’s state will be unable to progress, and this hypothesis was tested and proven to be true in a 1989 experiment involving laser-cooled ions trapped in electric and magnetic fields. Subsequent tests further confirmed that the Quantum Zeno Effect works, and in 2013, researchers moved a step closer to building quantum computers by demonstrating that objects as large as diamonds can exhibit the Quantum Zeno Effect.

We might envision the possibilities of being able to freeze-frame a given situation–such as a life-threatening experience–in order that we can best address whatever needs to be handled. Some people, including me, have had such moments where we could have sworn that time slowed to a stop–and the Quantum Zeno Effect can go a long way toward explaining what’s going on when that happens.  We also have opportunities to select realities that we most enjoy, on occasions when we witness some kind of flip-flop, back-and-forth between to possible alternative realities.  Thanks to the Quantum Zeno Effect (QZE), we can persistently  make observations of what we must wish to experience, thereby locking a particular entangled quantum system in place.  In practical, down to earth terms, this simply means that when we are riding a bicycle or a motorcycle, we can either fix our eyes on the horizon toward our desired destination, or we can stare at the pothole coming up ahead of us in the middle of the road. We know from learning from experienced instructors to avoid staring at the pothole, unless we truly desire to hit that pothole.  in similar fashion, we know that if we continue gazing at our desired destination, we can best avoid potholes and ensure a safe passage.

Quantum Jumping in the Periphery

Putting all of this together, we can practice making desired Quantum Jumps in our lives by staying focused on desired outcomes when we are focusing our attention, and also by providing relaxed states of mind that wave-like and open to all possibilities, in order to provide an optimal environment for Quantum Jumps to adjacent realities.  For a tip on keeping things at the periphery of your mind, it might help to practice remembering things.

Have you ever tried to remember something, like somebody’s name, so hard that you couldn’t recall it at all?  Most of us have learned that if we want to remember something, it helps to stop trying so hard, and relax.  When we relax and let go of trying so hard, those parts of our mind that are entangled with what we are seeking have a chance to make the connections we seek, and provide us with the answer we were looking for.  This provides us with a sense of how we can move back and forth between ‘locking in’ a particular focus of attention and reality, and entering into a relaxed daydream ‘wavelike’ state of providing opportunity for a quantum jump to occur.

You can watch the companion video to this blog post on YouTube here:

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REFERENCES:

Busemeyer, Jerome R., and Peter D. Bruza. Quantum models of cognition and decision. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Reich, Eugenie Samuel, “Quantum Paradox Seen in Diamond,” Nature, 20 August 2013

Patil, Yogesh Sharad, Srivatsan Chakram, and Mukund Vengalattore. “Quantum Control by Imaging: The Zeno effect in an ultracold lattice gas.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1411.2678 (2014).

Larson, Cynthia Sue. Reality Shifts: When Consciousness Changes the Physical World. RealityShifters, 2011.

Larson, Cynthia Sue. Quantum Jumps:  An Extraordinary Science of Happiness and Prosperity. RealityShifters, 2013.
Taylor, John Gerald. Superminds. Viking Adult, 1975.
Wang, Zheng, et al. “The potential of using quantum theory to build models of cognition.” Topics in Cognitive Science 5.4 (2013): 672-688.

You can watch the companion video to this blog here:

___________________________

QuantumJumps300x150adCynthia Sue Larson is the best-selling author of six books, including Quantum Jumps.  Cynthia has a degree in physics from UC Berkeley, an MBA degree, a Doctor of Divinity, and a second degree black belt in Kuk Sool Won. Cynthia is the founder of RealityShifters, and first President of the International Mandela Effect Conference. Cynthia hosts “Living the Quantum Dream” on the DreamVisions7 radio network, and has been featured in numerous shows including Gaia, the History Channel, Coast to Coast AM, One World with Deepak Chopra, and BBC. Cynthia reminds us to ask in every situation, “How good can it get?” Subscribe to her free monthly ezine at:

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Improve Your Life with the Quantum Zeno Effect

How can you make the most of the “quantum watched pot” effect in your life?

Most of us are familiar with those situations where it seems that the more we stare at a given situation, waiting for a momentous phase change to occur, the less likely it seems we’ll see much of anything interesting transpire. You might have heard your mother cluck, “A watched pot never boils,” suggesting you find something more productive to do. What your mother might not have known and probably didn’t tell you is that the “watched pot” phenomenon is backed up by some pretty interesting scientific studies in quantum physics that show considerable promise for helping improve our way of life.

We might envision the possibilities of being able to freeze-frame a given situation–such as a life-threatening experience–in order that we can best address whatever needs to be handled. Some people, including me, have had such moments where we could have sworn that time slowed to a stop–and the Quantum Zeno Effect can go a long way toward explaining what’s going on when that happens.

The Quantum Zeno Effect  

While Alan Turing has been acknowledged as having first mentioned the basic principle behind the Quantum Zeno Effect in the form of a paradox in 1954, physicists Baidyanaith Misra and George Sudarshan were the first to write a paper in 1977, hypothesizing that if a quantum system is measured often enough, it’s state will be unable to progress, and this hypothesis was tested and proven to be true in a 1989 experiment involving laser-cooled ions trapped in electric and magnetic fields. Subsequent tests further confirmed that the Quantum Zeno Effect works, and in 2013, researchers moved a step closer to building quantum computers by demonstrating that objects as large as diamonds can exhibit the Quantum Zeno Effect. [Reich 2013] It’s a big leap to move from the realm of the microscopic to something large enough that humans can directly see, feel and work with, such as diamonds. In addition to the Quantum Zeno Effect that effectively freezes a system into a given state, there also exists an anti-Zeno Effect, which moves a system quickly out of a given state.

In 2014, a team of physicists led by Y.S. Patil at Cornell University successfully demonstrated that rapid repetitive measurements can effectively freeze a system in place. The potential implications of this are huge, as the paper asserts, “The techniques demonstrated here…  … augur intriguing prospects of realizing novel many-body interactions such as a measurement- induced dynamic coupling between the internal, motional and topological states of a quantum many-particle system.” [Patil 2014]


DrWhoWeepingAngelBlinkWeeping Angels

If you’re a fan of the science fiction TV show, Dr. Who, you might remember the Blink episode featuring some nefarious beings that look like statues. Dr. Who warned his friends, “Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had, all your stolen moments. They’re creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy.” Dr. Who advised how best to prevent being zapped to the past with some additional advice, “Don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don’t turn your back, don’t look away, and DON’T blink.”

While we likely won’t have much need to freeze Weeping Angels, there are times when some of us experience a need for time to slow to a stop, and some of us have experienced that phenomena, as once happened to me when I was walking through the Lausanne train station in Switzerland where we living at the time, behind my husband and daughter. My husband and I were both carrying suitcases in both hands–and he was also carrying our daughter perched up on his shoulders, holding on tightly to his hair. I watched in alarm as I saw my daughter raise her hands up in the air, letting go of her father’s hair and bouncing along happily with each large step he took. I’m quite sure I didn’t blink as I kept watching as her back arched and her head came down toward the granite floor. At this point, I heard and saw time seem to slow to a stop, as what had been the high-pitched frequency of women’s high heeled shoes lowered down to a deep, slow roar. I was able to cover a great deal of distance very quickly, just in time to catch my daughter while she was falling head-first toward the hard floor. [Larson 2011]

So the Quantum Zeno Effect might be one possible explanation as to why my not blinking and great perceived need in that given moment resulted in time seeming to slow to a stop–but how might the Quantum Zeno Effect be useful in more typical situations in daily life?

Human Cognition and Quantum Zeno Effect

The Quantum Zeno Effect was never considered something to be cloistered away in the exclusive domain of physicists. Some scientists note that human perception can be influenced by the Quantum Zeno Effect when individuals are coupled with their environment in such a way that one of the original discoverers of Quantum Zeno Effect.  Sudarshan, one of the original co-authors of the first 1977 paper about the Quantum Zeno Effect imagined a type of awareness in which “sensations, feelings, and insights are not neatly categorized into chains of thoughts, nor is there a step-by-step development of a logical-legal argument-to-conclusion. Instead, patterns appear, interweave, coexist; and sequencing is made inoperative. Conclusion, premises, feelings, and insights coexist in a manner defying temporal order.” [Sudarshan 1983][Atmanspacher 2013]

Cognitive scientists Zheng Wang and colleagues have noted the tremendous potential for quantum theory to build better models of human cognition, recognizing that unlike classical models, quantum models more accurately predict human probability judgements, as well as the way people’s answers tend to change depending on the sequence of questions being asked. Human decision processes can much more accurately be predicted with quantum models, as can subconscious reasoning and the way words and meanings are grouped. [Wang 2013]

Choosing What We Pay Attention To

In addition to utilizing the Quantum Zeno Effect in times of emergencies, or as I’ve previously described to break long-standing habits and addictions, such as Cell Phone Addiction, one the biggest benefits we can gain from harnessing the powers of the Quantum Zeno Effect is from experiencing more of what we enjoy, when we focus our attentive awareness on what we most appreciate and enjoy. Researchers have noted that one of the very best ways to overcome depression is to make note each day of a few things we are grateful for that we had something to do with. This simple appreciation exercise works well in writing, but you will likely notice obvious improvement even just when making mental note of what went well in your life in the past 24 hours that you had something to do with. [Larson 2013]

Here is a fun video about a way to utilize the Quantum Zeno Effect to break cell phone addiction on YouTube at:

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Notes:

Reich, Eugenie Samuel, “Quantum Paradox Seen in Diamond,” Nature, 20 August 2013

Patil, Yogesh Sharad, Srivatsan Chakram, and Mukund Vengalattore. “Quantum Control by Imaging: The Zeno effect in an ultracold lattice gas.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1411.2678 (2014).

Larson, Cynthia. Reality Shifts: When Consciousness Changes the Physical World. 2011.

Sudarshan, E.C.G. (1983). Perception of quantum systems. In Old and New Questions in Physics, Cosmology, Philosophy, and Theoretical Biology, ed. by A. van der Merwe, Plenum, New York, pp. 457–467.

Atmanspacher, Harald, and Thomas Filk. “The Necker–Zeno Model for Bistable Perception.” Topics in cognitive science 5.4 (2013): 800-817.

Wang, Zheng, et al. “The potential of using quantum theory to build models of cognition.” Topics in Cognitive Science 5.4 (2013): 672-688.

Larson, Cynthia Sue. Quantum Jumps: An Extraordinary Science of Happiness
and Prosperity (2013).

Pothos, Emmanuel M., et al. “The potential of quantum probability for modeling cognitive processes.” Proceedings of 33rd annual conference of the cognitive science society, Cognitive Science Society, Austin, TX. 2011.

McAlpine, Fraser. “Doctor Who Science Fact: Five Whovian Things that Exist in Real Life,” BBC America. 2 August 2012. http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2012/08/doctor-who-science-fact/

Quantum Consciousness at UC Berkeley facilitated by Justin Riddle & Shawn Zhao, sponsored by Professor David Presti, Senior Lecturer of Neurobiology at UC Berkeley

___________________________
QuantumJumps300x150adCynthia Sue Larson is the best-selling author of six books, including Quantum Jumps. Cynthia has a degree in Physics from UC Berkeley, and discusses consciousness and quantum physics on numerous shows including the History Channel, Coast to Coast AM, the BBC and One World with Deepak Chopra. You can subscribe to Cynthia’s free monthly ezine at: http://www.RealityShifters.com
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