Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Intelligent Particles?

"In some strange way an electron or a photon [or any other elementary particle] seems to 'know' about changes in the environment and appears to respond accordingly," says physicist Danah Zohar.

A group at the Weizmann Institute in Israel has done a variation of the famous "double-slit" experiment. They used electrons, instead of photons, and observed how the resultant interference pattern (which indicates wave-like properties of the particle) dissipated the longer you watched the electrons go through the slits. As a wave the electron passes through both slits simultaneously but if, according to E Buks, it "senses" that it is being watched, the electron (as a particle) goes through only one path, diminishing the interference pattern. Elementary particles (such as photons and electrons) appear to possess a certain degree of "intelligence" and awareness of the environment. Renowned plasma and particle physicist, David Bohm, says "In some sense a rudimentary mind-like quality is present even at the level of particle physics. As we go to subtler levels this mind-like quality becomes stronger and more developed."

Consciousness appears to be as fundamental a property to elementary particles as properties that make it "matter" or a "physical force" (for example, mass, spin and charge). And just as mass, spin and charge differ from one particle to another; it is probable that different particles have different degrees of consciousness.

Read full story here.