A few times per year I come across a news article or interview which blows my mind around phenomena in our world which has existed since the beginning of time itself. I saw a show on Science Channel this evening which talked about quantum entanglement, the concept being that there are situations where two atoms become related to each other, or entangled, in exactly opposite fashions. For instance, an atom that is spinning vertically, will see its partner spinning horizontally. If the first atom’s rotation is changed to a horizontal spin, the partner instantly changes to a vertical spin. But here’s the mind blower – as these two atoms are moved apart, the unseen ‘communication’ between them which allows one or the other to “know” what its partner is doing, does not seem to be affected by distance. In fact, the distance is theorized to be infinite, so it would not make a difference if one atom was separated by a foot, a mile, a million miles, or separated by light years.
So what possible practical application could this have? Wikipedia hints to assembling quantum computers, or the basis for teleportation, but my simple mind looks to something more basic. Go back to the atom. It’s spinning one way or another, or maybe blinking, or maybe changing between colors. In any event, it is in one of two possible conditions, and its partner is in the exact opposite condition. One or the other, positive or negative, on or off. Binary. Binary, like your computer, and its hundred of thousands of binary calculations it just made as you were reading this. Binary is the method of communication, and can be compared to one of the earliest models of communication, morse code. Imagine, and that is really what we are all about, imagining, a device where messages between the earth and the moon, sent in simple binary, could be accomplished in less than a nano second. Or think bigger – between the earth an another galaxy, in the same amount of time.
An experiment in 2008 in Geneva Switzerland concluded that the channel of communication between the two atoms travels somewhere on the low end around 10,000 times the speed of light.
Einstein’s reaction to the phenomena has been quoted as “Spooky action at a distance.” My quote will be much simpler: “Dude…you’re freaking me out.”