Quantum-Classical Reality

Philosophy-aided Physics
At the Boundary of Quantum-Classical Reality
Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World
Estes Park CO 9 Jul 2022
Slides: http://slideshare.net/LaBlogga
Melanie Swan, PhD
University College London
History is “the slaughter-bench at which the
happiness of peoples, the wisdom of states, and the
virtue of individuals have been victimized”
- Hegel, The Philosophy of History, 35

9 Jul 2022
Quantum-Classical Reality 1
Thesis
1. the time series is of crucial importance in physical reality,
understood through philosophy and physics, for
identifying and integrating divergent scales
2. intelligent exoplanetary life, if found, may be in the form
of a Hegelian self-knowing time series
A philosophy-aided physics approach suggests that
foundational conceptualizations of time and space
contribute to the resolution of truth and knowledge
(appearance vs reality) problems at the quantum-classical
boundary and provide conceptual resources for problem-
solving in social philosophy (through formulations of
difference), with the implications that

9 Jul 2022
Quantum-Classical Reality
Agenda
 Quantum: What, Why, Status
 Truth and Knowledge
 Kant and Time
 The Self-knowing Time Series
 Conclusion
2

9 Jul 2022
Space: We are Here~!
3
Source: Tully, R.B., Courtois, H., Hoffman, Y. & Pomarede, D. (2014). The Laniakea supercluster of galaxies. Nature. 513(7516):71.
Distribution of Galaxies
Location of the Milky Way Galaxy (Virgo
Supercluster) within the Laniakea Supercluster
 Decentered in the supercluster, the local
group, the galaxy, and the solar system
Laniakea
Supercluster
Milky Way
Galaxy
Novel method: analyze relative velocities of
galaxies as watershed divides (turbulence)

9 Jul 2022
Time: seeing farther back into the Big Bang
4
Source: https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/comparisonWebbVsHubble.html
Hubble (HST) can see “toddler galaxies”
Webb (JWST) can see “baby galaxies”
6.25x larger collecting area than Hubble
 James Webb Space Telescope (launched Dec 2021)
 “See” farther back
in time with
infrared spectrum

9 Jul 2022
Other Potential Life:
5,059+ exoplanets discovered (Jun 2022)
 NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
 Over 800 have more than one planet
5
Source: https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/comparisonWebbVsHubble.html
 Atmosphere, volcanism, sun-planet relation
 Habitable zone (CHON carbon-hydrogen-oxygen-nitrogen)

9 Jul 2022
3 physical theories describe reality
6
 Quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, general relativity
 Quantum effects visible at 10-9 m
 Relativistic effects present at any speed (matter of precision)
Scale Measure Comments
1 5.1 x 1096 Planck density Kg/Meter3 Density of the universe immediately after the Big Bang
2 1 x 1080 Particles Total particles in the observable universe (est.)
3 1 x 1014 Cells Cells in the human body (9 out of 10 are bacteria)
4 8 x 1010 Stars Number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy (est.)
5 1 x 102 Meter Earth Earth’s atmosphere: 10,000 ft life support, 62 mi to space
6 1 x 101 Meter Human Human-scale: Classical Mechanics
7 1 x 10-9 Nanometer Atoms Quantum mechanics (nanotechnology)
8 1 x 10-12 Picometer Ions, photons Optics, photonics
9 1 x 10-15 Femtometer Subatomic Gauge theories
10 1 x 10-35 Planck scale Meters Smallest known length scale
11 5.4 x 10-44 Planck time Seconds Shortest meaningful interval of time
Source: The Universe by Numbers. https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/numbers.html
Physical
Theories
Large-scale:
General
Relativity
(GR)
Small-scale:
Quantum
Mechanics
(QM)
Human-scale:
Classical
Mechanics

9 Jul 2022
Large and small scales
7
 Human-scale is an anomaly in the scales
of the very-large and the very-small
Scale Measure Comments
1 5.1 x 1096 Planck density Kg/Meter3 Density of the universe immediately after the Big Bang
2 1 x 1080 Particles Total particles in the observable universe (est.)
3 1 x 1014 Cells Cells in the human body (9 out of 10 are bacteria)
4 8 x 1010 Stars Number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy (est.)
5 1 x 102 Meter Earth Earth’s atmosphere: 10,000 ft life support, 62 mi to space
6 1 x 101 Meter Human Human-scale: Classical Mechanics
7 1 x 10-9 Nanometer Atoms Quantum mechanics (nanotechnology)
8 1 x 10-12 Picometer Ions, photons Optics, photonics
9 1 x 10-15 Femtometer Subatomic Gauge theories
10 1 x 10-35 Planck scale Meters Smallest known length scale
11 5.4 x 10-44 Planck time Seconds Shortest meaningful interval of time
Source: The Universe by Numbers. https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/numbers.html

9 Jul 2022
The outlier is the human scale
8
The very big: General Relativity (GR)
Human-scale: Classical Mechanics
The very small: Quantum Mechanics (QM)
Quantum effects:
10-9 m and below
Relativistic effects:
at any speed (measurement
context is relevant)
 Known scales are mostly much bigger and much
smaller than human scale
 Classical mechanics is the outlier in the middle
 Strange pinching in at the scale of classical mechanics

9 Jul 2022
Decenterings of the Human
1. Copernican Turn (1543) Earth revolves around the sun
2. Kant’s Copernican Revolution in Philosophy (1781)
 Objects conform to our spatial and temporal cognition (B xvi)
3. Freud: psyche comprised of ego, super-ego, id (1923)
 Post-colonialism/Feminism: white male decentered
 Plant intelligence and communication (“wood wide web”)
 Animal intelligence, communication, emotionality
 Tree of life: bacteria, archaea, eukaryotes
 Earth+ resources: steward not exploit
 Scale decentering: human-scale in
quantum-classical-relativistic physical reality
9

9 Jul 2022
Quantum scale
10
QCD: Quantum Chromodynamics
Subatomic particles
Matter particles: fermions (quarks)
Force particles: bosons (gluons)
Scale Entities Physical Theory
1 1 x101 m Meter Humans Newtonian mechanics
2 1 x10-9 m Nanometer Atoms Quantum mechanics
(nanotechnology)
3 1 x10-12 m Picometer Ions, photons Optics, photonics
4 1 x10-15 m Femtometer Subatomic particles QCD/gauge theories
5 1 x10-35 m Planck scale Planck length Planck scale
Atoms Quantum objects:
atoms, ions,
photons
 “Quantum” = anything at the scale of
atomic and subatomic particles (10-9 to 10-15)
 Theme: ability to study and manipulate
physical reality at smaller scales
 Study phenomena (e.g. neurons) in the native
3D structure of physical reality

9 Jul 2022
Quantum computing
11
Scale
2 1 x10-9 m Nanometer
3 1 x10-12 m Picometer
4 1 x10-15 m Femtometer
 Quantum computing
 Hold all combinations of a problem in
superposition simultaneously
 10 quantum bits hold 1,024 (210) different
numbers simultaneously
 Process all possible solutions
simultaneously, use quantum effects
 Classical computing
 Hold one permutation at a time
 Process sequentially, at the nanoscale,
suppress not exploit quantum effects
Bloch sphere: 3D particle
movement in X, Y, Z directions
Particle exists in all positions
until collapsed in measurement
Quantum Computing: physical systems
comprised of quantum objects (atoms, ions,
photons) manipulated through logic gates
Quantum
Computing
(3D complex-
valued qubits)
Classical
Computing
(0/1 bits)
Quantum computing
Classical computing

9 Jul 2022
Status
Quantum computing is available via cloud services
12
Sources: Company press releases, QCWare, Preskill, J. (2021). Quantum computing 40 years later. arXiv:2106.10522,
https://amitray.com/roadmap-for-1000-qubits-fault-tolerant-quantum-computers
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/11/ibm-clears-the-100-qubit-mark-with-its-new-processor
Era Organization Qubit Method # Qubits Status
1 IBM, academia (factor the number 15) NMR, optical, solid-state superconducting 4-7 Demo (2001-2012)
2a IBM (Almaden CA) Superconducting (gate model) 127 Available (Nov 2021)
2b D-Wave Systems (Vancouver BC) Superconducting (quantum annealing) 2048 Available (May 2019)
2c Rigetti Computing (Berkeley CA) Superconducting (gate model) 80 Available (Dec 2021)
2d IonQ (College Park MD) Trapped Ions 32 Available (Sep 2021)
2c Google (Mountain View CA) Superconducting (gate model) 53 (72) Backend: Google cloud
2e Microsoft (Santa Barbara CA) Majorana Fermions Unknown Backend: Azure cloud
3 Technical breakthrough needed Universal quantum computing 1 million Hypothetical future
 Quantum error correction needed to scale to
million-qubit machines
 Current platforms: NISQ (noisy intermediate-
scale quantum) devices without error correction
 Future platforms: error-corrected FTQC (fault-
tolerant quantum computing)
 Few-qubit (2000s) –> 100-qubit (2021) –> million-qubit
general computing (error-correct breakthrough needed)

9 Jul 2022
Future of quantum computing
 Technology is notoriously difficult to predict
 “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers” - Watson, IBM CEO, 1943
13
Source: Strohmeyer, R. (2008). The 7 Worst Tech Predictions of All Time. PCWorld.
D-Wave Systems
10-feet tall, $15m
Current: Ytterbium-
171 isotopes at 1
Kelvin (-458°F)
Actual room-
temperature
superconductors: ??
70 years
IBM
quantum
experience

9 Jul 2022
Quantum Studies in the Academy
14
Digital
Accompaniment
Arts
Sciences
Quantum
Accompaniment
computational astronomy,
computational biology
Digital Humanities (literature & painting
analysis, computational philosophy1)
Quantum Humanities
quantum chemistry, quantum finance,
quantum biology, quantum ecology
Apply quantum methods to study field-specific problems e.g. quantum machine learning
Apply data science methods to study field-specific problems e.g. machine learning
 Data science institutes now including quantum
 What are Digital Humanities / Quantum Humanities?
1. Apply digital/quantum methods to research questions
2. Find digital/quantum examples in field subject matter
 (e.g. quantum mechanical formulations in Shakespeare)
3. Open new investigations per digital/quantum conceptualizations
Sources: Miranda, E.R. (2022). Quantum Computing in the Arts and Humanities. London: Springer. Barzen, J. & Leymann, F.
(2020). Quantum Humanities: A First Use Case for Quantum Machine Learning in Media Science. Digitale Welt. 4:102-103.
1Example of computational philosophy: investigate formal axiomatic metaphysics with an automated reasoning environment
Big Data Science
Vermeer imaging (1665-2018)
Textual
analysis

9 Jul 2022
Scale: current topic in Social Philosophy
Talk Titles at Mediating Scale conference June 2022
 Close Reading in the Age of Climate Change: Scale in Interpretative Methodologies
 Simultaneity of Scale: Contemporary Transglossic Literature
 Scaling the Mesocosm
 Looking through the myriad lenses of a fly’s eye: the persistence and transformations of an
entomological scale play and a microscopic-telescopic experience
 Expanding Timescales: the Long Now Foundation and its Longue Durée
 Scale Intimacies
 Oppressive Heat: Scaling Extreme Weather in Local Television
 Flusser, Simondon and the temporal scales of contemporary photography
 The Cosmic Non-Place: Intelligence and Scale in Frant Gwo’s The Wandering Earth
 Universal Basic Service: Scalability of CFHT & DAO 衣食住行 • 道
 Media and Forensics: Activism Across Investigatory Scales
 Spectroscopic Pasts and Tele-scoping Futures on the Red Planet
15
Source: Mediating Scale, Lille FR, June 2022, https://mediatingscale.com/programme/

9 Jul 2022
Agenda
 Kant and Time
 Conclusion
16

9 Jul 2022
Truth and Knowledge
 Truth: being in accord with fact or reality
 Knowledge: justified true belief (Plato, Theaetetus)
17
e
More certainty Less certainty
Reality
Truth
Knowledge
(second-order)
Knowledge
(first-order)
Second-order knowledge:
knowledge about knowledge
e.g. knowledge about biology
First-order knowledge:
knowledge about reality
e.g. knowledge about anatomy
Gettier problem: a justified true
belief that is false (the reasons for
the belief are justified but false)
Logos (word): definitive
pronouncement of
objective truth
What counts as truth:
valid reasons for
thought and behavior
(individual and collective)
Source: IEP
“I love a ballad in print o’ life,
for then we are sure they are true”
– Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale

9 Jul 2022
Truth and Knowledge Tableau
18
Source: Swan, M. (2020). Kant and Hegel's Philosophical Thirds: A New Perspective on Explaining Appearances.

9 Jul 2022
Truth and Knowledge
 Two-level truth creation
19
Situating Difference and Identity: Four Eras of Difference
Early Modern
(Leibniz, Hume)
German Idealism
(Kant, Hegel)
French Philosophies of
Difference (Deleuze, Derrida)
Contemporary
Emphasis on identity Emphasis on unity of identity
and difference
Emphasis on lack of fixed
identity, finality impossible
Bifurcation: post-truth society
and still committed to truth
Leibniz: small difference =
identity (law of the identity of
indiscernibles)
Kant: can only know the
representation of an object, not
the thing in itself
Deleuze: difference is
ontologically free-standing, not
opposed to identity
Brandom: commitment not
belief; integrate difference
found in mind and world
Hume: correspondence
theory of truth
(correspondence between
appearance and reality)
Hegel: Thesis-Antithesis-
Synthesis dialectics (identity is
sublational unity of difference)
Derrida: any “text” constantly
open to re-reading and re-
signification via différance
Aesthetics: extra-philosophical
truth (Nietzsche, Adorno)
Keats: negative capability
(remain in uncertainty)
There is no truth
Post-Structuralism
There is no reality, only
appearance (Baudrillard)
Kant, Hegel Contemporary
Social
Ontology
Ontology
All “truth” is
manufactured
Hume, Leibniz
Those in power
make truth
Mutual recognition of free
agents determines truth
Truth is valid reasons for
thought and behavior
Philosophy of Literature: Shakespeare
constantly challenging assumptions
that appearance is identical with reality

9 Jul 2022
The Phenomenology of Spirit forms of spirit
 The “goal” is “Absolute Knowing, or Spirit that knows
itself as Spirit” (808, p. 493)
 Achieved by “consciousness … pressing forward to true
knowledge” through a “series of its own configurations” (77, p. 49)
20
Source: Swan, M. (2020). Kant and Hegel's Philosophical Thirds: A New Perspective on Explaining Appearances. NOTE: All Hegel
references to Hegel, G.W.F. (1977 [1807]). Phenomenology of Spirit. Trans. A.V. Miller, Ed. J.N. Findlay. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

9 Jul 2022
3 Moments in The Phenomenology of Spirit
21
S = Subject; O = Object
 The knowledge of the object is not the truth of the object

9 Jul 2022
History: contingent series of world spirit
22
Absolute Knowing
Sense-certainty
Religion
Spirit
Reason
Self-consciousness
Understanding
Perception
Consciousness
Self-knowing Spirit (Absolute
Knowing): Series of self-knowing
spirit, reflected in its unity
History (Absolute Spirit):
Series of self-knowing spirits,
recollected in their unity
Absolute Spirit
 Contingent series closed when
 Spirit attains knowledge of itself that is both in and for itself (794, p. 483)
 Collective history: Spirit completes itself as world-Spirit (802, p. 488)
Individual Spirit
Collective Spirit
Source: Swan, M. (2022).

9 Jul 2022
3 Moments in The Phenomenology of Spirit
23
S = Subject; O = Object
 The knowledge of the object is not the truth of the object
Difference is
the lever

9 Jul 2022
Hegel’s ontological definition of truth
 Truth is a standpoint (mode of being) of the
Concept in its movement of self-determination
 The “moment” of truth is the “pure Concept and its onward movement,”
depending “solely on its [own] pure determinateness” (805, p. 491)
 Any entity that has won its form as a Concept is able to determine
its own truth in its logical self-progression
 A Concept is a self-determining substance that has logical reality and
truth, with reference to Spinoza’s conatus and Aristotle’s “purposive
activity [of a] self-moving” substance (22, p. 12)
 Contrast with Kantian epistemological knower
 Are you in a stance of Absolute Knowing?
 See yourself as the whole of a series of previous shapes in unity
 See yourself as a self-moving Concept (mobile, abstract)
24

9 Jul 2022
Hegel: social philosophy impact
 Sanctity of self-determination
 Truth is the standpoint of the Concept in its
movement of self-determination
 Subject as substance is a conceptual entity relying
solely on its own pure determinateness
 Any entity in the form as a Concept is able to
determine its own truth in its logical self-progression
 Life philosophy
 Desire (two-tier: appetitive and worthwhile projects)
 Mutual recognition of free self-consciousnesses
 Difference
 Recognitive philosophies of difference and dignity
 (Cooke, Harris, Simpson, Cavarero, Cheah)
25

9 Jul 2022
Truth and Knowledge – Solutions
 Accept the problematic
 Hegel, Benjamin (non-synthesis), Heidegger (Aletheia)
 Foucault (cannot escape, no critical philosophy without negation)
 Deny the problematic
 Deleuze, Derrida
 Frame an orthogonal problematic
 Brandom (commitment not belief)
 Aesthetics
 Nietzsche (aphorisms, unreason)
 Heidegger (poetic language, work of art)
 Artworks create truth as shared understanding of being
 Orrell (truth and beauty is the opposition)
 Keats (negative capability – embrace uncertainty)
26

9 Jul 2022
27

9 Jul 2022
28

9 Jul 2022
Agenda
 Kant and Time
 Conclusion
29
But “where is the time which we directly
read off any pocket watch?”
Heidegger, Being and Time, §80, p. 469

9 Jul 2022
Kant (Critique of Pure Reason) (1781)
30
 Time and space
 A priori synthetic unity of the manifold of time and space
 Transcendental condition of possibility for any object to appear
 Transcendentally ideal and empirically real
 Transcendentally ideal: abstract conceptual formulation
 Empirically real: concretized operational deployment
 “the empirical reality of space…though to be sure at the
same time its transcendental ideality” (B44/A28)
 Faculties: two stems of knowing
 Sensibility and understanding
 “Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without
concepts are blind” (A51/B75)
Sensibility Understanding
Time and Space
Transcendentally Ideal
Empirically Real
NOTE: All CPR references to Kant, I. (1988 [1781/1787]). Critique of Pure Reason. Trans. and ed. P. Guyer & A.W. Wood. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

9 Jul 2022
Kant
31
 Problem: the faculties operate at different tiers
 Sensibility (form of intuition) at the transcendentally ideal
 Manifold as ideal infinite magnitude of time and space
 Understanding (formal intuition) at the empirically real
 Performative action of line-drawing
 “Space, represented as object (as is really required in
geometry)” (B160n)
 “We cannot think of a line without drawing it in thought” (B155)
Time and Space Sensibility Understanding
Transcendentally
Ideal
Infinite magnitude
(form of intuition)
(Transcendental Aesthetic
A29/B45, A49/B68)
Empirically
Real
Time series of points in line-drawing
(formal intuition)
(Transcendental Deduction §26 B160n)

9 Jul 2022
Kant
32
 Solution: the time series
 The two stems of knowing are brought together by
the meta-faculty of the imagination
 The imagination is a “faculty for representing an object even
without its presence in intuition” (§24 B151, p. 256)
 The figurative synthesis of the imagination determines the
sensibility a priori as “an effect of the understanding on
sensibility” through the temporal series (§24 B152, p. 257)
 Needed because “we must order the determinations of inner
sense as appearances in time” (§24 B156, p. 259)
Imagination
Transcendentally
Ideal
Infinite magnitude
(form of intuition) (A29/B45, A49/B68)
Empirically
Real
(Figurative Synthesis) Synthesize series
of snapshot images from sensibility
(formal intuition) (§26 B160n)
Image credit: Tamara Fakhoury,
North American Kant Society

9 Jul 2022
Kant
33
 Defining the empirically-real tier for Sensibility suggests
the transcendentally ideal level of Understanding
 The eternal temporality and unity of the concept
 The logical forms of judgment and the categories
 “infinite judgments must also be distinguished” (B97/A72, p. 207)
 “all synthesis, through which even perception itself becomes possible,
stands under the categories” (B161, p. 262)
 “the categories are conditions of the possibility of experience, and are
thus also valid a priori of all objects of experience” (B161, p. 262)
Transcendentally
Ideal
Infinite magnitude
(form of intuition) (A29/B45, A49/B68)
Eternality and unity of the concept
Empirically
Real
(Figurative Synthesis) Synthesize series
of snapshot images from sensibility
(formal intuition) (§26 B160n)
Faculty-based Transcendentally Ideal and Empirically Real Formulations of Time and Space

9 Jul 2022
Critique of Pure Reason
34
 Faculties
 Two heavyweight faculties to recognize any object
 Sensibility, Understanding
 Three faculties needed to cognize any object
 Sensibility, Understanding, Reason (perceive, apperceive (recognize), cognize)
 “All our cognition starts from the senses, goes from there to the
understanding, and ends with reason” (A298/B355, p. 386)
 Interoperation
 Understanding “gives the unity of the representation” of the
object perceived by sensibility (B160n, p. 261)
 Reason “finds the unconditioned for conditioned cognitions of
the understanding with which its unity is completed”
(B364/A307, p. 391)
 Reason is in touch with the unconditioned (absolute)
Transcendental Dialectic
Transcendental Analytic
Transcendental Logic
Transcendental Aesthetic
Division
Understanding Reason
Sensibility
Faculty

9 Jul 2022
Kantian faculties and time
35
 Each faculty has its own time and space regime
 Both transcendentally-ideal and empirically-real
 Reason: The “absolutely unconditioned” or absolute totality of conditions is “what is
unconditioned in every relation” (A326/B383)
 The time series is the empirically real lever for
interconnecting the faculties
 The syllogistic series either ascends towards the unconditioned via reason or
descends towards the conditioned via the understanding (B388/A332, p. 404)
 In the descending series, if a condition exists, “the understanding by itself makes every
step downwards from the condition to the conditioned” (B394/A337, p. 407)
 In the ascending series, reason is used “for ascending in the series of conditions to the
unconditioned” (B394/A337, p. 407)
Sensibility Understanding Reason
Transcendentally
Ideal
Infinite magnitude
(form of intuition)
(A29/B45, A49/B68)
Eternality and unity of the
concept
Universality, totality
(totality as allness)
(A322/B379)
Empirically
Real
Synthesize time series of
snapshot images
Time series of points in line-
drawing (formal intuition)
(§26 B160n)
Time series ascending to
the unconditioned
(B394/A337)

9 Jul 2022
36
 Tier similarities
 Transcendentally-ideal: all synonyms for infinite magnitude
 Absolute totality, unconditioned, universality, eternality
 Empirically-real: characterized by the time series
 One mode emphasized for each faculty (bold)
 Transcendentally-ideal: Sensibility, Reason
 Empirically-real: Understanding
Faculty-based Transcendentally Ideal and Empirically Real Formulations of Time and Space
Sensibility Understanding Reason
Transcendentally
Ideal
Infinite magnitude
(form of intuition)
(A29/B45, A49/B68)
Eternality and unity of the
concept
totality as allness
(A322/B379)
Empirically
Real
Synthesize time series of
snapshot images
Time series of points in line-
drawing (formal intuition)
(§26 B160n)
Time series ascending to
the unconditioned
(B394/A337)
Time
series
Infinite
magnitude

9 Jul 2022
37
 Map the default modes emphasized for faculty-
based time and space formulations
 Infinite magnitude (Sensibility)
 Pinched-in center of concrete line-drawing (Understanding)
 Universality, totality as allness (Reason)
Faculty Regime Emphasis Figure Kantian Formulation
Sensibility Transcendental
Ideality
Infinite magnitude
(form of intuition)
(A29/B45, A49/B68)
Understanding Empirical Reality Line-drawing (formal
intuition) (§26 B160n)
Reason Transcendental
Ideality
(A322/B379)
Faculty-based Time and Space Formulations

9 Jul 2022
Kant and scientific theories
38
 Kantian configurations correspond to scientific theories
 General relativity, quantum mechanics: infinite magnitudes
 Classical: concrete human-scale
 Kantian schema likewise reveals
 The classical regime is the outlier
 What is strange is the “squeezing in” of Earth’s classical regime
 Central problem of time
Faculty Regime Emphasis Figure Kantian Formulation Scientific Theory
Sensibility Transcendental
Ideality
Infinite magnitude
(form of intuition)
(A29/B45, A49/B68)
General Relativity
Understanding Empirical Reality Line-drawing (formal
Human Scale
Reason Transcendental
Ideality
(A322/B379)
Quantum
Mechanics

9 Jul 2022
Central problem of time
39
General Relativity
Classical Mechanics
Quantum Mechanics
 Time is of the same nature and
units but in non-classical domains
 Distorted (GR) and multiple (QM)
 Non-Euclidean spacetime geometry
 Positive/negative curvature not flat
Simultaneity and multiplicity
Infinite magnitude
Newtonian spacetime
Time bent and stretched, warped
Non-Euclidean spacetime
Hyperbolic geometry
Superpositioned time
Non-Euclidean spacetime
Hyperbolic geometry
Normal Earth time
Euclidean spacetime
Neutral geometry
Elliptic geometry
(positively-curved)
Hyperbolic geometry
(negatively-curved)
Flat geometry
(no curvature)
Euclidean and beyond spacetimes

9 Jul 2022
Problem of time in physical theories
40
 Same “time” but different mathematics
 GR & QM incompatible as traditionally formulated
 Different mathematical time and space regimes
 Quantum mechanics (Schrödinger wavefunction)
 Formulated in the background of the Newtonian
framework of absolute time and space
 General relativity
 Based on Riemannian curved geometry in time
and space that twists and fluctuates dynamically
 Lack of an integrated theory of quantum-
classical-relativistic regimes
Source: Barbour, J. (2009). The Nature of Time. arXiv: 0903.3489.

9 Jul 2022
Scientific theories – Solution
41
 Eventual reformulation (GR, QM)
 Modern integrated formulations
 Field-based approaches (both gravity and gauge theories are field-based)
1. Gauge/gravity theories: AdS/CFT (Anti-de Sitter Space/Conformal Field Theory)
 Describe physical volume with surface theory in one fewer dimension
 Operational examples: AdS/Neuroscience, AdS/Machine Learning
2. Random tensors: sum of geometrical tensor indices (in 3+ D)
 New multidisciplinary fields (harnessing quantum effects)
 Relativistic quantum information
 Study GR and QM together: black holes, Big Bang, dark energy
 Relativistic quantum chemistry
 Calculate heavy element properties (e.g.; color of gold,
due to relativistic effects, not silvery like other metals)
AdS/Brain: multiscalar
neural signaling: network,
neuron, synapse, ion
AdS/CFT: describe
volume from surface
in one less dimension

9 Jul 2022
Problem of time - Approaches
42
 Challenge: interoperate GR-classical-QM
 Kantian methods
 Connect inoperable time-space regimes with time series
 Figurative synthesis of the imagination (sensibility-understanding)
 Ascending-descending time series (understanding-reason)
 Scientific methods
 Treat time as an engineering problem
 Floquet circuits
 Discrete time crystals
 Novel matter phases without thermal equilibrium
 Hyperbolic Bloch theorem (non-Euclidean time-space)
 More than four squares connect at vertices in a hyperbolic lattice
Images: Maciejko, J. & Rayan, S. (2021). Hyperbolic band theory. Sci. Adv. 7:eabe9170. Mi, X. et al. (2021). Observation of Time-
Crystalline Eigenstate Order on a Quantum Processor. arXiv:2107.13571. (Google Quantum AI and collaborators)
Hyperbolic band theory
Time-crystalline Eigenstate order

9 Jul 2022
Practical Application
Interoperability: quantum-classical-relativistic
 De facto time-space integration in technology platforms
 Foundational physics as an engineering problem
43
General Relativity Classical Mechanics Quantum Mechanics
GPS, spacecraft navigation, orbits, cometary trajectories
(classical computing)
Quantum machine learning, quantum biology
(quantum computing)
Quantum computing in space: orbits, trajectories, navigation (quantum computing)

9 Jul 2022
Practical Application
Time on Mars
44
Sources: https://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24, https://marsclock.com
 15-minute communications
delay, hence
 Rover-helicopter coordination
 Mars24 Sunclock
 Earth-day and Martian-sol
 Asynchronous
time-tech

9 Jul 2022
Philosophy-aided physics
45
 Kant: fundamental theorist of time and space
 Identifies interoperate GR-QM and also explain classical regime
 Transcendentally ideal time as infinite magnitude and quantum-
mechanical uncertainty and multiplicity
 Empirically real time can be connected with the time series
 Philosophy more relevant than ever in GM-classical-QM
 Approach to conceive and resolve problems in the hard sciences
Scientific Theories and Faculty-based Time and Space Formulations in the Critique of Pure Reason
Scientific
Theory
Regime
Emphasis
Figure Kantian Formulation Faculty
General
Relativity
Transcendental
Ideality
Infinite magnitude
(form of intuition)
(A29/B45, A49/B68)
Sensibility
Human
Scale
Empirical Reality Line-drawing (formal
Understanding
Quantum
Mechanics
Transcendental
Ideality
Universality, totality (totality
as allness) (A322/B379)
Reason

9 Jul 2022
Agenda
 Kant and Time
 Conclusion
46

9 Jul 2022
Kant-Hegel and Physics: Time Series
47
Ascending Series
(Understanding)
Descending Series
(Reason)
Drawing a geometrical
object in space
Kant: Sensibility – Understanding – Reason Hegel: Absolute Knowing – Absolute Spirit
Object
Cognition
Series endpoint (philosophy): perceive, apperceive, cognize an object; know self as stance of knowing and integrated unity of shapes
Series endpoint (physics): collapse in measurement to a specific Heisenberg uncertainty variable: time-location, speed-energy, etc.
“mountain”
 Two-cultures corroboration of time series as foundational
aspect of physical reality
 Wavefunction: fundamental object in quantum physics
 Particles move in a series of points of time and space, unknowable
(time, position) until collapsed in measurement
EΨ(r) = -ћ2/2m ∇2 Ψ(r) + V(r)Ψ(r)
Schrödinger
wave equation

9 Jul 2022
Hegel & (potential) Exoplanetary Life
48
 Does self-knowing spirit exist in the universe?
 Like humanity, AI and exoplanetary intelligence likely to be societal
 Shapes are contingent, but series completion is self-knowing
spirit, a mobile Concept of knowing and self-determination
 If same physics and mathematics universe-wide, same knowing?
Exoplanetary Life?

9 Jul 2022
The Quantum Mindset
 The Quantum Mindset: thinking in terms of quantum
properties to solve problems
 Superposition: literally co-existing realities before collapsed
 Superpositioned data modeling (all possible system states tested
simultaneously); quantum product manager (Gartner)
 Quantum machine learning
 Unsupervised learning with Born machine replacing the Boltzmann
machine (probabilistic energy function) and neural operators
49
Classical System
(0/1 bits)
Quantum System
(complex-valued qubits
on a Bloch sphere)
Domain Properties Definition
Quantum
Matter
Symmetry Looking the same from different points of view (e.g. a face, cube, laws of physics);
symmetry breaking is phase transition
Topology Geometric structure preserved under deformation (bending, stretching, twisting, and
crumpling, but not cutting or gluing); doughnut and coffee cup both have a hole
Quantum
Information
Superposition An unobserved particle exists in all possible states simultaneously, but once measured,
collapses to just one state (superpositioned data modeling of all possible states)
Entanglement Particles connected such that their states are related, even when separated by distance
(a “tails-up/tails-down” relationship; one particle in one state, other in the other)
Interference Waves reinforcing or canceling each other out (cohering or decohering)
Source: Swan, M., dos Santos, R.P. & Witte, F. (2022). Quantum Neurobiology. Quantum Reports. 4(1):107-127.

9 Jul 2022
Quantum Science
50
 New ontologies in material and computation
 Quantum matter (topological materials)
 Novel phases of matter that emerge at zero-temperature with
exotic properties described with symmetry and topology
 Quantum information (quantum computing)
 Information-theoretic formulations of physics problems (e.g.
evaluate information content in quantum states with entropy)
Quantum Science: classification,
manipulation, and creation of
matter at the quantum scale
Source: Swan, M., dos Santos, R.P. & Witte, F. (2022). Quantum Matter Overview. J. 5(2):232-254.

9 Jul 2022
Quantum Math
Quantum Science
Classical Mindset Quantum Mindset
Quantum Mindset
Classical Mind Quantum Mind
The self-knowing time series
Classical Math
Classical Science
Mindset progression
 All physics and mathematics ever developed
until recently was with the Classical Mindset
5 properties: symmetry,
topology, superposition,
entanglement, interference
Hyperbolic band theory (Bloch
theorem), quantum statistics
Quantum machine learning (Born
machine, neural operators)

9 Jul 2022
Quantum Mind as Self-knowing Time Series
 Thinking in the mode of physics concepts
 Time series as the foundational clue
 Ideal-real tiers, integration of diverse scale domains
 Time dilation in thought
 Radical uncertainty, all events are probabilistic
 Knowability trade-offs (time-location, speed-energy, etc.)
 Superpositioned thinking
 Holding multiple positions in mind simultaneously before
collapsing to a measurement
52
Quantum microscopy
Schrödinger cat states Hyperbolic space

9 Jul 2022
Agenda
 Kant and Time
 Conclusion
53

9 Jul 2022
Conclusion
 Recasting truth and knowledge in the
context of physical scale tiers,
 it becomes clear that both our conceptualization
frames and our technologies must necessarily
treat the uncertainty and multiplicity of the
relativistic and the quantum
 Hence, define the self-knowing time series
as a scale-free theory of knowing
54
General Relativity
Classical Mechanics
Quantum Mechanics
Simultaneity and multiplicity
Infinite magnitude
Newtonian spacetime

9 Jul 2022
Conclusion
 Two philosophical trajectories
 Truth and knowledge
 Hegel’s ontological definition of truth: truth is a standpoint (mode
of being) of the Concept in its movement of self-determination
 Orthogonal focus: Brandom (commitments), Keats (uncertainty)
 Kant and time
 Ideal (infinite magnitude, multiplicity), real (concrete time series)
 Implications for social philosophy
 Crucial importance of self-determination
 Self-moving Concept of the agent
 Misrecognition problems
 Failure to acknowledge free self-consciousnesses
 Philosophies of difference and dignity
55

9 Jul 2022
Thesis
1. the time series is of crucial importance in physical reality,
understood through philosophy and physics, for
identifying and integrating divergent scales
2. intelligent exoplanetary life, if found, may be in the form
of a Hegelian self-knowing time series
A philosophy-aided physics approach suggests that
foundational conceptualizations of time and space
contribute to the resolution of truth and knowledge
(appearance vs reality) problems at the quantum-classical
boundary and provide conceptual resources for problem-
solving in social philosophy (through formulations of
difference), with the implications that

9 Jul 2022
Risks and Limitations
57
 Human-Technology Relation
 Digital divide
 Cost, accessibility, overwhelm, constraint
 Lack of right Heideggerian relation with
technology
 Humans willingly enframed as standing reserve
instead of technology as background enabler
 Alienation
 One-way panopticon surveillance, no
sousveillance counterbalance (Brin): drones,
private data monopolies
 Scale: difficulty working across scales
 Quantum-classical-relativistic
Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology

9 Jul 2022
The human-technology relation
58
Source: Swan, M., dos Santos, R.P. & Witte, F. (2020). Quantum Computing: Physics, Blockchains, and Deep Learning Smart
Networks. London: World Scientific. Evolution image: Gerd Leonhard, https://www.futuristgerd.com
1990-2020 2010-2050e 2020-2050e
Information businesses:
News, media, entertainment,
stock trading, mortgage
finance, credit
Cryptographic assets:
Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies
and smart contracts: digitization of
money, economics, financial
instruments, legal agreements
All remaining industries:
Biology, healthcare,
pharmaceuticals, agriculture,
building materials,
construction, automotive,
transportation, energy
Digitization of classical industries to information technology sectors
 Digitization revolution
 The information-based
transition of all industries to
digital network instantiation
 Farther future aim:
Kardashev-plus society
marshalling all tangible and
intangible resources

9 Jul 2022
Philosophy of Literature
Unitary scale examples (1:1 units)
 Growing-shrinking paradigm
 Alice in Wonderland, The Time Machine, Fantastic Voyage
 Large distance
 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas, Around the World in 80 Days
 Orders-of-magnitude tier progression
 Dante’s Inferno (nine concentric circles)
 “The journey”
 The Odyssey, Journey to the West, Moby-Dick, Don Quixote
 An out-of-scale moment in a time and space vacuum
 Journey endpoint unclear
 Nostalgia, (impossible) homecoming
59

9 Jul 2022
Philosophy of Literature
Exponential scale examples
 Exponential physical movement
 Exponential analogue to Alice in Wonderland, characters grow
exponentially threefold up or down in size to move instead of
walking forward one step at a time (“3-adica,” Greg Egan)
 Exponential growth
 Prey, Michael Crichton (grey-goo nanotechnology take-off)
 Blood Music, Greg Bear (human augmentation)
 Beggars in Spain, Nancy Kress (human augmentation)
 Ancestral Night, Elizabeth Bear (Alcubierre FTL drive)
 Pandemic literature (exponential disease model)
 The Plague (La Peste) (Camus), “The Masque of the Red
Death” (Poe), Death in Venice (Mann), Andromeda Strain
(Crichton), “Radicalized” (Cory Doctorow, 2019)
60

Philosophy-aided Physics
At the Boundary of Quantum-Classical Reality
Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World
Estes Park CO 9 Jul 2022
Slides: http://slideshare.net/LaBlogga
Melanie Swan, PhD
University College London
History is “the slaughter-bench at which the
happiness of peoples, the wisdom of states, and the
virtue of individuals have been victimized”
- Hegel, The Philosophy of History, 35
Thank you!
Questions?

9 Jul 2022
Wavefunction
 The wavefunction (Ψ) (psi “sigh”)
 The fundamental object in
quantum physics
 Complex-valued probability
amplitude (with real and
imaginary wave-shaped
components) [intractable]
 Contains all the information of
a quantum state
 For single particle, complex
molecule, or many-body
system (multiple entities)
62
Source: Carleo, G. & Troyer, M. (2017). Solving the Quantum Many-Body Problem with Artificial Neural Networks. Science.
355(6325):602-26.
Ψ = the wavefunction that describes a specific
wave (represented by the Greek letter Ψ)
EΨ(r) = -ћ2/2m ∇2 Ψ(r) + V(r)Ψ(r)
Total Energy = Kinetic Energy + Potential Energy
(motion) (resting)
Schrödinger wave equation
 Schrödinger equation
 Measures positions or speeds (momenta)
of complete system configurations
Wavefunction: description of
the quantum state of a system
Wave Packet

9 Jul 2022
Simondon: Technical Objects
Simondon:
(1924-1989)
I. On the Mode of Existence of
Technical Objects
II. Theory of Individuation
 The field of technical objects is oriented
by scalability (milieu)

9 Jul 2022

9 Jul 2022
What is Quantum Science?
65
Quantum Science: Theoretical Foundations, Quantum Matter, and Quantum Information

Quantum-Classical Reality

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