Is Quantum Mechanics Selectively Erasing Our Memory?
In a paper published last week, MIT physicist Lorenzo Maccone hypothesizes that, yes, quantum physics is messing with our minds. The laws of physics work just as well if time is running forwards or backwards. But we all seem to experience time running in only one direction, and in the same direction as everyone else -- a mystery of physics that's yet to be solved. So life as we observe it presents a quandary. Randomness -- or entropy -- naturally increases. A drop of food coloring in water will spread out. Heat from a pizza dissipates. But the laws of physics that govern the tiny particles that make up everything could just as well run backwards, so something doesn't jibe. Why don't we see more instances of molecules ordering themselves (sugar un-dissolving itself from my coffee, ice cubes spontaneously forming in my water) if...