Blame it on the Quantum!
“Don’t blame it on the sunshine, don’t blame it on the boogie, don’t blame it on the moonlight, blame it on the quantum…” Doesn’t really rhythm does it?
I picked up three books to read over the holiday season seeing I was going to be away from home for the period. One was a space opera, another a horror/dark fantasy and the last was a genuine sci-fi.
All three used Quantum mechanics as an explanation!
Don’t get me wrong, the books were enjoyable. It’s just that quantum mechanics was used to explain:
1) A “universe” controlled by a man in the last second of his life (bordering on a sort on a religious understanding of the universe)
2) How the Greek Olympian gods can exist in our reality with all their power
3) How to copy your own consciousness, the existence of a ’soul’ plane and how to become a god
I’m no physicist. I have a layman’s knowledge of what quantum mechanics and I know writers need to give some sort of ‘rational’ explanation to their readers to allow for suspension of disbelief but I think this is beginning to stretch it. Quantum mechanics is being used to explain plot ‘magic’. Scientists warn not to apply the micro effects of Quantum to macro events. And it’s not just those three books either, I’ve noticed it more and more among recent sci-fi books I’ve picked up.
I guess quantum mechanics provides a neat ‘hole’ in science where all the laymen can let our imaginations run riot. Quantum promises unparallel computing power and answers to the questions of human consciousness and even a way to bridge the gap between the subjective knowledge of mystics to the objective world of science… sounds awfully dangerous like merging science with religion.
How did writers like Philip K. Dick get away with it without using Quantum mechanics to explain their worlds? Why do modern sci-fi writers need to explain it all via quantum?