The unknown Ψ

About eigenfaces

1. The previous image has to do with the problem of human face recognition by computers. But it could also refer to the way our brain reconstructs images.

2. The same image also reminds me of wavefunctions of elementary particles. It is supposed that all matter consists of particles. The same particles can be represented by wavefunctions. A wavefunction can be constructed by using eigenvectors.

3. If a human body is composed of particles, and these particles are hypothetical entities represented by wavefunctions, then human beings are also virtual entities which can be represented by a probability distribution- a wavefunction having a specific configuration.

4. Then, with respect specifically to the facial aspects of the human form, the virtual constituents will be called eigenfaces instead of eigenvectors.

The decision hypothesis

5. Apart from a similar term which exists in economics, the general definition can be simple as this: As soon as we make a decision, we change the universe in an irreversible way.

6. We can also test the hypothesis in another simple way: We can just move a glass of water- the distribution of objects in the universe changes a little bit.

7. This will also be true for anything we change around us. Whether the change is small or big is not so important. The effect may need to be significant to be measured, but even the slightest change could be measurable given a sensitive enough instrument.

The role of free will

8. But how conscious are we about the change we make, or about a change which occurred in the environment?

9. Apparently we are conscious when we move a glass of water deliberately. But how conscious are we about the need (the thirst) which drove us to pick up a glass of water in the first place?

10. One might argue that thirst is just an instinct, while our superior functions, like cognition, are controlled by our conscious mind.

11. But what if knowledge is just another need, a (supposedly advanced) function of the instinct? If all the world around us, like a glass of water, consists of objects and needs, and if both the objects and the needs can be represented by wavefunctions, then how much do we control the arrangement of these wavefunctions, or how much do the wavefunctions control us?

The wavefunction of everything

12. Commonly a wavefunction in physics is represented by the Greek capital letter Ψ. In the same language this is also the first letter of the world ‘soul.’ A wavefunction can be the superposition of other wavefunctions. If the universe consists of particles, and those particles can be represented by wavefunctions, then the universe can be represented by a wavefunction which is the superposition of all individual wavefunctions.

13. But a wavefunction can represent not only a particle, but also any kind of object. Even more it may represent an idea, a thought or a feeling.

14. If a partial wavefunction can depict an individual human face, then how about a collective wavefunction depicting the Face of us all?

15. How much does this Face control our own emotions and expressions, and how much do we influence its Form?

Image: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigenface]

7/24/2018