Undergraduate / 'Quantum Theory' or 'My summer' - Vitality and Roomate Letter [6]

Intellectual Vitality
While studying at Stanford over the summer, I walked into a lecture on Quantum Theory that completely changed my idea of the nature of our reality. Before this lecture, I thought reality was stable and somewhat concrete. But this professor proved to me that our reality is far more strange and complex than I had imagined. The lecture was on the Double Slit experiment, an infamous quantum experiment which showed how strangely particles will act on the subatomic level.

In the experiment, electrons were shot into two tiny slits. When a camera observed the electrons, they acted as particles. But when there was no camera equipment used to observe the electrons, they acted as waves and particles simultaneously. When an electron was not being observed, it could leaves as a particle, but then split and become a wave of infinite potential. Each electron could go through both slits, enter one or the other, or neither. This idea was mind-blowing. The simple act of observing an electron compelled it to act "irrationally". As we study smaller and smaller particles in order to understand what were made of, we seem to find that phenomena we see doesn't make sense. We are only able to comprehend a tiny sliver of how the universe actually exists.

As soon as I left the lecture, my over-active imagination went to work. I pictured all the possible implications I could derive from the lecture. Would this happen on a larger scale? Does universe exist differently when no one is observing it? My questions began to turn less scientific and more philosophical. Do we create reality simply by observing it? If this is true, what is reality? After weeks of delving into theories that arose from the experiment, I still struggled to answer any of my questions. I guess the professor was right in quoting the famous physicist Richard Feynman, stating that "It is safe to say that nobody understands quantum mechanics."

Letter to Roomate

Dear Future Roommate,

You might see me tapping on my keyboard at 12 a.m in a trance-like state. I hope you're not bothered by it, because I really can't stop myself. Sometimes I don't even notice the time passing. I sort of lose touch with reality for a while, I get lost in the melodies I'm creating, but I snap out of it eventually. I produce different kinds of music, but mainly electronica and hip-hop. I love discovering new and interesting types of music, hopefully you will be willing to share yours with me. I found that you can learn a lot about a person from their taste in music.

After all the nights i spent neglecting sleep for music, I think I evolved myself to the point where I don't require much sleep. Hopefully you don't mind having late night conversations. Maybe you'd enjoy swapping theories of existence over cups of coffee. And I would see absolutely no problem with fountain hopping at 1 a.m. I spent my last summer at Stanford Summer College. Some nights, just dipping our feet in the water would somehow turn into us falling in.

My summer at Stanford was an absolutely unforgettable experience. I grew tremendously, learning from some of the most interesting and open-minded people I have ever met. I can't imagine how much another 4 years at Stanford will transform me. There's honestly no place I would rather be going this fall. Soon, you'll see why!