I was perusing the most recent issue of Scientific American which contained a nice article on “Quantum Entanglement” (what Fringee doesn’t get excited when they read those words?) when I happened upon a side box on “Observing the Observer”. (More Fringee excitement!) Only this piece had to do with real science. At the risk of stepping on Clint’s toes I’d like to discuss some of hard science and how it fits in with Fringe.
I’m going to include a link to the Scientific American article below but before you get to that I’m going to cover the more salient parts of it and see how it matches up with our beloved Fringe. You know things are going to get juicy when Schrodinger’s Cat is mentioned right off the bat. You know, the cat that is either alive or dead in the box but it’s fate is actually unknown until we look into the box. Before then, the cat can actually be alive and dead at the same time. Yes, two cats. It kind of reminds you of the fate of Peter. We can’t see him now and we don’t know if he is alive or dead. But he could be either at the same time until we actually do see him!
Fringetastic no?
Well, it is about to get better. What if, as the article posits, we introduce an observer that cannot interfere with the state of the cat (or Peter) and can report back to us that the cat (maybe we should name the cat “Peter”) as to whether the cat is in one state or the other? Say Peter is in another room or dimension. We introduce an observer (in the article his name is Bob but it just well could be “September”) we ask Bob/September whether the cat, Peter, is in one state or the other and he answers “yes”.
As the article notes it is important not to ask if “Peter” is alive or dead (exists/doesn’t exist) because that would “force the outcome” and lead to what physicists call a “collapse” of the state. We are happy to know thanks to Bob/September that the cat Peter is either one or the other. Bob knows the fate of Peter because of observing Peter but to us he is still in two different states!
Whoa, that is pretty heady stuff. No wonder the Observers are having such a hard time getting things right in either dimension. Their main problem was interacting with the dimensions much like September did when he distracted Walternate when he was trying to find a cure for young Peter. One of the basic tenets of science is that by merely observing an experiment you’ve already effected it’s outcome. To the Fringe “Observers” they should have employed a method wherein the didn’t “collapse the state”. We, or as the article defines the physicist, Alice (and yes I thought of Alice in Wonderland also) has the information we need to the fate of Peter the Cat without interfering with it’s outcome.
Is your head spinning yet? I know it is pretty crazy stuff and the (mercifully) short article explains it better than I. I urge you to read it as the similarities to what we see nearly every episode of Fringe is startling. Have fun and report back to me when you’ve concluded your own experiment.
Intriguing post, Dave. Could you repost the link to the article? I tried to get at it myself, but I don’t subscribe and couldn’t! Thanks.
Yes, my head is definitely spinning, haha. But thanks for the post and the link; the article was extremely interesting.
@Trish, Sorry the link didn’t work for you. Let’s try a more direct approach.
http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v304/n6/box/scientificamerican0611-38_BX1.html
@Fringe_Nerd, Glad you liked it. Head spinning is a must!
Just some thoughts on the Observers…
I was wondering, when was it determined that ‘The Observers’ cannot interfere? I always thought that the name ‘Observers’ was bestowed upon them by the FBI. Have they ever referred to themselves as ‘Observers’? I think we’ve already seen quite a few examples of their interference. Non-interference may be more of a guideline, than a rule, similar to the Prime Directive.
Physics suggests that each decision that is made results in a new universe being created. Wouldn’t there have to have been an original, solitary universe before any decisions were made. Perhaps the Observers are from that original universe. Think of a pyramid structure of universes. The Observers can travel to any universe, because they started on the very top. People like Olivia can travel to a universe on the same level, or perhaps below, but cannot move up.
@MrPapaya, I think it was first determined that the Observers were not to interfere came from the episode “Peter”. September had to confess to his fellow Observers that he distracted Walternate from finding a cure for Peter and had to set in motion a series of event to reset the time line correctly. However that is just an inference by us. The Observers never stated non-interference as a hard and fast rule. They may even have their own agenda. I’ve always thought September interfered with Walternate on purpose.
I agree with you that a new timeline/Universe is created every time a decision is made or time is manipulated. As far as a solitary original universe is concerned that is a question for philosophers, scientists and religious experts. But it makes for great fiction.
Like Mr. Papaya suggested, I like the idea that the ‘Observers’ are from the original universe, but maybe instead of being from the original universe, they are from a universe that we haven’t yet seen on the show that is also being affected by the choices that were made in the red and the blue verse. Throughout the show we’ve always seen red, blue and yellow. These colors have been seen in the background throughout all three seasons, and while red and blue have come to pass, where does yellow fit in?
What if the yellowverse is where the Observers are from, and like Walternate sending the shape shfiters to gather information (and also reek havoc) on the blueverse, the Observers were sent to both the redverse and the blueverse to try to course correct both timelines in order to create balance for all three universes.
It stands to reason that if the redverse is more technologically advanced than the blueverse, a third universe could have the technology and capabilities to travel safely both through time and through universes, allowing the observers to move around without harm.
Food for thought anyway!