Dear
development thinker,
One of the things that WAWD is doing in its continuing
effort to “make the difficult easy, and the easy worth much” is the tracking of
buzz words that describe development trends and advocacies for clients and
friends. Thus, in the field of development we are tracking the shift in meaning
and usage of the term “sustainable development” which was buzzing in the past
decade, to the current “sustainable and inclusive
development”.
We are also tracking the “clean
and green” advocacies and setting our sights on the recent achievement of DENR Sec.
Paje in getting local participation and engagement in Green Accounting advocacy
within the ‘Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services
(WAVES)’ project of the World Bank.
This piece notes and examines with high interest the
buzz in recent months on the word ‘Quantum’
that reveal emerging and
converging movements in the fields the word describes. Quantum physics, quantum
healing, quantum shifts, quantum mechanics, quantum energy, quantum this,
quantum that. Very interesting to note that my numerous past exposure to
experiences and stories of miraculous healing seem to be getting validation from
quantum healing practitioners some of whom are forming and embedding a
scientific approach and explanation to their theory and practice. But that is
another story.
This story is about my puzzlement on the roots and meaning of the word and my
search for meaning and significance in its recent usages and applications. I
was fortunate enough to know someone I could ask, who quickly answered with a
thorough and layman-friendly written explanation coupled with examples of
recent applications. The piece below titled “Quantunomics” started as a
birthday present, the best birthday gift I ever had. When WAWD started blogging
this year all I had to do was ask the author to edit and condense it a bit and
so here we are with what is hopefully a clear and useful commentary on the
meaning and applications of the word “Quantum”. ‘Quantunomics’ by Behnido Calida is the first contribution to WAWD.
There will be others, by experts in their respective field.
In case at the end you find more questions than
answers and would want help for further research on the matter, you know where
to find us, to ‘walk your dog’ anytime you want. We are bent on making the difficult easy, and the easy worth much.
Have lots and quanta of fun!
Bob Calida
We Also Walk Dogs
Asian College
‘Quantunomics’ – When Two Worlds
Collide
By: Behnido Calida, PhD received
his doctorate in Engineering Management and Systems Engineering in 2013 from
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, where he also received his Master’s
in Engineering Management in 2009. He obtained his BS in Applied Physics in 2000
from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, after which he
spent 5 years working in a middle management position in Singapore. His writing
and research interests are in the multidisciplinary domains of the sciences and
engineering specifically related to critical infrastructures, sustainable
development and large-scale engineering technology deployment domains. This is
his first contribution to ‘We Also Walk Dogs’.
Quantuno—what? Never heard about
it before? If you haven’t, I’m not surprised. I just coined the term to come up
with some catchy blog title for ‘We Also Walk Dogs’. Well, it got you reading
so it did its job. But really, it may very well become an important word in the
near future. It is after all a mash up between two curious topics I’d like to
dabble about – the economy and quantum theory.
Street
Economics
If you walk up to someone on the street and ask him
to give one word to describe the (US) economy, chances are the word you get is BAD.
The job market looks bleak. The housing prices are not where they should be.
The stock market is as full of uncertainty as it ever was. Globalization is
shrinking our local markets. Yes, the economy is simply BAD right now. Of course, everything is not all doom and gloom and others
will choose to look at the bright side of things. Perspective does matter at
this point but everyone from all walks of life would agree that we could use a
much-improved thriving economy. One way to get there is to first admit the
shortcomings in our current economic reality. And from this one economic reality,
we seek insights from another physical reality, a smaller one…in fact, so small
we are talking about reality at the quantum scale.
Quantum Talk
and Theory
There are several promising developments in this area
which very soon will transform how we live our lives. But first, let us start off
quantum talk by highlighting the contributions of renowned physicists who
introduced them in the first place. A number of these folks you would know if
you are closely following "science fiction" literature which embodied
imaginative speculations of these emerging theories over the years. The key
figures here of course involve Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Max Planck and many
others. The traditional paradigm before Einstein revolved around Newtonian
mechanics which to a certain degree was accurate to describe physical phenomena
in the macro-scale. Newton's Three Laws of Motion (aka the mechanistic
paradigm) is still useful with respect to explaining how matter behaves. Note
that with Newtonian paradigm, scientists were very proficient in accurately
predicting how matter behaves. However, their theories and predictions are
limited to a certain level where matter behaves either as a
"particle" or as a "wave" BUT not both. Einstein shook this
paradigm with his Theory of Relativity when he claimed that matter in fact
behaves as both "particle" and "waves". Let us start
calling this the "quantum" paradigm which at its core is able to resolve
the particle-wave "duality" property of matter. In this new paradigm,
matter is not exclusively a particle or exclusively a wave BUT should be
regarded as a bit of both. This helps to extend the limitations of Newtonian
physics at the atomic scale where inherent paradoxes are apparent. Around this
time, another scientist named Max Planck also theorized that
"electrons" (at that time the most basic element in the atomic
structure) don't exist in continuous form BUT instead manifest itself in
discrete levels of energy, wherein he proposed that each fundamental level or
"packet of energy" as a "quanta". Niel's Bohr took this
further by saying that the transition of electrons between these discrete
levels of energy (or what he refers to as atomic shells) should be at the heart
of our understanding of physical phenomenon at the atomic scale. This is a very
powerful shift in understanding as it necessarily converges the idea that
matter behaves as both "particle" AND "wave" at the same
time. There are some inherent paradoxes (e.g. Heisenberg's uncertainty
principle, Schroedinger's cat, etc.) namely that tell us though that at any
given instant, we are only able to observe either the "particle"
properties or the "wave" properties at that same time. Any
modification of the "particle" properties risks introducing some
changes to the "wave" properties of that same matter. May sound a bit
of an oversimplification as there's a lot more history of course, BUT a lot of
the advancements in quantum physics is an evolution of man's understanding of
what specific changes at the "particle" side would induce property
changes at the wave side and vice versa.
Quantum
Meaning in Applications
This brings us to a lot of the huge
"quantum" words that you hear today as a result of breakthroughs
brought about by "quantum physics". Here’s a couple of interesting
applications brought to life by developments in this area.
Quantum computing -
Remember the time when the computer was the biggest thing in technology...with
quantum physics, things are about to get even much bigger (or should I say much
smaller). The whole electronics industry is very familiar with Moore's law
which states that the allowable miniaturization possible in computers is
dictated by how much "transistors" (the basic logical blocks in
computer chips) we can squeeze in a fixed space. The rate of change of computer
technology has followed this trend but we are running out of innovation ideas
and fast approaching the physical limits predicted by this law. With the advent
of "quantum physics", information is no longer transmitted through
"bits" of electrons but instead through manipulating quantum bits of
energy referred to as "qubits". In layman’s terms, things are about
to get smaller as we are now able to store a lot more computer information by
manipulating the actual "spin" of electrons. With this development,
the entire computer industry just got rejuvenated as it no longer has to
contend with the daunting physical constraints of Moore's law. Time will tell
when the next breakthrough will happen and which one industry will adopt.
Energy harvesters - A new
breakthrough in quantum physics are the experiments involving "quantum
interference" which have very promising implications for materials used in
energy harvesting. You can search it in Google, but the way it works is as
follows: "Every time you drive your car down the block, you're wasting
energy. It can't be helped; in the process of generating the power to move your
car, its motor also produces a lot of heat, and all the energy used to create that
heat goes to waste.
Researchers at the University of Arizona hope to change that. Using a principle of quantum
mechanics called quantum interference, they have simulated a working molecular
thermoelectric material capable of turning heat into electricity.
Heat to energy that’s clean, portable and efficient - Not only does this new material convert heat into electricity
with unmatched efficiency, it's less than a millionth-of-an-inch thick. What's
more, the material has no moving parts
and produces no incremental pollution as it works. The researchers have big
plans for the material. For instance, they contend that by wrapping a car's
exhaust system in the material the car could capture enough electricity to
power 200 light bulbs of the 100 watt variety. The material also could do
wonders for solar panels, which also waste heat during operation. The thermoelectric material could not only
convert that heat into energy but also help the solar cells operate more
efficiently by keeping them cooler."
Quantum breakthroughs in applications - This is a big breakthrough and there will be lots of applications
coming in the next few years. Just imagine that many of the limitations of technology
are related to the problem of "overheating". Now with this new
technology, we are not only solving the problem of "overheating" but
also introducing a way to convert heat
directly into electricity. Also, note that this new technology is being
implemented at the "nano-scale", which further drives the likelihood
that next generation of computer appliances (without the cooling components)
would be much smaller.
Whereto Quantunomics?
Which brings us back to where we started - what about
Quantunomics? Well, it doesn’t mean much for now. If anything, it is a
placeholder for future economic reality
that is supported by informed practitioners and a deeper, broader theory and
understanding of physical reality,
notably in its form as power and energy. To the curious, there is a lot more
that quantum physics has to offer. The father of economics himself Adam Smith
envisioned an economic system that is governed by an Invisible Hand. Maybe and
just maybe, he was referring to something he could not see and which we are
only beginning to understand now in our generation – the quantum effects. And
in true quantum fashion, we slowly realize that we are after all in fact
creatures living in two intricately interwoven worlds – the world of economics,
sometimes BAD and sometimes GOOD, and the physical world, the understanding of
which is now shifting in quantum
terms! J
With quantum
thanks, I leave you WAWD, with a challenge to search more and more for the
understanding that will bring us to the City foretold in the Book of Revelation
where the Creator says “behold I make all things new”!
Whew… that was difficult WAWD, but easy.
Behnido Calida
June 29, 2013
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