What can Wigner Bubbles and the Mandela Effect show us about the nature of reality?
What is the true nature of reality? Why does anything exist at all? These philosophical questions might not feel of earth-shaking importance to most people, since for all practical purposes, such questions can often be ignored, in favor of tending to daily necessities. For those of us who’ve encountered truly mind-boggling experiences that have shaken our beliefs and assumptions to the core, these questions matter. And that’s when we find the work of philosophers such as Nicholas Rescher and others to provide excellent insights into the extraordinary mysteries of reality that we start to see the exceptional human experience that is the Mandela Effect. Rescher comprehensively explores the key questions, “Why is there anything at all?” in his excellent book, “Axiogenesis.”
Wigner Bubbles
The cover of my new book,
The Mandela Effect and its Society, depicts an artistic impression of holding two distinctly separate “Wigner Bubbles,” or realities, in one’s hand. This illustration provides a visceral view of witnessing a personal Mandela Effect, such that one moment one might see and feel a dial turn one way on a device, and in the next moment observe that it now operates in a completely different manner. The idea behind “Wigner Bubbles” comes to us courtesy of physicist Eric Cavalcanti, who coined the term “Wigner Bubble” to investigate implications of the Wigner’s friend paradox, so that “a coherent story can be told from the perspective of all agents involved regarding their own observations.” In 1961, physicist Eugene Wigner proposed a thought experiment suggesting that observers of observers in quantum experiments could affect what is observed, and influence the outcome. For example, a first observer might make an observation in the classic Schrodinger’s cat experiment, where a cat is considered to be in a superposition of states of being both alive and dead inside of a closed box, until the box is opened and the truth is discovered. This initially shocking and seemingly preposterous idea of superposition of states arose from physicist Erwin Schrodinger’s idea that a quantum particle mechanism (such as a radioactive isotope’s random decay connected to a hammer poised to break open a vial of poison) would ensure that a cat is now involved in the seemingly impossible situation of joining the radioactive quantum isotope in also being in a quantum superposition of states. The first observer upon opening the box will find the system in a definite state of the cat either being dead, or very much alive. The Wigner’s friend thought experiment raises the question of what an observer of the first observer will see, with questions regarding whether we can take another person’s observations at face value, such that each person has their own subjective reality, and whether we can trust our own observations from the past, since the past may be different from what was previously observed. If you consider that right now you are in a quantum superposition, so your reading experience exists in several different quantum states simultaneously, then you can imagine that in one reality, you’re reading this page, and in another you’re thinking about these ideas and gazing out a window. If at this moment a second person is watching you, they could appreciate that you’re either reading this page, or gazing out a window. You make one observation, deciding what you’re doing, and someone observing you might see you doing another possible action. Physicist Caslav Brukner conducted experiments acknowledging the Wigner’s friend paradox that we cannot assume our shared knowledge of other observers as our own, or even assume our past knowledge of the present, stating,
“… we have proved that one’s own knowledge from the past cannot be used in the present, either.”
Observing quantum systems is known to fundamentally change them. With respect to the Wigner’s friend paradox, Brukner’s work shows that:
“After the friend’s measurement has taken place, we are in a counterintuitive situation where Wigner describes the friend in quantum superposition of observing two different outcomes, while from the friend’s perspective, a definite outcome must be perceived.”
Meaningfully to those of us who’ve encountered reality shifts and the Mandela Effect, it’s clear that not everyone experiences exactly the same shifts or effects, and sometimes we witness “flip-flops,” where a Mandela Effect goes back and forth between two or more states. Examples of common Mandela Effect flip-flops include: Flintstones / Flinstones, and changes to the position of the hand on Rodin’s “The Thinker” statue. Some consider flip-flops to possibly indicate tug-of-wars between collectives vying for different outcomes. Keeping Wigner’s friend, Wigner Bubbles, and Mandela Effect flip-flops in mind, we start to see the genius in remaining as positively focused as possible, and asking questions regularly such as, “How good can it get?”
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REFERENCES:
Larson, Cynthia. “The Mandela Effect and its Society” (2024). Rescher, Nicholas.
Axiogenesis: An essay in metaphysical optimalism. Lexington Books, 2010.
You can watch the companion video to this blog here:
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Cynthia Sue Larson
is the best-selling author of six books, including
Quantum Jumps. Cynthia has a degree in physics from UC Berkeley, an MBA degree, a Doctor of Divinity, and a second degree black belt in Kuk Sool Won. Cynthia is the founder of RealityShifters, and first President of the International Mandela Effect Conference. Cynthia hosts “Living the Quantum Dream” on the DreamVisions7 radio network, and has been featured in numerous shows including Gaia, the History Channel, Coast to Coast AM, One World with Deepak Chopra, and BBC. Cynthia reminds us to ask in every situation, “How good can it get?” Subscribe to her free monthly ezine at:
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