Optical Illusions may be used to teach Quantum Mechanics

Oral

Abstract

There are many types of Optical Illusions. A simple one involves a "cat image" and a "rabbit image". When the observer "sees" the cat, the rabbit is not seen and when the observer sees the "rabbit" the cat is not seen. Apparently, the images are mapped onto eigenstates of proteins in the synapses. More complicated optical Illusions exist, where one part of an image is discovered, then another part is added to it. This has a direct analog in QM mathematics, where 2 eigenstates are correlated. Apparently the neurons can use proteins in sequential synapses, perhaps in multiple neurons to clamp the eigenstates together. It would be interesting to find a sequence of neurons that do this, but even without that, the math still follows the math of QM. The most interesting optical Illusions have concantenated Illusions nested in them, very similar to the way quantum computers perform error checking. First one object comes into view, then another that surrounds or includes it. Many iterations occur giving a nested structure.

Presenters

  • Richard Kriske

    • University of Minnesota

Authors

  • Richard Kriske

    • University of Minnesota