Knowability of the universe

The knowability of the universe stems from us and the universe being part of the same quantum system

Nature of the universe

One of the major questions in philosophy is this: To what extent can we know anything? The answer to this question should depend on the nature of the universe, rather than a philosophical prejudice, no matter how convincingly argued. What makes the universe to be coherent, at least at the level at which our senses apprehend it?QO predicts that only universes that are capable of resonating can exist. Resonance ensures that each part is attuned to the whole. This guarantees a coherent universe, which can in principle be known. Because the chain of events and of concepts that lead from the genesis to the current state is finite, it is in principle possible to know it completely.

Self-awareness

It is often advanced that the Heisenberg uncertainty principle dictates that it is impossible to observe something without disturbing it, and hence reality does not exist independently of the observer.  However, this argument is valid only for situations in which the observer is not part of the quantum system being observed.  When observer and that which is observed are part of the same quantum system, the resonance of that system imparts knowledge of each part to each other part.  A quantum system is self aware.

This mechanism is demonstrated in the principle on which all chemistry is based – the Pauli exclusion principle. This principle states that no two electrons with the same spin can be in the same orbit around an atomic nucleus at the same time, even though two electrons with opposing spins can. For the exclusion principle to work, the wave system consisting of the two electrons and the atomic nucleus must have some mechanism by means of which it is aware of the spins of the electrons. This awareness is not the result of any force which operates on the particles; it is there, that is all. For it detects, but this detection involves no exchange of energy, as far as we can see. Because it involves no exchange of energy, it is not subject to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, and there is no structural barrier to the awareness being complete. 

In fact, the Pauli exclusion principle is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to uniqueness detection. Quantum Mechanics is pervaded with phenomena which can be adequately understood only when we assume that the same sort of thing in the same place with the same properties is, by definition, the same thing, existing only once. The existence of these phenomena points toward there being some sort of awareness mechanism built into the most basic structure of reality. Whatever it is that connects a wave and a particle, connects the complex wave of the atom with its constituent particles and enables the wave to know that a particular slot – an orbital with a particular spin – is already occupied by an electron.

The Quantum Mechanical mode of knowing

This mechanism of awareness enables any part of a quantum system to 'know' any other part of it. 'Knowledge', in this sense, should be understood analogously to what it would mean on a computer: the ability to access the appropriate part of memory and read what is there, without changing it. Because we are talking about quantum systems, the notion of 'what is there' includes all the possible values and the complex numbers which determine the degree to which these values are capable of manifesting themselves, in other words the wave which describes them in their entirety. And because we are part of the single quantum system which is the universe, we can in principle know everything. However, as we shall see in the discussion of evil, there may be situations in which that knowledge is not available in practice.

In practice, however, this quantum mechanical mode of knowing is foreign to us. At best, our instant perception that we do, or do not, know the answer to a question, prior to us actually retrieving the answer from our memory, could be understood as a manifestation of this mode. Some fringe phenomena, such as geographically separated twins who are instantly aware of each other's traumatic experiences, would also fit into this pattern, presuming that these phenomena exist. But for the rest, our knowledge is based on our senses, which, in comparison to the quantum mechanical mode is decidedly second hand. 

Sensory knowledge

Given that the universe is coherent, it is possible to observe it and to use the results of our observations to deduce its properties.  To again use an analogy from computer systems, it is like being able to deduce the value of some data in an information system by querying that system through its external interfaces. Only data which is exposed through such interfaces is accessible.

This mode of knowledge is limited to the 'real' universe, that is the universe that you get if you ignore the 'imaginary' component of the wave function of the universe. Assuming that natural order quanta have only an imaginary component, that is a severe limitation.