There’s No Such Thing as Nothing, According to Quantum Physics
Lyrics to “Nothing,” by proto-punk-folk group The Fugs:
Monday, nothing
Tuesday, nothing
Wednesday and Thursday nothing
Friday, for a change
A little more nothing
Saturday once more nothing
Sunday nothing
Monday nothing
Tuesday and Wednesday nothing
Thursday, for a change
A little more nothing
Friday once more nothing
Would that it were so simple (to quote the Cohen Brothers). Theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss explains how, over the last hundred or so years, trying to nail down the existence of nothingness has become surprisingly complicated. You know, the Biblical void? Um, no so much. Just because we can’t see anything doesn’t mean a space is really empty. It’s all about the maddeningly unstable rules — if we can even call them that — of quantum physics.
Our favorite line of Krauss’ is this: “And in fact, for that kind of nothing, if you wait long enough, you’re guaranteed by the laws of quantum mechanics to produce something.”
Nothing’s just not what to used to be.
